It sounds they were attacked by some sort of fruit flies.

Without seeing the fruits, stinkbugs are high on my list.
Have seen, in the past, some pretty bad quince/pear rust infection on fruits on some pears; pretty disfiguring.

Had lots of cracking on some of my pears this summer, due to all the rain we had.

Yes, likely stinkbugs. Perhaps, more specifically, brown marmorated stink bugs, abbreviated BMSB. Lots of info & pix on the web. Hundreds of hosts, with apples & pears among favorites.

OK...I had a small tree with about 20 pears, most were deformed and fall off early in the development, only two ripened,
this one was the best, I was told apple maggots.
What do you think?

Conrad, in my experience stink bugs and fruit flies don't cause fruit to drop. That happens when seeds are destroyed early in the season, IME.

Here, stink bugs are certainly the worst insect pest of pear fruit.

Konrad, I meant to say same of fruit flies as stinkbugs.

Not apple maggot. Could be codling moth, or not.

One dent/dimple/hole doesn't mean you have a disaster. It might only indicate that a bug started chewing then quit. Home gardeners cut out minor damage, then enjoy the apple.

In order to diagnose the problem, cut the fruit in half, top to bottom, making certain you go through the middle of the hole.

Then post a picture of the cut surface so that we can talk further.

This post was edited by jean001a on Mon, Nov 25, 13 at 15:09

Thank you all!
All pears what dropped looked worse, more dimples and deformity then the one I show.
Jean,
When I say most were deformed, something chewing on it doesn't make sense.

When the fruit is very small (young), a bite can damage cells which never enlarge, thus the fruit is deformed.

Still would like to see a picture of the interior via a cut thru the dimple/hole.

I believe that the damage perse was cause by a "sucking" insect. However, deformation may be due to the fact that this is the trees first production. I have two asian pear trees that are in their first production year and each produced 4-6 pears; many were deformed in shape. Corky spots were caused by a sucking insect bite.

I had two asian pear trees bear fruit for the first time this year. Neither had any deformed fruit.

The one on the left is my Korean Giant (3.9", 12-13 brix, pretty good mild flavor). The one on the right is from a local PYO orchard, which doesn't do a good job thinning their asian pears.

The Korean doesn't look ripe. They turn bright golden when they are and should have much higher brix than that. Is the tree in full sun? When did you pick it?

Mine used not to get hit but as tree grows so does the ability to get attention from pests. Half my fruit was damaged by codling moth and/or stink bugs this year, but I still got more than I really want.

Well, we haven't heard back from the OP much less received any pictures. To me it sounds like "cat facing." Don't know what is prevalent in OK that causes this in pears. Consult your Co. Ext. or MG workshop...hopefully they have a pest day every couple of weeks. If you take samples please bag them in ziplock bags just before taking them in to prevent disease spread (in case it is a pathogen), and I would pick examples immediately before you go so it is fresh if possible. Otherwise refrigerate.

http://extension.usu.edu/boxelder/files/uploads/Fruit Production/Cat Facing Insects.pdf [slideshow]

http://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/htm/advisories/treefruit/articleID=17836#catfi

It is important to distinguish early versus late cat facing. Early (usually extensive) needs be treated as soon as the pollination ceases (the stamens fall off). I would likely try WP Surround [kaolin clay; the white stuff in toothpaste] first because I don't like pesticides but that is up to you after consulting with the CoExt/MGs.

The complaint of seriously warped fruit on one half could be a separate problem. Incomplete fertilization can result in half fruit (being pollinated) the other half not and one side develops the other side not so much.

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/what-is-incomplete-pollination/incomplete-pear/

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat Facing Insects (UT)

This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 18:55

Harvestman,

Yes, I picked the Korean Giant too soon, on 9/24. Next year I'll time it better, but I had only 1 (very large) fruit on the tree (3rd year). It isn't in full sun (sun from 11-12 to late afternoon during summer), but is located up against a tall (8'+) WSW facing stone retaining wall, which keeps it pretty warm. The seeds were mostly dark, though a few were half pale. Even though I wasn't thrilled with it, it was still pleasant and I was happy, as my wife liked it a lot (it's important to get some buy-in for my excessive hobby...). With a few more points of brix, it could be pretty good, especially given how nicely pristine the fruit and leaves were- much better than any of my apples.

