Pear tree help

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

We have a pear tree that will be in it's 3rd season with us this year. It's a Doyenne du Comice which we bought from a local garden centre, the 1st year we had it we kept it in a large pot as we were told this was fine when we bought it but after a while the leaves started to turn black so we tranplanted it at the end of the season to the garden. We subsequently found out too that the tree was not self fertile as we had been told by the garden centre so we bought another pear tree -Williams Bon Cheretin last year making sure it was suitable to pollinate our existing one. Things were looking good and both trees blossomed and bore fruit, however while the fruit on the new tree grew bigger the pears on the original tree stopped growing and once again quite a lot of the leaves turned black. So my queston is what is happening to this tree and why and are there any preventative measures we can take to try ad stop it happening again this year. thanks in advance - any advice will be greatly appreciated
Kate

[FB.]

The black leaves is probably scab.
Scab is especially bad in wet Western parts of the UK.
Comice has no resistance to scab.

Comice is a difficult variety to grow, especially organically within the UK.

To control scab, you'll need to spray several times during the growing season - especially early in the season.

Personally, I'd bin the Comice and look for a more scab-resistant variety, but not many pears have much resistance to wet weather diseases such as scab and canker. Those that do, are certainly not like the pears that you'd see in shops.
I had Catillac and Hessle (both scab resistant), but their roots did not like the very dry conditions on this side of the UK; they eventually got very sick and I dug them out.

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Thanks FB i wondered if it was scab. What should we spray it with and when would you do the 1st spraying. Think we'll ge it another chance this year and see what happens. Quite annoyed real as we decided to support our small local Garden centre which has been there years and asked for help and advice but found out aftertat we had been told a load of bull and the bloke hadn't really got a clue. Now we ony buy garden canes there as the blueberry we bought there died in its 1st season despite us doing everything right

[FB.]

I grow all of my trees without the use of chemicals, so I am not well-placed to advise on which fungicide is the best in a home situation.

The RHS page may give some info that helps you:
> Link here <

Generally speaking, the fruits are most vulnerable early in the season. Once symptoms appear, they cannot be cured; you need to prevent infection from appearing - this will require several sprays per season.
As the season progresses, the fruits are less prone to scab infection, although "less prone" simply means that it needs a longer wet period for the infection to attack; they can still get scab if the conditions are favourable.

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Thanks FB will get hubby to have a read of the RHS page too and decide what to do