I have recently (in my second year) decided to try and become the resident Gardner at our family estate in the foothills of the western Rockies.

The gardens and forested areas here were established over sixty years ago and whoever was responsible for the original layout was surely a Master Gardener of his or her time.

The layout has virtually maintained itself for the fifteen years of neglect prior to me taking up the responsibility. I am slowly attempting to restore as much of it as possible, as gently as possible.

The ecosystem here is amazingly well balanced and diverse, so I prefer to avoid synthetic "cures" at nearly all cost.

Now that I have introduced myself I am curious to see if anyone thinks this pear tree or its seedling can be saved. I am not concerned about fruit this year so digging and pruning are on the table if anyone thinks its worth a shot.

For some reason someone cut the trunk about a foot and a half from the ground and from the looks of it it could have been done many years ago.
As you would suspect that caused it to shout out low and wide. There is a seedling behind it that hasn't been pruned and its already as tall as the original

To make things worse, upon closer inspection I found a dozen or so leaves that have this mysterious miner of some sort. It doesn't look like any blister moth pictures I can find.. Not sure what it is.

If anyone has any suggestions or any idea where to start on these trees or what this leaf problem is, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
dj

Sorry to say but I don't think that leaf on the photo is a pear leaf.

Tony

thanks.
dj

If you look up hackberry leaf gall, you'll find a match. No need to do anything to control them....the damage is strictly aesthetic.

Some people consider hackberrys messy, which might explain why the tree was cut down at some point.

Thanks, I think you are spot on Rhizo. I guess during all of my years away from this place the pear tree truly didn't make it. Sorry about the confusion.

dj