black leaves on a pear tree

[Jax]

Hi all, we have 3 conference pear trees and a some beurre hardy pears. The beurres are fine but the 2 of the conferences are getting lots of black edged leaves. I have pics if needed. Any ideas???

[littleexperience]

i have the the same problem jax my conference was about to flower but the buds just died just before opening and are stuck and burnt looking but my williams pear next to it is doing fine flowering leaves growing

[FB.]

Probably due to late frosts or some very cold near-frosty nights, or some chilly North winds.
My pears lost some blossom to the chills that we recently had.
It's a drawback of trying to grow pears; a late chill can damage the trees and result in little or no fruit.

[Jax]

is there anything I can do about it??

[FB.]

No cure. The damage is done. The tree will recover, but this years fruit yield may be reduced or lost entirely.

Sometimes people have success protecting from late frosts by having some old-style Christmas lights in the tree - the bulbs generate some heat and can prevent the tree temperature from dropping below freezing.

If the tree is small, some people will cover the tree with "fleece" or sacks to try to keep the frost off.

My advice is to grow a variety of fruit trees that leaf-out and flower at different times.

I have a young half-standard Hessle pear tree - chosen because it is reported to grow and fruit well in the North, where other pears fail to thrive.

I also have a Edward VII, Court Pendu Plat and Crawley Beauty apple tree - again, chosen because they flower very late - none of them currently have any leaves or flowers yet this year.

[littleexperience]

i hope my cherry tree is a bit more hardy than my conference pear as it was -2c the other morning when my cherry tree was in full flower some of the flowers look a bit wilted i will wait and see