Can somebody help me to identify the disease on my backyard asian pear tree - see photo below ? There are about 10-15 fruits or so effected by the disease.
Thanks
Jimmy
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I think itâs rust, but I didnât find a picture to match.
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I think itâs quince rust. You have to google quince rust but it affects pears and apples.
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Do you grow quince as well?
By the way, Jimmy, welcome back. Long time no talk!!!
Howâs your sapodilla doing?
Yuck!
About my sap trees, I was out of town for a long period of time, I then gave the trees to my cousin. I guess he was not trained to take such a delicate piece of arts and left them outdoor during the winter months. The trees died shortly afterward.
Sad ending âŚ
Hi Jimmy, long time no talk!
Just notice my Raja pears look like yours. No Cedars around, apples arenât affectedâŚIâm not sure what it is
Sorry to hear about the untimely death of your sapodilla. I have good friends whom I stop giving plants to because they like my plants but they did not take care of them.
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I think yâall are right, quince rust
Glad you are back, Jimmy. Hope you post more frequently.
I have one branch on a Colette Pear thatâs wilting, has browning leaves and has what I believe is the beginning of 2 cankers. Can anyone help ID my problem⌠fire blight ? Iâm preparing to remove this branch, but itâs the only one on this side and I wish I could keep it.
A picture of the tip of the branch could help. The newest growth is the most vulnerable.
Hereâs a cut-n-paste from an article:
Fire Blight
Revised 7/11
IDENTIFICATION AND DAMAGE
In spring, branch and trunk canker symptoms can appear as soon as trees begin active growth. The first sign is a watery, light tan bacterial ooze that exudes from cankers (small to large areas of dead bark that the pathogen killed during previous seasons) on branches, twigs, or trunks. The ooze turns dark after exposure to air, leaving streaks on branches or trunks. However, most cankers are small and inconspicuous; thus infections might not be noticed until later in spring when flowers, shoots, and/or young fruit shrivel and blacken. The amount of fruit loss depends upon the extent and severity of the disease.
Open flowers are the most common infection sites (Figure 3) and remain susceptible until petal fall. Infected flowers and flower stems wilt and turn black on pear trees and brown on apple trees. Fire blight infections might be localized, affecting only the flowers or flower clusters, or they might extend into the twigs and branches, causing small shoots to wilt (Figure 4) and form a crook at the end of each infected shoot. Succulent tissues of shoots and water sprouts (root suckers) also are subject to infection. Dead, blackened leaves and fruit cling to branches throughout the season, giving the tree a scorched appearance, hence the name âfire blight.â Infections can extend into scaffold limbs, trunks, or root systems and can kill highly susceptible hosts. Less susceptible varieties might be severely disfigured. Once infected, the plant will harbor the pathogen indefinitely.
When the pathogen spreads from blossoms into wood, the newly infected wood underneath the bark has pink to orange-red streaks (Figure 5). The bacteria also spread into the wood surrounding overwintered cankers that have become active in spring. If the bark is cut away from the edge of an active canker, reddish flecking can be seen in the wood adjacent to the canker margin. This flecking represents new infections the bacteria cause as they invade healthy wood. As the canker expands, the infected wood dies, turns brown, and dries out; areas of dead tissue become sunken, and cracks often develop in the bark at the edges of the canker. The pathogen tends to move in trees from the infection site toward the roots. In fall, leaves on infected pear shoots often turn red and then black.
LIFE CYCLE
Fire blight bacteria overwinter in cankers on twigs, branches, or trunks of host trees. In spring when the weather is sufficiently warm and moist and trees resume growth, a small percentage of the cankers become active as bacteria multiply and ooze from branch or twig surfaces in a light tan liquid. Splashing rain or insects transmit the bacteria to nearby blossoms or succulent growing shoots. Once blossoms are contaminated with the bacteria, honey bees become efficient carriers of the pathogen.
Injuries on tender young leaves and shoots, caused by wind, hail, or insect punctures, are easily invaded by the fire blight bacteria. Such infections lead to shoot blight. Ideal conditions for infection, disease development, and spread of the pathogen are rainy or humid weather with daytime temperatures from 75° to 85°F, especially when night temperatures stay above 55°F.
Fire blight bacteria generally donât move uniformly through the bark but invade healthy wood by moving in narrow paths up to 1 1â2 inches wide in the outer bark ahead of the main infection. These long, narrow infections can extend 2 to 3 feet beyond the edge of the main infection or canker. If you expose bark from an infected woody area, you will see that the diseased tissue closest to the main canker is brown. Farther out, the infection turns red and then appears as flecking. Just beyond the visible infection the tissue will look healthy.
Tree vigor has a major influence on the extent of fire blight damage. Once established, the distance the pathogen moves relates directly to the susceptibility of the tree and rate of tree growth. Vigorously growing shoots are the most severely affected; therefore, conditions such as high soil fertility and abundant soil moisture, which favor rapid shoot growth, increase the severity of damage to trees. In general, trees are more susceptible when young and suffer less damage as they age.<< (http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7414.html)
Hope this helps!
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I didnât post it because itâs slightly out of focus and thereâs no shepherdâs hook, BUT it does show signs of diseaseâŚ
That one canker is close to the trunk so Iâm thinking the branch needs to come off asap so this doesnât become systemic.
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Please donât remove the branch on my say-so, but I think youâre right and thatâs what I would do. Wait until some other comments come through before deciding!
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@AndySmith
When in doubt remove it. Its always about the long term with growing fruit. That being said you might try and get better photos because i see no fireblight in that photo. A branch with disease could be something just as bad or not as bad as fireblight. Its good to know what your dealing with in case there is more to come.
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Thank you Clark, I wasnât seeing obvious signs of fire blight, BUT my experience is limited. Iâll keep researching and switch to the good camera for better photoâs.
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My parents have three asian pears of the same unknown favorite russet variety, near Cincinnati Ohio. One of the three trees had spotty leaves last summer, shed much leaves, and appears to have lost its vigor this year. Two of the three started having spotty leaves this summer. Another (not favorite) asian pear variety rubbing branches away with one of the three diseased tree have not developed any spotty leaves. Pictures are from mid July 2022. Any idea what this is?
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