It was pruned mid March which is late winter here.
I sent my photos etc. to the University of Illinois extension service. They said they thought it was frost and wind damage. They said they werenāt aware of any diseases of pear occuring this early.
As far as i know you can prune hard wood just fine after the tree has woken up.
Pruning hard wood in winter is usualy because you can than easily see the branches/tree shape. And you have more time than.
In the summer when itās warmer/dryer wounds usualy heal faster. So some-times it might even be better to prune hard wood in the summer.
You do however have to watch out for sunburn. And try to avoid pruning a lot just before/during leaf break, since the sap pressure might give you some slight bleeding. (also species dependant)
Edit: also donāt forget to consider fireblight pressure when pruning during the non dormant season.
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Iāve read you donāt want sulfur and oil too close in time to each other (measured in weeks, forget the qtyā¦ 4?). Not sure about the timeline based on your comments, but could that have been it?
Spurious The more I look at it and in to it, I think it is Pear Blister Mites. I sprayed it today with a weak solution of lime sulfur spray. Tomorrow I plan to apply either Acetaminiprid or Avermectin.
I knew nothing about fruit trees when I planted those pears. They were from a big box store and I have no idea what rootstock they are on. They are definitely vigorous growers.
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This is totally unrelated but FYI you can turn off the āRedmi Note 8 ā¦ā watermark on your photos by going to the Camera app > Hamburger menu > Settings, and thereās a toggle for watermark
Thanks for the tip. I had no idea how to turn it off.
Regarding the diseased photos above. I think I rightly diagnosed the problem as Pear Blister Mites.
I sprayed with Imidacloprid (reluctantly) but it seems to have been effective. New healthy shoots are emerging and it seems to be growing once again. I think the tree would have died without treatment.
The recommended spray once the mites are established and within the leaves is Abamectin. I couldnāt find a container for less than $75, so I went with Imidacloprid.
Abamectin is readily available in ant poison. I thought about buying some and making a spray out of it. It seemed like the tree was dying and I couldnāt afford an unsuccessful experiment.
I did early season correctly with sulfur, lime-sulfur and dormant oil sprays. I donāt know why they came on so strong. Iāll be better prepared next year (hoping to stock up on Abermectin, which is supposed to be bee friendlier) , and know what Iām looking at when they first show up. They did attack last year, and I incorrectly diagnosed it as scab.
We are supposed to have 9 days of rain, so I sprayed with Dithane and a Serenade substitute today. We are now in the 65/65 window.
Finally Iām having some non-diseased growth on my back from almost dead pear tree. The leaves that were infested by Blister Mites are all deformed, twisted with black dead tissue.
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Happy to see your tree going strong again. My pear trees typically show blister mite damage first thing, but then start to grow out of it and produce healthy growth right about now. So, while there are probably circumstances where itās more of a major problem, Iāve come to look at it as something thatās not that big of a deal (though I may start to give the trees a spray of dormant oil at the appropriate time of year).
All this to say that if youāre spraying something youāre not entirely comfortable spraying out of the concern that the tree might die, this may be one where you could let it go and let the tree take care of itself.
@JinMA Thanks for the encouragement. Last year I had the blister mites attack, I misdiagnosed them and let them run their course. They basically stopped all further growth for the year.
This year I did all the early sprays and for some reason they had no effect whatsoever. Lime/sulfur, sulfur and multiple dormant oils.
Iāve read that usually they attack one or two branches. These attacked every leaf. It really stunted the grafts I put on it. Just now they are starting to grow again.
Lets us know what real farmers have to deal with.
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After the most recent attack of what I guess are pear Psylla virtually all the leaves fell off. I had decided that next spring I would saw the tree down and start all over.
Now I have to give it another season because in the last two weeks all the foliage grew back. I have been spraying daily with kaolinite, diatomaceous earth, and weekly with spinosad. I have no idea if it is effective in any way, but for the time being no psylla damage on the new growth.
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Five weeks ago this tree was 98% defoliated. These pics are from yesterday.
I keep cutting back the verticle shoots, hoping that the tips will become dominant and make horizontal growth where I want it. So far little horizontal growth is occuring. But there is an explosion of healthy leaves. The chlorophyl and sugars must be going somewhere, I assume they are being stored in the roots which hopefully are being rejuvenated for next year, Iām sure the tree from shock has gone into a survival mode.
I have been daily spraying with a mix of Kaolin and Diatomaceous earth, and once weekly with Spinozad. For whatever reason the Psylla seem to have dissapeared. I ordered some Surround, and plan on mixing a 20% solution of Erythritol https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/113/5/2293/5859736 , 4mls per liter of Peppermint oil https://academic.oup.com/jee/article-abstract/113/3/1307/5721329?redirectedFrom=fulltext , Surround and Diatomaceous earth and using this as my ongoing spray.
It appears from what I have read that the entire tree should be sprayed up until November. Iām sure it wouldnāt hurt to spray on warm days in the winter as well. I also plan on using lime sulfur and dormant oils this fall and early winter. ā¦However Pear Psylla migrate and may not over winter in my tree.
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Dang that is a lot of spraying. Sorry you got stuck with such a persistent issue. What a bummer.
Itās just one tree. I leave my sprayer there and it just takes like two minutes. I like that it is all organic spray. Iām not using an NIS because a few weeks ago I burnt the cr.p out of my baby apple leaves.
I have made an executive decision of sorts. This week I planted four pear whips that I grafted last spring on OH x F87. Two Korean Giant and a Magness. The other graft failed.
Iām 90% sure Iām going to cut down the old original tree. It is diseased and obviously not resistant to the Pysylla.
So Iāll start over with modern rootstock and see how I get along. I planted each whip in the center of the four trellis āwingsā that I have set up.
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Not every experiment is successful. After this tree being defoliated by Psylla three times last year, and being infected by the psylla with pear decline disease, I cut down the āmotherā tree. The tree made no growth of any of the shoots last year, and all the grafts were infected, causing them to turn brown and die over the winter. Last fall I planted four pear whips on Oh x F87 rootstock, each wing of the espalier trellis got one rootstockā¦ One was grafted with Korean Giant, and the other with Magness. Hopefully one of the other rootstock will get 'Clarkās Little Yellow", and the other not decided yet. Next week is grafting week.
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Thatās a bummer, but youāll be able to sculpt your new trees exactly how you want them. It will probably look nicer in the long run. Sometimes nature is kind enough to pull the plug when we donāt have the heart.