Pear grate: Recognize, prevent & fight

Find out how you can recognize, prevent and combat pear rust, as well as other tips on home remedies and pesticides.

This is how you can recognize an infestation with the pear grate

If your pear tree has leaves with orange-red spots from around May / June, then it is, for better or worse, the pear grate. With a small infestation only a few of these orange spots can be seen, but almost all leaves of a pear tree can be infected. In the later course of the disease, nodular warts usually form on the underside of the leaves, which are really not nice to look at. The pear grate alone will not cause a pear tree to die. However, the fungal disease can be a significant stress factor and thus negatively affect the growth and harvest of the pear. The more orange leaf spots there are, the greater the stress for the plant, since the leaf spots cause the green leaf surface to be lost for the energy-producing photosynthesis.

The harmful fungus: background information

The pest is a rust fungus (Pucciniales), which needs two different host plants to survive. Because only in spring and summer the pear is removed from the pear grate (Gymnosporangium sabinae) infected, the fungus needs a juniper plant as a host to overwinter. At juniper like the Chinese juniper and the sedge tree, an infestation is hardly noticeable at first. Only much later do orange-colored rubber or gelatinous growths (juniper blister rust) appear on the branches, especially when it rains. From there, the spores can travel at least 500 m above the air to infect pears again. Incidentally, the disease is often much weaker in juniper plants than in pears.

Prevent pear rust

Unfortunately, there is no real effective prevention against the pear grate. For safe protection, the junior host, juniper, would have to be removed within a kilometer. However, this cannot be achieved with the neighboring properties. Unless you have a big cause, of course, that's a different matter. As a rule, you have to live with the fact that the spores of the pear grate can attack your pear or juniper plants at any time. Some gardeners therefore suggest cutting off the infested juniper branches and composting them to prevent the disease from spreading through the spores. Apart from the fact that composting from the pear grate on the in-house compost does not pose any risk, we do not see any advantages in this work step. The harmful fungus grows deep into the juniper wood and healthy-looking branches can already be infected. For this reason, the juniper bladder rust cannot be cured, even the chemical club is ineffective at this point. Apart from that, many types of juniper are not very easy on pruning. So it looks bad with the prevention of junipers, and with the pear? Unfortunately, the means are also limited there. Really resistant pear varieties are not yet on the market. It is reported, however, that pure Nashi varieties (Pyrus pyrifolia) are relatively resistant to the pear grate. In the case of smaller pear trees, regular spraying with plant stocks containing silica also helps. The silicic acid strengthens the cell walls of the leaves and fungal spores cannot grow into the leaf. Are particularly suitable Horsetail and nettle brothbecause there is a lot of silica in it. The plant-strengthening measure really only promises success with regular use (about one spray per week).

Fight the pear rust

Before even thinking about combating it, you should first get an idea of ​​the extent of the infestation. If the leaves are only partially covered with leaf spots and the pear also makes a vital impression in other ways, then control is often superfluous. As mentioned at the beginning, the pear grate alone is not able to reach for a pear. Even if the really unsightly leaf spots make you believe that the tree will not have much longer to live. In addition, fighting the pear rust is anything but easy. Unfortunately, home remedies and natural preparations are in no way suitable for dealing with the infestation. Even chemical preparations only help to a limited extent. Because even these remedies only help as long as the fungal spore has not yet grown into the leaf. If orange leaf spots can already be seen, it is already too late to combat it. Good protection is guaranteed if several prophylactic injections are carried out immediately after the pear buds have sprouted. In the end, it is up to you whether this is really necessary.

Many people only know the pear from the supermarket. However, you can also plant the fruit trees in your own garden. Here you will find our best tips and instructions on how to Pear tree plants.