The case of the missing pears
Sep 28th, 2011 by Laurel Atkinson
There have been rumours and whispers; questions and guesses. Everybody wants to know: where have all the pears gone?
In the dead of night, in the heat of the summer, the Pear Gremlin sneaks into yards across Toronto, greedily and indiscriminately stealing pears for his insatiable appetite. While scaling the tree’s limbs, the Pear Gremlin’s grotesque body oozes orange-brown slime from countless sores and fissures, which then plop-plop-plops onto the leaves below, leaving hideous marks.
Although this is the story I’ve told to the kids in my neighbourhood, it’s a bit of a truth-stretcher. The Pear Gremlin is actually a fungal infection commonly known as pear rust (or for the Latin-loving among you, Gymnosporangium sabinae). Pear trees infected by the rust — marked by brown or orange spots on the leaves, and will drastically cut back on their fruit production.
Last year, we picked more than 10,200 pounds of pears, but this year we have only picked 25 pounds. This fungus, whose spores are easily dispersed through the air, has infected all of our registered pear trees.
Pear rust not only affects pear trees, but junipers too, which act as winter hosts for the fungus. The best advice to pear tree owners: make sure you collect and completely remove the leaves from your tree once they’ve fallen this autumn. And you might want to find those neighbours with junipers and figure out a strategy to prevent the fungus from hunkering down for a winter’s sleep. Otherwise, the Pear Gremlin may be coming back in 2012.
Much of our information was gleaned from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affair’s website. Check it out for further information.
Thanks for this report. I now know what might very well be affecting an ornamental apple tree we have in our back yard. I’m assuming that the fallen leaves should NOT be composted. What is the recommended procedure for disposal of them?
Thanks for your comment, Elizabeth!
From my research, it doesn’t seem that this specific fungus infects trees other than pears, but there are certainly many other pests/fungae that could be getting the best of your tree.
Instead of composting, I’d suggest to put the leaves in a yard waste bag and have the City come and pick it up.
I have been wondering about the pears. Every year I look forward to gleaning pears with NFFTT; however, I have not seen any pear pick notice from NFFTT this year. Is there any cure/control for this fungal infection?
If the leaves are collected in the city yard waste pickup, don’t they get composted en masse and result in the same redistribution of the spores?
Nao — The best control is to find out where the fungus is overwintering, and prevent it from spreading next spring. There’s no known spray or fungicide that kills it.
Evelyn — taking the leaves away is more precautionary than anything. The fungus overwinters in galls on junipers, and wouldn’t stay alive on pear leaves through the winter.
Well there’s great success in using homeopathy to treat and prevent illness in plants. I just returned from Cuba where the military has really developed agro-homeopathy with great success. I really recommend the book Homeopathy for Farm and Garden by Vaikunthanath Das Kaviraj it can be picked up at http://www.rhronline.ca He recommends the remedies Belladona and Aconite for rust
Amanda — Thanks for the tip! I have so much yet to learn :)
We’re now in our second year of having severe pear rust on our tree. Has anyone tried the Belladona idea and if so was it successful? I’m not sure how to go about finding nearby juniper bushes though to also treat……