i am no expert but when I see black burnt stuff on a pear it makes me think fire blight.
3 Likes
Look at the dark/burnt area at the stem of that fruitlet, I say fire blight, too.
its a kieffer…are they not resistant?
Resistance is a relative term, in my opinion. If the blooms opened at the right time (warm, wet weather), the blight bacteria could enter through the open flowers.
It could spread from there. You need to keep an eye on that area.
2 Likes
well…it looks bad to me!
Penn State Extension Service has good info on fruit trees. Here’s about fire blight in pears. It could spread fast if the condition is conducive.
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/diseases/pear-diseases/fire-blight
So… what would you do? Chop it out? Their are two main branches and this is the taller but I guess lesser of the two. Here are some pictures of the tree with the area marked.
And where should I cut. It is 8 inches down to the first branchlets and 16 inches to the last and prob 4-5 inches down to the main trunk.
Funny enough the tree has lots of fruit on it but no other areas on all that branch.
Katy
Hard to say. The rest of that trunk looks good. I would keep an eye on it. If more area on the trunk turns dark and leaves start to wilt, I would chop it off. If I were you, I’ll keep a close eye on it for now. Maybe, someone with more experience will chime in.
1 Like
Thanks!
Kieffer is a tough tree and it can in some cases heal from a FB hit. I would make one cut that is slightly into the trunk and sanitize your cutter. Then observe it carefully to make sure it stays isolated. This is a good example of why it is suggested not to let a tree fruit on the trunk because cutting it back will do a lot of damage to the tree structure. In my location most fb starts at the flower.
4 Likes
I’m such a newbie that I have no idea what to look for or what to do…that’s why I am here and asking all these questions. So in the future remove any blooms from trunk? And how far down would you place this cut and how deep? The trunk is approx 1" diameter +/-. It could be sacrificed as there is another trunk with more branches but it is a good part of the tree.
Katy
I hate to see you have to cut so much off but that would be the safe route to just remove it and use another trunk. I have several pears trees now and for myself I would try the first option of making one cut with a sharp blade. Cutting into the trunk about 1/8-1/4 inch. My choice is more risky so you have to decide which option you prefer. All reference I have seen suggest cutting 12" or more to attempt to get it all. Sorry I guess this is not much help. Bill
2 Likes
Katy,
Sorry to see that. No question It is fireblight. Take a knife and carve out all the blackness and Brown in the trunk. Wipe Just the area of the trunk you carved out or touched with just a wipe of pure white vinegar asap. Don’t leave excess on the trunk since technically vinegar is a herbicide. Burn or throw away everything you carved out. Wash your hands thoroughly since fireblight is a bacteria. If you accidentally touched that tree in another spot it could be infected. If you see any other leaves die or blackness on the branch cut it off 6 inches below the infected area. If it was not Kieffer I would have said to do that in the first place. In fireblight country the first year a pear blooms it gets a strike like that but that tree will recover whereas another type of pear would have been black to the ground. Fireblight only affects growing tissue and that area hit is growing and cells are dividing like crazy. Humidity needs to be 65 % or more and temperature needs to be degrees or more roughly when the infection occurs. The infection happenened during bloom. Had you sprayed with copper or fertilome antibiotic or both it would have very likely prevented the infection https://www.amazon.com/Fertilome-Fire-Blight-Spray-10363/dp/B005XOPBCU
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004QJ1LWM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490935949&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=kocide+3000&dpPl=1&dpID=51EIPkNfA8L&ref=plSrch. I would not be concerned with that this year but next year I would be ready and have sprays on hand prior to bloom.
4 Likes
Thanks. I’ll get that done today. I have two other pears in close proximity that are just putting out leaves. Orient and Moonglow. Any sprays would have to be while dormant? That temp and humidity is not a problem here…even in winter much of the time.
Katy
2 Likes
These two others you have and Kieffer are rated with high resistance to fb. Hopefully you want have many other issues with fb. I sprayed all my trees about a month ago with copper/oil. As of right now I haven’t seen any fb but I am constantly watching out for it. There are many other pear varieties with good fb resistance (Ayers, Harrow Sweet etc). I have a couple of varieties not rated well for fb and I spray with serenade (organic) every two days while they are blooming (most people use antibiotics spray). Bill
3 Likes
I actually chose the ones I purchased based on FB resistance. It just makes me sick that my beautiful productive tree is the recipient. But then I didn’t know enough to spray… it’s a learning experience but I hope I can get I under control. Again thanks everyone for the good info here!
Katy
Bark is a protection layer against diseases, all parts of the tree can be attacked by blight even the roots can. I think that you just grafted at the wrong time on the wrong year, every now and then there is way more fire blight than normal, that happens here in North Carolina and I read that it happens in Texas too. I am not sure about Texas yet when it happens here it’s because the pear farmers bring in blight sensitive pear trees with blight disease on them and spray them after it spreads. As I am sure you know some of the most popular pear fruit sold at the grocery stores are fire blight sensitive, bartlett for example.
had the exact same thing happen on my Kieffer, as @clarkinks recommended remove it as soon as possible…
1 Like
I’m not an expert but if I were to cut, I think that I’d go here.
That long limb could continue to balance the tree?
@clarkinks I got the spot cut out this afternoon. It had not changed so it didn’t look like it had spread any. There was a bit of darkened area under the bud area and I didn’t know if that was just from the bud or the blight so I cut it out. It looked like clean wood underneath. There was a small twig that might have looked darkened at the bloom site…I might have imagined it but that is gone now too. I was pleased that it looked the same as yesterday but maybe even a bit contracted. So I don’t put any protectant on the open bark?
Katy
4 Likes