Seeing the leaves on your pear tree turning red prematurely can be alarming While pears naturally display brilliant fall colors, early reddening of the foliage usually signals an underlying problem.
Pear trees need adequate water nutrients and proper growing conditions to stay healthy. When something is amiss, the disturbed tree reacts by changing leaf color. Let’s explore the common reasons for premature reddening of pear tree leaves and what you can do to restore their lush green vibrancy.
Natural Seasonal Reddening
Before assuming an issue, first consider whether autumn leaf color change is the cause.
Fall Colors
Pears transform from green to vivid reds and oranges in late summer or autumn as daylight hours shorten. Enjoy this seasonal display as long as most leaves remain on the tree until late fall.
Early Frost
If an unexpected early cold snap hits while leaves are still green, frost damage can cause foliage to soon turn red or purple. As long as injury is minimal, the tree should recover when warmer weather returns. Shelter trees during extreme temperature dips.
Problems Causing Premature Reddening
When pear leaves redden well before fall, it usually signals the tree is under stress, diseased, or pest infested. Here are some common culprits:
Underwatering
Lack of sufficient water causes pear foliage to dry out, turn red, and drop early. Ensure young trees get 1-2 inches of water weekly and mature trees receive weekly deep soaking. Use drip irrigation and mulch to conserve moisture.
Nutrient Deficiency
Insufficient nitrogen, iron, manganese or other essential nutrients leads to yellowing then reddening leaves as deficiency worsens. Foliar sprays or soil amendments can correct this.
Root Problems
Damaged, girdling, soggy or compacted roots prevent proper moisture and nutrient uptake. Aboveground symptoms include reddening leaves. Inspect and improve root conditions.
Fire Blight
Fire blight, a bacterial disease, turns leaves red, wilted and blackened as branches die. Cankers form on wood. Prune well below visible damage to stop spread.
Pear Decline
This phytoplasma disease causes leaves to redden and curl upward. It’s transmitted by psylla insects. Control psylla. No cure exists so replace susceptible trees.
Environmental Stress
Heat, drought, waterlogging, compacted soil, inadequate sunlight and other stresses can provoke leaves to turn red prematurely. Correct conditions to minimize tree stress.
Pest Damage
Spider mites, pear slugs, psylla and other pests that feed on plant fluids can cause reddening of leaves when infestations are heavy. Apply appropriate organic treatments.
What to Do About Reddening Pear Foliage
If your pear tree displays significant reddening before fall, take these steps to get it back on track:
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Check for pests like psylla and treat if found. Look for disease symptoms or fungal growth.
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Test soil moisture and drainage. Water appropriately. Amend soil if too compacted or boggy.
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Inspect roots for visible injury, rot or girdling roots.
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Apply iron supplements if new growth looks pale. Fertilize with nitrogen as needed.
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Monitor for cankers. Prune out diseased wood.
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Control scab or blights with approved treatments.
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Consider transplanting stressed trees to improved growing conditions.
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Seek expert arborist help if the tree is rapidly declining. They can properly diagnose the issue.
Preventing Premature Reddening of Leaves
With attentive care, you can keep your pear tree’s leaves green and healthy into fall:
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Select disease-resistant varieties when planting.
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Prune carefully to open the canopy and improve air circulation.
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Water deeply and consistently during dry spells.
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Use drip irrigation and mulch to maintain optimal moisture.
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Check soil pH. Improve drainage in soggy sites.
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Monitor regularly for pest/disease problems and treat early.
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Fertilize in early spring with a balanced organic product.
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Provide protection from strong winds and extreme weather shifts.
Be Patient for Recovery
Don’t lose hope if your pear tree experiences premature reddening. With properly matched solutions, it can bounce back and regain vibrant foliage. But patience is required, as new growth takes time to generate. Address any issues right away and give your stressed tree attentive care. With some TLC, you can get your pear tree back to its former glory! Just don’t ignore those red flag leaves so that action can be taken before permanent damage occurs. A verdant, healthy pear tree will soon be your reward!
