poor pear trees :(

9 years ago

Found out our 2 fall pear trees have fire blight. Most likely entered the blossoms after the late frost in mid-May. The tree needed a LOT of pruning anyway because it has never been pruned and is at least 40' tall. The one next to that one was scorched when a building next to it burned a few years ago. Will miss the fruit this fall and longer until another tree starts to produce. There are a few pears on the tree though, will they mature or will the tree drop them? Would be great to get to harvest them at least.

Comments (3)

agrocoders
9 years ago
Yes. I have 2 saplings (well 7 ft' store bought trees) a Bartlett & a Kiefer.

Something killed the Kieffer it just started to leaf out and died. It was stressed by 2 April frosts, one in mid April though.

The Bartlett is starting to recover but it lost a few branches.

I read the Kieffer & Bartlett are actually bad choices but of course I didn't know that. I've read the 2 varieties called 'Harvest Queen' and 'Harvest something else' are most resistant and make good pears.

I'm glad I now know what Fire Blight looks like so I can either get rid of those trees or prune back. I was, well shocked really, to read the government allows streptomycin as anti-bacterial treatment for . No telling what else. Uh, let's use that stuff sparingly as possible I think.

It's made up my mind to start avoiding artificial fertilizers & pesticides & plant disease treatments. If a plant don't make it I'll have to try another of the same type plant or a different variety. We just don't know about all the 'good organisms' that are killed or mutated with such treatments.

This post was edited by AgroCoders on Sat, Jun 7, 14 at 19:53
2010champsbcs
9 years ago
Consider fireblight resistant pear trees for your area. I have Orient, Ayers, and Moonglow. No fireblight here.
agrocoders
9 years ago
Thanks. I'll look for them in September when they are back in stock.