why are my pear tree leaves turning black and the tops of branches look brunt.

Question

The tree is about 5 years old, and last year the leaves just started turning black and crisp and the stems off branches turned black and dead. I trimmed all aff last year and this year its back. What do i do? I have other fruit trees near by and they are not affected/

Answer 1

Its not an infection, therefore your other fruit trees will not be affected by this tree.

What you are describing is a tree that is being eaten by critters at its root system.  Not insects, but probably moles or rodents.  The tree does not have the ability to nourish all of its branches due to the problem.  Unfortunately, there is no easy solution.  The tree is probably dead or close to death, and should be removed, but the problem will remain and what ever has eaten its roots may move on to the next tree.  If you decide to cut the tree down, you may want to get pest control to deal with the issues before they bloom out of site.  Sorry about the loss of the tree. -Birdy

Answer 2

If you other trees are not infected..............they will be if you don't take this tree down.  Sounds like a fungus.  Don't burn the wood anywhere near those other trees as you could spread the spores.

Answer 3

You need to take that one tree down so it does not spread to the other trees........it sounds like black wart or black knot disease...........I had this problem with plum trees but If we did not take them down they would spread to the other trees.  We had to replace 22 trees with something else.  peach is better than most other trees choose early & late.................

I tried several methods to control it and it did not work............when you are finished with your saw you have to clean the blade so not to tranfer it to another tree.

Answer 4

This is FIREBLIGHT.  Bradford pears are very suseptible.  Cut the infected branches off about six inches below any sign of the infection.  Use a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water on you cutting implement  between each cut.  Don't compost the branches or leaves.  Clean up around the base of the tree so there is no debris from the tree on the ground.  There is no reason to take down the tree.

Fireblight is also common in roses.  It's unattractive, but not deadly.