Pear tree leaf problem

Hi all, As you can see in the photo's, my pear tree has blossom. Last year it was exactly the same but produced no fruit and mid summer most of the leaves fell off. I have noticed today that the leaves have strange red blotches on them, but cannot recollect if this happened last year to cause the lack of fruit. Does anyone know what this may be, and is there anything I can do about it? Thanx, Doug.

 

Hi Doug,
It's Pear Leaf Blister Mite. If you don't mind sacrificing the fruit this year, you could spray with a systemic insecticide (once the flowering has finished) which will travel through the leaves and kill the little blighters. If you want to go the organic route, pick off all the infected leaves and collect any fallen leaves and burn or bin them. Then give the trees a good feed of a balanced fertiliser and water if necessary (especially through the summer) to help the tree refoliate. You might need to repeat the procedure next year as well, but there'll be less each year as long as their reproductive cycle is broken.

 

Thanks for that Noisette47, I will try the insecticide once the flowers are finished and see if that sorts it.

 

My pleasure It would still be worthwhile collecting up affected leaves if possible..it reduces the chances of re-infection. There's also a really nasty pest called Pear Midge that lays it's eggs in the flowers and then the maggots burrow into the young fruit and make them drop off. And off goes the cycle again, unless the fruit are collected up and burnt!