Pear problems

[fishingchip55]

In 2013 I planted 3 Kieffer pear trees, 2 in one plot, 1 in another. Last year each had a few small pears but before they could get any size they turned black and wilted away. This year all three trees have maybe 10 or so pears, much larger but are doing the same thing. I would love to save what is still on the tree if anyone can help. Thanks in advance

 

[ucfireman]

Cant help but I had a bunch on my oriental pear and they are all gone. I don't think they ripened and fell but I don't have any on the tree.
I need help too and will be watching for answers.

 

[doomtrpr_z71]

Sounds like fire blight

 

[fishfryer]

Fire blight killed Bartlett,Starkling,and Kieffer pears here. Orient only one that will produce for me.

 

[Milkman]

Google UGA Extension Service and see if they have something on your problem. They have publications about most everything fruits

 

[fishingchip55]

Ok thanks, I'll stop by there tomorrow.

 

[Crakajak]

You can spray for blight damage.I think you have to spray in the early spring and the chemical is strypomyasin????isn,t cheap......but cheaper than starting over.
Google it.You have to cut the infected wood off and treat your cutter blade after every cut.

 

[billc]

In 2013 I planted 3 Kieffer pear trees, 2 in one plot, 1 in another. Last year each had a few small pears but before they could get any size they turned black and wilted away. This year all three trees have maybe 10 or so pears, much larger but are doing the same thing. I would love to save what is still on the tree if anyone can help. Thanks in advance

You can get a small 2 oz jar of Fertilome streptomycin for $15. Tablespoon makes 2-1/2 gal of spray. Supposed to spray every week. Hard to do unless you live close. Only remedy I know of.

 

[Jim Boyd]

My mature pear trees got zapped by a late frost this year. The one nearest the house is loaded, however - and - it was the opposite last year.

I have 52 two year old trees (we planted 5’ bare root trees in winter 2019, so we have had them in the ground for about 18 months) and they are going gangbusters. 3-4 actually have pears on them. They range from about 10’ to 16’ tall.


Best of luck to all.

 

[gawildlife]

There is another treatment for firelight other than streptomycin. I can't recall the name but it's basically a benign bacteria that takes up in the blooms and places where the fire blight bacteria would otherwise get established.

 

[doomtrpr_z71]

You pretty much have 2 choices

Spray agrimycin or kocide

Kocide is copper sulfate, agrimycin is an antibiotic and even then it's going to take constant sprays

https://extension.uga.edu/publicati...t: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment#Management

 

[Triple C]

No advice to solve your issue but just a little commentary for others that might be following. I went overboard when I bought my place in 2011 and planted Kieffer and Orient in or around every plot along with a few apple trees. If I had a do over...I would plant/graft no other soft-bearing mast tree other than native persimmons.

My Kieffer's are hit and miss with most years a miss due to late frosts wiping them out. Orients have never produced. On the few hit years since planting, the fruit drops by late September when it's too hot to wanna hunt over or near them.

Good ol' native persimmons on the other hand, bear fruit every year and drop thru the early part of December, and never need any care of any type other than keeping them daylighted. Native persimmons for me are akin to white clover...gift that keeps on giving year after year after year. And deer will dodge arrows to get to persimmons.

 

[gawildlife]

Pears can be problematic not only with fireblight and early frosts on early varieties but some cultivars are pollen sterile or pollen incompatible requiring another cultivar for cross pollination. And they need to bloom at the same time. Orient is known to need cross pollination as does Bartlett.
For food plot pears I would look for either southern pear cultivars with a known history of thriving in our conditions or cruise the back roads looking for seedling and old farm yard pears that survive unassisted and collect scion wood for grafting.

 

[ucfireman]

No advice to solve your issue but just a little commentary for others that might be following. I went overboard when I bought my place in 2011 and planted Kieffer and Orient in or around every plot along with a few apple trees. If I had a do over...I would plant/graft no other soft-bearing mast tree other than native persimmons.

My Kieffer's are hit and miss with most years a miss due to late frosts wiping them out. Orients have never produced. On the few hit years since planting, the fruit drops by late September when it's too hot to wanna hunt over or near them.

Good ol' native persimmons on the other hand, bear fruit every year and drop thru the early part of December, and never need any care of any type other than keeping them daylighted. Native persimmons for me are akin to white clover...gift that keeps on giving year after year after year. And deer will dodge arrows to get to persimmons.

I have heard that's why Chestnuts were so prolific and a great food source, they bloom late (after any late frost) and produce every year. Sad almost all are gone except what we are planting now.
I have planted plums and crabapples and notice they are almost always frozen.
Been planting figs around too, deer eat the heck out of those, almost to death of the tree. Snowball viburnum too and azaleas.