Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 04, 2010 7:26 pm Hi I am hoping that someone can tell me what is wrong with my pear tree. It was planted in May and now there are leaves coming out I have noticed they have red/rusty spots on them. The spots seem to be raised/rough. I sprayed it with peach leaf curl spray yesterday ( it was all I had) but not sure how to treat it. I have attached pics. Thanks Sonya Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Pear tree disease? 2Oct 06, 2010 12:01 am Well it does look similar to a disease on Pears called Fleck. It is like Apple scab on apples. Treatment would often be the Copper oxychloride you have used. However as soon as look at the pictures I could pick you were in Perth There are certain deficiencies happening but only because they too much of something going in. Certain nutrients. Many trace element treatments are misused and poorly recommended when often the opposite is the real cause of other nutrient deficiencies. too much or toxicity is more often the cause of deficiencies. You have an issue with nutrient toxicity and in particular, I'd say Phosphorus. The stomata are burnt from absorbing lots of Phosphorous They are the little "mouth" parts on the leaf. In very limey alkaline soil your tree is going to absorb a huge amount of phosphorus. When that happens, other nutrients are not able to be taken up and that creates other deficiencies even if those nutrients are in the soil. Many Horts will diagnose as a nutrient deficiency when often in nearly all cases it is the opposite at work. There is no easy fix to this. I'd suggest replanting the tree and focus not on a really deep hole full of rich soil but a very wide area of soil that has soil improver (cert organic), bentonite clay, zeolite as well added. Mixed through to 400mm deep and at least a few metres wide if possible. Then a heavy layer of straw or tree lopper mulch to at least 100mm thick. A few handfulls of Blood and bone, a few handfulls of seamungus, a dose of seasol, a dose of powerfeed and of course molasses applied monthly for now. Having used the copper oxychloride you will have screwed the health of the leaf so help it recover with some full cream milk diluted to 1 part milk to 9 parts water. Spray the foliage and some seasol too Do that weekly for a month Rejuvenate the leaf health which is equally as important as soil health Our soils are very hard to work with and Perth and the Lower West coast and SW coast highlight the need for better soils and soil prep. Always choose cert organic soils When a new home is built the poor native soils are removed long before and you are left with a biologically sterile soil that has no organic structure. You will need to add a rich layer of cert organic compost also to the surface under the straw mulch. This not only helps to build the soils health as best as possible in this situation but also to maintain good health in the future and continued improvement as well. The methods just need repetition over and over. When the straw decomposes, add more and so on Don't stuff about with sulphur or other dinky rubbish to adjust pH. As my mate says, you would be better off weeing in the sea to make the sealevel go up. This is not going to be fixed till the soil is. It is going to take a long time. Feed the soil as I have outlined, mulch, mulch mulch with the outlined types (no don't use black mulch or stones ) Find some Olsens Green Bio also It will take a few years to change. Re: Pear tree disease? 3Oct 06, 2010 12:13 am I will also add that many problems with plants in Perth are horribly misdiagnosed. So many horts will say it needs trace elements, or it needs, some epsom salts, or it needs some iron sulphate or chelated iron. In reality all we need to do is forget that stuff and get as much organic material as possible into the area. cert organic if pos. Avoid chook poo here and get very heavy layers of straw or natural tre lopper mulch. Not wood chips or black mulch. They will do your head in with the hassles they create without you being aware of it. Once we get the organic soil content up to scratch and we still have hassles, we can work with individual nutrient applications to sort things. That has to come last or it doesn't work. So many people say to me, "Oh the soil is good, really good" and I get there and it is rubbish. They will say "Oh I've done all that" and I think, if you did it you wouldn't have the problem and I get there and the soil is just sand with a few bits of dark cheap compost, alkaline soil, and thin layers of black mulch How many palms do we see round all yellow and burnt looking? Heaps. It is two things, sun and then Phosphorous toxicity not helped by a lack of organic soil prep, no soil amendments like zeolite and bentonite clay. Just start to use them and things slowing begin to correct themselves Re: Pear tree disease? 4Oct 06, 2010 12:18 am Overall how you guys get by with attempting to get the right advice amidst so much poor info or guided into using the wrong products is beyond me. It isn't easy One person says this and another says that. So confusing. For anyone reading, stick with my soil prep info and things just work out. And well Over east, apply the same methods and be blown away by what can be achieved without man made processed fertilisers . Re: Pear tree disease? 5Oct 06, 2010 7:15 pm Hi Fu, Thanks for all the info. Looks like that garden bed will keep us busy this weekend, I'll ley you know how they go. Sonya Hello. I just bought a few acres in Habana, Mackay, and my horses seem to love hanging around under this tree. I would like to name the paddock after this tree. Can… 0 9529 Fellow Perth dweller. Looks like pruns nigra. It's a dark leaf flowering plum. Doesn't get massive and is easily trimmed deciduous tree. Very popular in small gardens in Perth 7 2764 |