The leaves on the pear are turning black—just enough to grab your head. Just yesterday the tree pleased with its green crown and abundance of ovaries. And today it stands charred. This problem arises among inexperienced gardeners who neglect the rules for maintaining a tree in the garden. But even competent gardeners are not immune from trouble. The plant may be affected by an infection brought in from a neighboring untreated area. To save the tree and preserve the harvest, the exact cause of the blackening should be determined and treatment should begin immediately.
Possible causes of blackening of leaves and ways to combat them
Troubles usually become apparent in the summer. In order to promptly see the appearance of the first black leaves, you should regularly inspect the plant.
Causes of blackening and drying of the crown:
- disease;
- pest damage;
- illiterate care.
It is important to start treatment in a timely manner, since in advanced cases the entire tree will have to be removed.
Bacterial infection
A dangerous disease is bacterial burn. Pears get sick under the age of 10 years. The infection affects the tree through leaf stomata, wounds on the bark, or insect bites that have previously visited diseased trees.
To prevent severe consequences, the first signs of the disease should be identified:
- first, black, uneven spots appear on the leaves;
- then the leaves turn completely black and curl;
- the leaves fall off, and blackness spreads to the young shoots;
- the affected branches dry out and the trunk turns black.
If you don’t start treating the pear at the first sign, then after 2-3 weeks you will have to cut it down. The worst thing is that the infection will affect the rest of the trees in the garden.
It is important to remember: at the first signs of the disease, you need to cut off the blackened leaves and burn them. Then cut out the affected shoots and spray the entire tree with a solution of a copper-containing preparation.
Scab
This is a fungal disease that affects young pears less than 10 years old. The reasons for its appearance are:
- damp weather;
- thickened plantings;
- genetic predisposition of the plant.
Scab is easy to identify; just watch the plants. If on pear leaves:
- blurry spots appeared;
- and then they turned dark;
- dots are visible on the fruits or peduncles;
- the dots then grow into spots.
Scab is determined by a combination of signs. Fighting the disease is quite difficult. Fallen leaves rot, but scab spores remain in the soil and can survive the winter. Next year they will be blown onto the pear tree again by the wind.
When the first signs of fungus appear, you should immediately spray the plant with a copper-containing preparation.
Affected fruits can be eaten, but they will not be stored. In autumn, all leaves should be raked and burned, and the soil should be treated with a copper-containing preparation.
Medyanitsa
When a pear is infected with the copperhead, the leaves first become covered with black spots at the sites of the insect bite. The spots soon scar, but the tree is already affected: the leaves, trunk and branches are covered with a sticky coating, a product of the copperhead excretion. As the disease develops, a sooty fungus grows on the sticky secretion, which spreads to healthy parts of the plant. The tree is sick: the leaves dry out and fall off, the bark stops allowing air to pass through, and the fungus grows inside. After some time, if left untreated, the pear withers and dies.
At the first signs of illness you need to:
- spray the tree against the honeyweed with a suitable insecticide;
- Remove affected leaves and burn.
In the fall, all garbage should be raked and burned. Then treat the crown and trunk circle with a copper-containing preparation. Repeat treatment in spring. In addition, it is recommended to do preventive spraying against pests.
Care errors
Often leaves and shoots turn black and dry out as a result of improper care. In this case, the cause of the disease should be identified and the errors corrected:
- Pear leaves wither, and then turn black and fall off during dry summers or significant emissions of dust into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the gardener cannot correct the environmental situation.
- The entire top of a young pear has dried out, which means the tree is lacking calcium. It is recommended to urgently feed the tree with calcium nitrate (according to the application rate).
- The seedling has twisted and blackened shoots, it has stopped growing, which means the pear has a boron deficiency. In this case, it is enough to spray with a solution of boric acid. Subsequently, during planned fertilizing, it is recommended to apply fertilizers with the required amount of microelements.
It is important to remember: a healthy tree will not have leaves that turn black or dry out. And health can be ensured by proper care: timely feeding, watering, spraying and pruning.
Pests of pear leaves
Pests are often the cause of blackening of pear leaves. They parasitize the crown and cause its premature wilting and drying out.
Medyanitsa
The winged pest feeds on pear juice. As a result, the leaves turn black and fall off. The waste products of honey moths leave a sticky coating on the foliage and bark. This is a breeding ground for sooty fungus. Traps hung in the crowns of pear trees will help reduce the pest population. To do this, fermented jam is diluted in a liter of water and poured into bottles with holes made. Traps are updated once a week.
Pear gall mite
The gall mite pierces the leaves with its proboscis and sucks out the juice. But it is extremely difficult to notice: the insect is small and hardly manifests itself. The gardener simply notices that the leaf has turned black and dried out. A pear deprived of leaves weakens and dies over time.
Fighting ticks is quite difficult. At the first symptoms of damage, spray with insecticides twice with an interval of 14 days.
Aphid
There is hardly a garden free from this pest.The aphid itself is not very active. But its waste products have a sweet taste and attract ants. It is the latter that settle aphids on the pear. Aphids stick to the leaves, suck out the juices and deplete them. Subsequently, the leaves turn black, then dry out and become unsuitable for photosynthesis. As a result, the tree weakens and sheds its ovaries.
The danger of aphids is that insects carry infectious and fungal diseases. Pest freedom does not guarantee that the pear is not infected with fire blight or scab. To combat aphids, it is recommended to get rid of anthills. In the first half of April, the garden should be treated with insecticides. Timely weeding of pear tree trunks and removal of weeds will help reduce the aphid population. Spraying with tobacco infusion with the addition of green soap will help protect the crown.
Methods of prevention and treatment of trees
In order to protect the pear from blackening of the foliage, preventive measures should be taken:
- Apply fertilizing in a timely manner: a healthy tree has strong immunity.
- Choose varieties and hybrids for planting that are resistant to fire blight and scab.
- Weed out weeds in a timely manner.
- Conduct spring treatment against ants.
- Hang sticky tapes among the trees. Inspect them daily and identify any adhering pests. If a copperhead or gall mite appears, immediately treat it with insecticides.
- Maintain distance when planting trees and shrubs in the garden.
- Carry out sanitary and formative pruning in the garden in a timely manner.
- Carry out spring and autumn preventive treatment with insecticides.
- Remove and burn plant residues.
- Attract beneficial insects (ladybugs, antlions) to the garden to control pests.
It is important to understand: it is easier to prevent the appearance of pests than to get rid of them and treat the garden later.
Folk remedies and recipes
There are traditional methods for pest control:
- Old millet scattered near an anthill will force pests to abandon their home.
- Spraying a urea solution around the tree trunk in the fall will kill wintering pests.
- Covering the trunk circle with dark-colored lutrasil in the spring will prevent overwintering copperheads.
- Prophylactic fumigation with smoke during the blooming of leaves in the spring gives good results.
To prevent pest invasion, calendula, delphinium, yarrow, and tobacco should be planted in the garden.
