PP022 (11/03R)
By Dr. Sharon M. Douglas
Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street
P. O. Box 1106
New Haven, CT 06504-1106
Telephone: (203) 974-8601 Fax: (203) 974-8502
Email: [email protected]
There are a number of diseases that commonly occur year after year in both commercial and home plantings of pears. These diseases do not infect at the same time but appear in a fairly regular sequence depending on the weather and the development or phenology of the pear host, beginning at dormancy and continuing until fruit are harvested. Consequently, a season-long program for disease management is often necessary in order to harvest a high percentage of useable fruit. The diseases that are common in pear include fire blight, pear scab, Fabraea leaf spot, and sooty blotch. Weather conditions greatly influence both the occurrence and severity of plant diseases. Therefore, diseases are generally most difficult to control in years of prevailing high temperature, high humidity, and abundant rainfall and cloudcover.