Fruit Tree Leaf Problems: Drought stress
When brown blotches are working their way in from the edges and tips of your tree’s leaves, it’s very likely to be drought stress. But what’s causing the problem? If it’s a dry summer, it may just mean that you need to water your tree. But these symptoms can also result from too much salt in the soil.
Either way, once you see those blotches appearing, it’s time to take action! Set up a soaker hose and give your tree a long, slow water once a week or so to restore tree health. Water will also help wash excess salt out of the soil. Be sure to let the soil dry out before watering again.
If you have an apple or pear tree, be careful not to confuse drought stress with a quickly spreading disease called fireblight. With this nasty bacterial disease, the leaves don’t get blotchy – rather, they look burnt, and entire branches die back starting from the tender branch tips.
If you see this, carefully prune off infected branches back to the trunk and put them in garbage bags – they should go in the garbage, not in the compost. Then sterilize your pruners with rubbing alcohol before using them again on any other tree.
Interveinal chlorosis on a hickory leaf is evident when the veins stay green while the area in between the veins turns yellow. Grow Fruit Trees That ThriveSign up for our newsletter and get this
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Fruit Tree Leaf Problems: Nutritional deficiencies
Late last summer, I took a walk in a nearby arboretum and saw a very unusual looking hickory tree. Instead of being green, its leaves were striped with yellow! It was beautiful, but sadly this hickory tree was experiencing a serious problem.
Interveinal chlorosis is when your leaf goes yellow, but only in between leaf veins. The leaf veins remain green. This is usually a sign that the tree doesn’t have enough manganese or iron, both essential nutrients when it comes to tree health and photosynthesis.
There are a number of reasons why this may be happening. Those nutrients may be lacking in the soil. Or, it could be a pH problem.
pH, or soil acidity, influences how easy it is for a plant to take up nutrients from the soil. If the pH is wrong, it’s like going to an all-you-can eat buffet with your hands tied behind your back. The food is there – you just can’t get at it. Fruit Tree Leaf Problems: Identifying Fruit Tree Nutritional Deficiencies
Alternatively, this problem could be the due to too much phosphorus in the soil. While phosphorus is an important nutrient for healthy plant growth, having too much of it is toxic to plants. This may result from the over-application of fertilizers.
So, how can you tell what is responsible for the problem? Learn to identify signs of nutrient deficiencies in leaves in our podcast on how to identify fruit tree nutrient deficiencies.
Or you can get a soil test. It will tell you the levels of iron, manganese, phosphorus, and more. Then you can help your tree by amending the soil according to the lab’s instructions.
Sometimes you’ll see a leaf turn completely yellow during the growing season, including the veins. This is called chlorosis, and it could be a sign of nitrogen deficiency.
Soil tests are rarely good indicators of nitrogen in the soil, since nitrogen levels are constantly changing. In this case, consider amending your tree’s soil with quality compost in the spring or summer to see if that helps.
This close-up of the leaves on a sugar maple with drought stress show brown blotches (necrosis) that start from the edges and tips of the leaves, and move inwards. (Photo credit: OrchardPeople.com).
How to Treat & Prevent Fire Blight in Your Apple and Pear Orchard
FAQ
Why are the leaves on my pear tree turning red?
Leaves turn red early due to starch accumulation in the upper tree. Frequently, fall leaf color occurs early on affected trees.
Why are the leaves on my tree turning red?
Red autumn colouration in tree leaves comes from a pigment called anthocyanin, which is pretty energetically costly for plants to make. Although anthocyanin can accumulate in non-autumn times, the major reddening of leaves at autumn is mainly due to new synthesis of a huge amount of anthocyanins.
How do you get rid of pear rust on leaves?
Because there are no fungicides recommended for trees producing fruit you intend to eat, your only option should you notice pear rust, is to prune out affected material. Dispose of it by burning or putting out with the rubbish rather than composting which doesn’t kill the spores.
Why did my pear turn red?
Anthocyanin dynamics in pears
Anthocyanin formation and breakdown are ongoing processes. Fruit become redder when formation exceeds breakdown and fade when breakdown overtakes formation. In pears, anthocyanin concentrations tend to peak about midway between blossom and harvest.