European Pear Rust

jrtfan

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=236

Looking on the link, it says this is a fungus which affects pears and junipers on alternate years. I spotted the bright orange patches on some of the leaves of my patio pear tree last week and have removed, then burnt, all of the affected leaves. Since then, I've been keeping a careful eye out for any more signs of fungal attack but so far, so good.

The juniper bush this fungus came from must be in a neighbouring garden somewhere and I have little hope of either tracking it down, or persuading the owner to treat the fungal infection next year.

Does anybody have any experience of this fungus please? I am wondering if I control it this year, it might be enough to stop the cycle of infection. Or, is it likely to be something I'll be stuck with for good now? Thanks.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

jrtfan wrote: »

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=236

Looking on the link, it says this is a fungus which affects pears and junipers on alternate years. I spotted the bright orange patches on some of the leaves of my patio pear tree last week and have removed, then burnt, all of the affected leaves. Since then, I've been keeping a careful eye out for any more signs of fungal attack but so far, so good.

The juniper bush this fungus came from must be in a neighbouring garden somewhere and I have little hope of either tracking it down, or persuading the owner to treat the fungal infection next year.

Does anybody have any experience of this fungus please? I am wondering if I control it this year, it might be enough to stop the cycle of infection. Or, is it likely to be something I'll be stuck with for good now? Thanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnosporangium_sabinae


wiki says to eliminate infected junipers from the trea to prevent spread (probably like wise if you prefer junipers to pear tree's).


Treat infected tree's or juniper with pruning and fungicides in spring summer.

jrtfan

Thank you for your advice and the link. That's the trouble, I don't have a juniper so I can't treat whatever has infected my pear, unless I can track the juniper down (and it could be anywhere lol!).

andrewf75

My conference pear has this (I think)
looking very sick this year and no crop. All dropped off.
Have decided to give it a good feed and a prune and if no better next spring, I'll cut it down.

jrtfan

If that's what your tree has (and I'm sorry to hear it, btw) then next year it shouldn't be affected - that's assuming I have understood properly what it says about it on the rhs link, of course.

The way I understand it is that in year 1, the fungus attacks pears and creates those orange spots on the leaves. If the leaves are left on, then the fungus starts to grow at the back of the leaf and eventually, it sends out spores.

The spores seek out a juniper bush and wait for the following summer. (year 2).

In year 2, the spores start to grow into nodule-type lumps on the bark of the juniper bush. In due course, these nodules send out spores which seek out a pear tree and wait until the next summer (year 3).

And so it continues, going back and forth between pear and juniper indefinitely.

The way it says to stop the cycle is to remove all the affected leaves from the pear tree as you notice them, and to burn them straight away. This checks the fungus being able to reproduce that year.

The next year, you check the juniper bush for signs of these nodules, and prune to remove any affected branches (again, burning them immediately), hopefully catching any diseased parts of the plant before they have a chance to spore and spring back onto the pear.

Sorry if that's a bit long-winded, but I hope it might save you some work on your pear tree this year.



My trouble is, that I have no idea where the juniper bush might be, that has infected my pear in the first place lol!

andrewf75

I have the same issue, don't know of any juniper nearby...

jrtfan

Pesky, isn't it?

I wonder if your pear leaves look anything like this:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/133380020@N06/28195188126/in/datetaken-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133380020@N06/28195123086/in/datetaken-public/

andrewf75

Mine look like that except there is more rust than green!