pear leaf blister mite

[seb47]

Despite all our precautions - autumn grease bands, organic traitement total, bouille bordelaise sprays - our young late fruiting pear (Canada) tree has fallen prey to the horrible black spots on leaves. Some people say cut all the infected leaves off, but this would leave the tree with no foliage at all. Any advice / hope?

Many thanks, Sue.

PS our melons were fantastic - we harvested about 35 but sadly not many left now - thanks for answers to my previous thread.

[Cassis]

Sue - definitely pear leaf blister mite, not pear scab?  Started as pink or yellow-green blisters or blotches, in broad bands either side of the main leaf rib, before turning black?  If so, the RHS Fruit and Veg book says the damage is unsightly but does not seriously affect cropping. 

It says no effective insecticide is available for use by the public (at least in the UK) but on lightly affected small trees, if you pick off all the affected leaves it will reduce the problem in later years.  But this is not practical for heavy infestations or big trees.

Hope that helps.

[seb47]

Thanks Cassis - it's difficult to discriminate between the symptoms. I only know that every leaf now has huge black spots, where there were pink blotches before spraying. We haven't had any flowers and the only sign of life is buds between the leaves and stems (where I read the next league of mites will over winter!) I'm going to take off all the leaves, but whether the tree survives is another matter!

Sue.