The other tree was a 20th Century (2nd year tree), with 2 fruits. I didn't like it that much (~10 brix is too low), but still picked the 2nd one just one day after the first (9/1), due to demand from the kids who loved it. Shinko and Yoinashi will be in their 2nd leaf next year.

Pic: 20th Century on 8/31 (3.25x2.75", 10-10.7 brix, very juicy and crisp)

FN,

You're very correct when you say that various agents may be the cause. That's why we won't be able to offer solid suggestions unless we see a cut fruit.

The fruit are long gone. They ripened in mid September and we didn't try to store any of them since we knew there were good pears on Dad's and daughter's trees to ripen in October. You have all given me things to consider for next year. We'll pay closer attention then. Thank you. BTW, I had two perfect fruit on the Hosui Asian pear ripen for the first time. So whatever got the other pear didn't hurt the Asian. The Asian ripened much earlier than the other one.

Thanks for the update. Hope things go better next year.

Bob, spring was a bit late this year and in spite of all the good ripening weather pears ripened late. Also, I think A. pears need full sun to obtain full sugar- pears in general aren't good in the shade trees for me.

Asian pear fruit can take it down to 20 F., so you can wait until leaves turn yellow to harvest fruit most seasons if they need it.

It's worth it to prune the trees so they are very open as they mature. The only 20th cents. I tasted here that were really sugar were espaliers against a white, south facing wall near Lakeville CT. KG has a tendency to be sweeter.

Thank you all!

Charlie,
for me it was the other way around, last year this tree had the first time two or three pears without any deformity.

Hello, we were effected this year by stony pit virus on several of our pear trees. It apparently is spread by infected scions or rootstock. While 3 of our trees were grafted on wild rootstock, the others were from nurseries and scions from GRIN. I am hoping not to have to take the trees out, some are large and producing

That is exactly what our pears looked like. This is a grafted tree--I don't remember the variety--that we got from Stark's. It has taken a long time to bear because the deer ate it back hard the first year it was planted. Is there a treatment? Spray? Soil drench? We don't want to have to take this tree out just when it finally started bearing. What is GRIN?

If the diagnosis is stony pit of pear, the news is bad.
No chance of improvement.
No cure.
No fix.

From Penn State:
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/fruit-diseases/pear/stony-pit

Here is a link that might be useful: stony pit

Hello, GRIN is the National Germplasm repository. They grow plants of all types to keep the germplasm alive and available for propagation. They have many old and rare varieties which are not available on the open market.

Mulberryknob, here's another report of Stony Pit you may find interesting. The other poster got his tree from Starks as well.

But, before giving up on the tree, I'd want to make sure it wasn't something else causing the problem. Maybe bag half a dozen pears (zip locks with the corners cut off) when they are still tiny, after making sure they don't have any small bite marks. That should at least keep most bugs and fungus off it.

Thanks Harvestman- with larger crops, I'll make sure to let most hang longer. As it was, the 20th Century were at least equal in flavor (and much larger than) to the PYO Shinshiki & Houshui we picked a few weeks later and the Korean Giant was clearly better.

Both are in warm spots in the yard, with nearby stones which reflect some light and heat. Maybe I should look into finding white mulch. But, given how many trees I have, I don't think anything can compete with freely delivered wood chips.

Bob,

We are not very far from each others. My 20th century was ripe around mid Sept. KG starts ripening from end of Sept into the first two weeks of Oct. I sometimes had to pick them at the end of Sept for squirrels are the big enemies.

My 20th century is juicy and mildly sweet. KG is crunchy, juicy and a lot sweeter. Mine could weigh 1lbs or more when I paid more attention to thinning.

This year all my Asian pears got hit hard by PC, and OFM and possible, coddling moth, too. Lots of damaged fruit.

The posts on stony pit are good to know. It's worrisome for those who grow varieties that are susceptible.

This one wasnt ripe yet but is an example