Blight On Bartlett Pear Tree - Knowledgebase Question

Alta Loma, CA
Avatar for SCWtaxi
Question by SCWtaxi
February 23, 2001
We an eight year old Bartlett Pear that has been a problem every year. It gets heavy Blight - and we have been cutting out all the black and infected limbs. Also we have been spraying it with Ortho Daconil every late spring or summer.
We live in Alta Loma (Rancho Cucamonga), CA I'm ready to pull the tree out and give it to a neighbor that wants it.
Please help...

Thank you!


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Answer from NGA
February 23, 2001
Sounds suspiciously like the disease called fire blight, a common disease on pears. You can confirm this by looking for wilted branch tips, cankers on branches or trunk, and oozing material coming from twigs, branches or cankers. Shoots will look like they have been scorched; hence the name fire blight.

Fire blight is a bacterial infection that spreads rapidly. All infected twigs, branches and cankers should be removed from the tree. Prune well back--6-8"--from evidence of infection. That is, if you see signs of infection on the last 6" of the branch, prune off 12-14" to be sure you are removing all infected material.

Be sure to disinfect your pruning tools after each cut. Use one part household bleach to nine parts water, or dip your cutting tools in pure alcohol after each cut. After you've removed the infected plant parts you can help protect the remainder of the tree by spraying with a lime-sulfur (Bordeaux) dormant spray.


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