Normally when i see something like that i would say start with a good inspection of the area. Sometimes after a long winter i may have an apple half dead or with deformed leaves. Usually voles spent the winter eating my apple roots underground. 9 times out of 10 the problem started in the roots. Sometimes as a tree ages it can lose vigor but thats a pear which are known to live very long. A friends wife sprayed his tomatoes with a weak roundup solution because the sprayers got mixed up and she was helping him out. When he got home he sprayed them all down with water quickly before the roundup dried. They lived after going through a difficult time and produced gigantic tomatoes. I’m not sure he should have ate them but he did. The point im making is glysophate will impact leaves first on anything.
100% agree that pears are probably the most “livable” trees out there.
I’ll try and spray it with Topsin M fungicide and see if it will help.
Some years ago I had same problem with one young apple tree - every year it started off like that and only gave normal leaves second half of summer. I ecentually removed it.
Keep in mind certain wilts and other soil born pathogens exist. I’m not suggesting wilt in your case because it does not look like that Verticillium Wilt of Shade Trees | USU. Could there be something similar in your area im not familiar with a local agency might be aware of? As an example there are pests in some areas like pear blister leaf mites that cause leaves to curl but your leaves show no red blotches Pear tree - red splotchy, curled leaves - Ask Extension. When my pears look like that they need water. Have another idea that is unlikely which is midges The mystery of the curling pear leaves - Planters Place.
Thank you for this info Clark.
I’ll have to prune some shoots and and take a closer look
If its verticillium, I’ll definitely take measures.
Your welcome! No i dont think it is wilt but i do think there is something going on with the roots. Had a friend once that had wood ants hollow out his tree. He said he would have never found it had i not said inspect it closely. The only thing left was the outer cambium they ate the inside of the tree. He was inspecting around the roots and found out the tree was hollow. There was a hole i guess. See the root issue here as well Leaf curl on my new Bartlett Pear
My European pears have some disease. Any of you know what’s wrong with them and the treatment please? Thank you in advance for all advices.
It looks like a rust. Myclobutanil spray may help. I had it once in my pear tree. I spray immunox every year to prevent it happens
Vincent,
That is pear rust. Once the tree is affected, nothing much you can do. If you want to, you could spray it with fungicide like myclobutanil (one of the brand names is Immunox by Spectracide).
Next year, spray myclobutanil right after petal fall (after pear flowers dropped petals) once. If your area is quite rainy/wet, you can spray it again about 10-14 days later.
You should add sticker into the tank mix so the chemical stay on the leaves longer. Sticker like Bonide Turbo is easy to find and come in a small bottle.
@mamuang @IL847 thank you both of you so much. Anyway I just bought copper spray for my little Peach trees next year. Do you think can I use copper on the pear trees as well instead buy some more spray?
Copper is not effective against rust. You need fungicide like myclobunatil or fenbuconazole.
Also, not sure what copper you bought. Be careful spraying copper when trees leaf out. Copper can cause leaf burn. Please check the label for the time and amount to use.
@mamuang do you think if I spray chemicals for pear rust then have to repeat spray every single year? Below picture of my copper. Thank you Tipp.
That copper, copper octanoate, won’t help with pear rust.
You pear appears to be susceptible to pear rust. As long as you have host trees such as junipers around, it is likely you will have pear rust yearly.
It is not easy to remove all host trees but you can try. Here is the info on how pear rust occurs.
I’ve got pear rust up here too. Cooler climate so not as bad.
In March I sprayed LS and oil at cracked bud for blister mite.
Looks like I’ll need a spray for rust, too.
Hi Clark ,et al
I thought I would post an unusual pear happening here in my hobby orchard. I have been growing fruit for 40+ years and pears for that long. I now have over 150 varieties of pears (many multigrafted trees) and have never seen anything resembling this. So what are your thoughts?
I’m familiar with Apple mosaic virus causing leaf symptoms and have it on my Ashmead’s Kernal tree but this does not look like mosaic and only a low trunk sprout that grew this year is showing symptoms. The tree is a 20-year-old Shinko Asian pear grafted on P. calleryana with one limb grafted to Jilin. Jilin had fire blight strikes last year but is normal so far this year. No leaves on the rest of the tree are showing any changes.
My thoughts:
Bud sport to a variegated variety - I hope
Virus infection?
David
Have actually seen this before with other things. Typically it is a nutrient deficiency or root death/ disturbance issue. It can be caused by excess water. Have you had a lot of moisture lately? Try to give it magnesium aka epsom salts, i bet it clears up in a couple of months. My thoughts are it is the onset of chlorosis. Like you i thought it might be a variegated it wasn’t in my case.
@mamuang my 2 different varieties on one Asian pear tree. One has rust really bad the other doesn’t.
The spray Myclobutanil is very expensive spray and if we have to spray every year. I would rather remove the trees and find some natural rust resistant varieties to plant. Don’t know which varieties yet. Thank you so much for your information. Below my Asian pear tree with and without rust effected on the same tree.
@cdamarjian is that on your Asian pear? I don’t know if I remove all effecting branches, would it help for next year? To protect some of my Asian pear and fragrance pear trees. I might remove rust effected trees away Christine.
It’s on a European pear. Depending on the year, I will get mild cases of it on my Euro pears, rarely Asian pears. Just checked my Shinseiki, Chojuro, Misharasu, and Kosui. Just a few dots. Doesn’t seem to affect fruit so I’m going to wait and see.
Vincent,
Immunox is $13 a bottle at Home Depot. One bottle will last you several years. I don’t think it is expensive at all…