[Ema]

Hi All

Over last winter I purchased 2 pear trees (and 2 apple trees) from someone on the Marketplace. They are possibly 5 years old and I was very happy that the have settled into their new home so well this year.

Unfortunately I have noticed what I think are pear mites on 2 branches of the dwarf tree. This is a lovely tree 5 upright branches which I am contemplating lightly fan training. I'll post photos separately from my phone as I cant type on my phone!

I have 4 pear trees in my garden in total, 2 conference and these 2 new mystery pears. I dont want the mites to spread, my garden isnt huge and every tree has to be worth keeping.

RHS sayss there are no chemicals available to the domestic gardener. They wouldnt be my first choice anyway but as the mite is in the leaves I am not sure how effective any spray would be.

My options as I see it are as follows and I would really appreciate any feedback from experiences you have had.

Leave the tree alone (its got a couple of pears on it and seems healthy otherwise)

Strip the leaves off these 2 branches and burn them.

Cut these 2 branches off and burn them - tree might bleed a lot at this time of year and as the 2 branches are on the same side the tree would look lopsided for a while.

Put grease bands around the 2 branches to stop the mites spreading.

Try a home brew recipe bug spray, Neem and crushed garlic maybe. 

Anyway lesson learned about buying plants second hand....   

[Ema]

Photos

[hasbeans]

I have a very similar problem, though my infected tree came from a very large, very commercial nursery.  It has spread to the neighbouring older pear too.

[Ema]

Thank you Hasbeans, so they do spread! This leads me to favour the more drastic options...

[Lardman]

Strip the leaves off these 2 branches and burn them.

Id go with this (or bag and bin). Keep a very close eye on the rest of the tree and take the same measures for anything else which shows signs.  Once you've had the fruit off when and just before the tree might naturally drop leaves remove and bin/burn the rest of the leaves. Good autumn/winter management should reduce/remove the problem over time.

[jambop]

I had this on my trees too but it has eventually gone away. I did look into the problem and it was said to be more a cosmetic thing and did not affect the production from the tree.