Ignoring the leaf eating, anyone recognize the issue I’m having with my pear? Darker underside of leaves in some peripheral spots, and some leader discoloration.
It doesn’t appear to be the standard fireblight we get here, though I could be wrong. I have it at some level on Harrow Sweet and Bartlett. Pics from both trees (white spots are surround overspray).
TBH, I probably have not given them enough water this year, and don’t know if it’s possible it is dehydration + sunscald.
Thanks. Yeah, the stem ‘staining’ or ‘streaking’, as I’d call it was the bigger concern for me and had me squinting to see it as fireblight. I’m at least 7 days out from having seen the initial issue, and there really hasn’t been much change. I’m accustomed to fireblight eventually killing clusters of leaves, but to-date, they are still green on-top. Earlier I lobbed off 1/3 of a main scaffold, thinking it was fireblight. I’m going to hold tight for a bit and see what happens to the leader.
I have had blight that looked close to that. It is a very unusual disease, it moves imperceptibly slowly most of the time and then boom it moves like lightning. It might have been shut down by a change in weather just as it was taking hold. Or who knows what.
Our FB pressure is so high here… I feel like it’s always moving the speed of light here, but that may be a regional thing.
On your comment about different forms, I think FB is a kind of similar to poison ivy in that way. That said, here, I have not see it not cause total death of the leaves, but am watching like a hawk. I hate to trim out the leader on speculation, when I am pretty confident I under watered. That might turn out to be a mistake!
Was away for a few days, and in that time, the darker leaves got darker and crispier. Some new end shoots also appeared (has me thinking not likely to be FB), which either Japanese beetles (I’ve only found one on my pears), Grasshoppers, or earwigs have been munching. I think surround is effective on the first two.
@scottfsmith - I know you’ve used a lot of surround. Have you ever tried to keep a small (i.e. < 1 gallon) sprayer or even a spray bottle loaded with some surround pre-mixed for small sprays like this, so you don’t have to mix some up? I’m not sure how it does in solution for extended periods.
I see something very similar on my apple trees in the “undergrowth” without enough light. It isn’t usually too bad and doesn’t usually affect the same branches from uear to year. What’s the trick for helping a tree “beat” fireblight if that’s what it is? This year I’ve have a new issue on some leaves where part with just trun black - usually lower down the branches that also look like these pictures. Not sure i can help just offering sympathy that i see something similar.
