I just noticed my Moonglow pear turn on a dime. Almost the entire tree has darkened leaves. One has white spots with the darkened leaves. Hopefully it is mites instead of fire blight?
I bought it new this late spring. I live near Fort Worth. I watered it 5 days ago and didnt notice any issues. I check all my trees thoroughly every time I water. I sprayed it with Malathion last time I watered, since I was spraying a plum tree that had something eating its leaves. The Malathion was mixed maybe 3 months ago? The other 14 trees (including two Bartletts) don’t seem to have any issue.
Can someone help me, please? Thank you!
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It doesn’t look like fireblight.
Psylla does that blackened thing to leaves and so do spider mites. Both can make a tree look droopy but this seems really extra droopy.
It might need more frequent watering.
It could also be that the mites/psylla were really bad and the tree lost moisture. Or it could be a graft failure.
Thank you for the reply. It had been 5 days since it was last watered and maybe a week before that. That tree is the first to dry out for some reason. Glad it isnt fire blight. I didnt think so, but I just wanted to ask anyways. I ended up pulling all of the leaves that had it. Im surprised though that it got mites or psylla after spraying it. Maybe it was already infected when I sprayed?
It probably had the insects originally but the damage or their adult forms didn’t show up till later.
Try watering it a with a couple gallons, every other day, at the base. Make sure the leaves don’t get wet in the sun (don’t splash the water on the leaves) because it can burn them. After the first summer you won’t have to water so much - but hot dry weather can really affect a newly planted tree.
Report back on the drooping. Even if some leaves drop off, it may recover well.
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