I have a 40 year old Seckel pear tree at camp. For the last three years, it loads up with pears, they look great until they get about half grown. They then start to get a hard black- brown look and that scab developes cracks. Any idea what’s going on, and what to do about it next year?

Scab?

It looks like pear scab, which is caused by a fungus called Venturia pirina. You can prevent if you spray trees with a copper based fungicide, several times from before flowering to near ripe. Clearing up debris, especially old fruit, leaves and branches, from around the tree will help too.

Keith

Thanks fellas. I thought it was some kind of scab. Any help on the trade name brand of fungicide I need? I’m gonna treat next year for sure, and I’ll clean up all its leaves this fall.

I think that fungus comes from a partridge being in a pear tree.