Pear disease

Question

Please tell me what happened. Last year we had bacterial fireblight of a young pear tree so we treated with a drug on copper basis. This year after treating, leaves have been spared but just formed fruits all fell off, except some that were totally burnt out.

Answer 1

Were there droplets of ooze on your pear fruit? That typically is a hallmark of fire blight. Also, based on my research, fire blight does not usually cause fruit drop en masse, infected fruits typically shrivel up, blacken and remain attached to the branch. However, you did say that the pears that still hung on the tree looked “totally burnt out.”

So, a couple different things may be at play which I will discuss below:

Had the fire blight diseased branches been pruned since your tree was originally infected last year? Do you see any blackened branches now? You mentioned treating with copper but did not mention pruning. If your tree wasn’t pruned, then your tree could still harbor the fire blight pathogen. Hence, the totally burnt out looking fruit.

How many years old is your pear tree? Pear trees are not mature enough to produce viable fruit until they are 4-6 years old. Your tree will drop fruit it is not mature enough to produce.

For more information on pear trees, please visit the following link:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/pear/growing-pear-trees.htm

Answer 2

First when I saw burnt branches I cut them off and used disinfecting agent(here in Croatia called varikina) and treated with copper.This year I treated twice(while leafing and while blooming).There were tree,four fruits that remained on the branch but looked like burnt matches,all other fruits dropped from the tree(about 40 of them).The tree has about 3 years….

Answer 3

It does sound like a combination of tree immaturity (fruit drop) with a possibility of fire blight recurrence given the burnt out looking fruit. However, a diagnosis for fire blight would be more definitive if there was also the presence of burnt out branches, twigs or leaves. It could be the fruit that didn’t drop simply dried up or rotted. At this time I would remain vigilant.

Answer 4

I saw some branches with black apexes but their number is negligible.Fruits that fell off left stalk stumps thar are still green(?)Should I sprinkle with more copper?