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kudzu9

What's with this pear?

kudzu9
10 years ago

I have quite a few fruit trees, including several multi-graft pear trees. On one particular 4-graft dwarf pear tree that is about 5 years old, some of the fruit is misshaped and has some weird exterior cracking. I also had some pears on this tree exhibit this appearance and never get very big or ripe at all. The damage is superficial, and the fruit tastes fine. Still, I'm wondering if anyone can diagnose whether this is some type of disease, or underwatering, or something else. Thanks.

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Comments (10)

  • ltilton
    10 years ago

    A really bad case of pear scab?

  • kudzu9
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    ltilton-
    I looked at images of pear scab after your comment, and a few showed some fruit with a couple of fissures sort of like my photos, but mostly the disease looks like scabs, so I don't know. The one other thing I recall now is that this same tree had some small bright rust spots on some of the leaves about 1/4"-1/2 inch in diameter, but without noticeable leaf damage other than the spots. So, the tree could have pear rust starting, but that usually doesn't affect the fruit, I understand.

  • skyjs
    10 years ago

    I have had weirdly shaped fruit like that, and I don't know why for sure. My guess is that something was trying to eat it while it was young and growing, and the pear/tree was fighting it, but I'd love to hear from Scott or someone who actually knows.
    John S
    PDX OR

  • geosankie
    10 years ago

    misshapen fruit is often caused by incomplete fertilization of the ovules

  • Scott F Smith
    10 years ago

    Bug damage on baby fruitlets causes oddly shaped fruits, e.g. stinkbugs or curculio, but the above damage seems more extreme, the calyx is coming out the side.

    I would go with geosankie's idea. I have not had that on pears myself but some kiwis did that and I concluded it was a pollination issue: the fruits looked undamaged on the outside but they were just not growing on one side.

    Scott

  • murkwell
    10 years ago

    That reminds me of fruit that were brought to the Home Orchard Society's All About Fruit show as a demonstration of a particular mineral deficiency. I can't remember which it was but not one of the most common.

    The whole surface of the fruit looked like the black cracked area of yours. I did a quick google search and couldn't find examples. If you are interested I can inquire further.

  • kudzu9
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    murky-
    Thanks, I would be interested in more info. I have about 15 fruit trees of various kinds on my 1+ acre lot, and they are in pretty close proximity to one another. They are all doing pretty well, so I would be surprised if this one had a deficiency the others didn't...but who knows?

  • copingwithclay
    10 years ago

    If there are many fruit with this condition, you may want to spend a little time investigating. If it is only one, I'd just categorize it as one of the MANY gardening curiosities, enjoy your photo, and get back to fighting the bigger challenges.....like dealing with debt, exhaustion, ever-growing honey-do lists, etc.

  • kudzu9
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I'd say about 20% of the fruit on the tree was shrunk (never got very big), mishapen, and/or had this weird cracking. Last year I had some of the same thing, but it's a young tree and there wasn't much fruit to gauge by.

  • Beeone
    10 years ago

    It looks to me like physical damage when the pear was small, which lead to scarring on the wounds, which then didn't expand as the pear grew leading to the curled shape, although eventually the growing pear cracked the scars and re-scarred. The first picture kind of looks like the scabs follow a pattern and slight indentation like the pear was in contact with some branches--add in some wind and movement and the branches would damage the skin and lead to scarring. I've seen somewhat similar damage on blue plums where they rubbed on a limb, and seen apples grow deformed where they were damaged when young and it led to a scar.