Most likely fireblight. You could spray it just like you would with trees in an orchard, but I would suggest getting rid of this invasive, malodorous, weak-crotched, short-lived pest tree and plant something better.

tell 'em how you really feel brandon.. lol ...

is this ornamental [see brandons comments] ... or a fruit tree ...

if a fruit tree .. there is a fruit forum.. and there are .. or used to be.. some specialists over there ... that i have never seen here ...

otherwise i care not where you post..

good luck

ken

PS: we tree peeps do not like the ornamental pear ... see brandons comments .. over-hyped.. over-used.. under-performer ... it is definitely NOT a tree i would shorten my life for.. by using chemicals .... but i would shorten my life by powering up the chainsaw ...

PPS: in my z5.. that also looks like frost/freeze damage.. which i would guess you dont get in z8 .. unless there are some facts to support such speculation ...

I can't magnify the pix to see better, but with those teeny pix from here I see a wilt or other blight rather than fireblight, but I've been meaning to get to the eye doctor.

Nonetheless, fixing this is costly and time-consuming and in 10 years half the crown will break out anyway in a windstorm. Best to try a different tree. If you want to expend energy anyway, cut out the entire limb, clean pruners in bleach solution, move to next limb, cut out entire limb, clean pruners, move on. If there is anything left, don't fertilize. Take trimmings and put in a doubled garbage bag and throw away in trash. Pick up all leaf litter on ground and throw away. Do the same for all ornamental pears.

Dan

Thank you so much for your prompt responses. I looked online at fireblight and it does look like that. So, we started by cutting the affected limbs and there was so little tree left we just cut it down.

And, yes, it was just an ornamental. And I know they have a bad reputation. But we still hated to lose it as it was in front of the house.

I am now a little concerned about the possiblity of this spreading to my crabapples or roses. Is this a big possibility, or just a remote one? We burned the limbs and affected areas. Not sure if we got all the leaf litter, but most of it.

Thanks again!

Eliminating the pear won't remove the source of the disease (the pear got it from somewhere), but it might reduce the chance of spread to your other plants. Only time will tell. Fireblight (Erwinia amylovora), like many other diseases, is ubiquitous in some areas. The disease pressure will vary with location, time, etc. Just keep a watch on other Rosaceae family plants. The good cultural practices that you mentioned are always a good idea and may help you avoid future problems.

Thanks, Brandon, for the additional information. I do wonder where the pear got this - I've never seen it before. But, perhaps I just haven't been looking because my trees were never affected before.

I will definitely keep an eye out on my crabapples and roses. Since the crabapples bloomed around the time of the pear, and the literature I read about this said bees could pass it going from bloom to bloom, I will watch for it next spring, too.