Ayers pears : Firelight or something else. Any remedy or suggestion to control it. Second picture showing diseased and last picture showing same branch on April 9th.
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Prune off the area that is affected. Did the entire branch turn black or just a few fruits?
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Thanks @clarkinks . I already removed affected area. Do you think I should cut whole branch ?
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No, dont remove the whole branch, just the part that wasnt still green. Fireblight strikes are not unusual.
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Sorry I just overlooked your question. Entire branch is not black just fruit spurs .
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When flowers or fruit only are impacted it can be a disease known as blossom blast. Normally fireblight blackens the branch. Still it is just as likely fireblight starting at the bloom first. When in doubt prune it off.
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I also think it was blossom blast.
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What need to be done going forward to prevent if any ?
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A spray with copper before bloom will really help. Both diseases are bacterial based. Blossom blast is much less serious.
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Thanks for the help will do it next year.
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@mamuang and I are both suspecting blossom blast was possible. Ayers do get fireblight but it is very rare. They are tough trees. If you have large trees like i do i wait a few days and find out if it is blossom blast or fireblight. That cost me half a tree many times. It is best just to get rid of the infected part. Fireblight spreads fast.
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@Naeem ,
Blossom blast occurs quickly, too. It wiped out all blossoms or fruitlets in a day or two. The difference from fire blight is it does not affect branches or leaves.
Cool, wet weather is conducive to this issue.
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I was crazy busy preparing for spring art shows this year - and didn’t get to do any dormant spraying. Everything looked fine in the orchard until yesterday . . . when I found THIS on my G11 Pink Lady. This tree has never looked quite right to me, so I’ve been grafting it over to other varieties over the past couple of years.
This looks somewhat like the blossom blast on pears. But could it be the early stages of dreaded . . . . . . fireblight?
I thought it might just be ‘heat stress’ - as we had a couple of days of high temps. Or lack of water? But it wasn’t the entire tree that was limping.
I pruned off any droopy areas - even limbs. The tree needed some ‘opening up’, anyway. Almost all of the affected limbs were ‘Pink Lady’ - and one 2 year old Priscilla branch. Other varieties did not have damage. ?
Even Eso Spitz and other temperamental ones that I’ve been keeping an eye on - are still ok ???
Anyone know what I might be dealing with?
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I would be worried about fb especially with the blackening of the wood by the leaves in the second picture. Can you afford to purne those spots out?
I don’t believe this is a disease issue but could use the opinion of more knowledgeable people.
I’m leaning more nutritional deficiency or my use of late copper/dormant oil burning the tips of the flowers. I’m not sure of this though since the spray was done at bud swell/silver tip and I was under the impression that I’d be ok up until green tip. No sulfur spray so far this year, probably at all at this point.
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The soil under this avocado that is almost finished flowering is swarming with springtail larvae (I think), they all floated on the water when I just flooded the pot and then a clump of them ended up stuck as a single mass when the water drained out:
Sorry for the blurry image, they are very very small. I’m impressed that my phone managed even that well! They are swarming over the fallen flowers that are still covered in pollen.
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This is affecting only my two Asian pears, Chojuro and Korean Giant. It seemingly happened overnight. We have had high heat temps and subsequent freezes. These are whips that were planted in January. They had been leafing out nicely in lush green until now. All leaves on the whips are affected to some degree. Cold damage or disease/pest?
my trees are leafing out pretty normally below the discolored areas. I’m thinking it was maybe cold burn from how quickly winter hit us last year, old leaves never had a chance to change color or fall before it was freezing.
the discolored areas scrape brown on the branches but green on the trunk. I sprayed once with dormant spray last month.
You have other pics of affected leaves. I wonder if that’s the early stage of damage from pear blister mites.
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