Terrible season

In summary, this has been an absolutely terrible season, one of the reasons I haven't bothered posting much this year. To start with, no pollination as the insects didn't come out in the rain. The few pears that set are all abnormally small. Lots of scab on leaves and shoots. The quince set more fruit, but then a terrible attack of scab make everything drop off. The medlar set a lot of small fruit but it has now all browned off and rotted on the tree.

The plums were similarly affected, either no fruit set, or a small number of undersized fruit (which was all taken by the rogue squirrel anyway). The apples have done better, but with a fair amount of cracking or scab, and the early varieties have largely been spoiled by jay or squirrel damage before they were ripe enough to be picked. 

This has been by far the worst year we've suffered here, normally only one or two susceptible pears are affected by fungal ills, but this year everything has suffered in some way or other from the terribly wet weather. So there will be no boxes overflowing with lovely clean, large, beautiful fruit this year. Very depressing and disappointing, I have been so ill this year it would have been lovely to have had something cheering to look forward to.

Disasterous rainfall

Morettini

The non-stop rainfall we have been experiencing for the last couple of months has had a disasterous effect on the pears. Cultivars that are usually fairly robust and reliable have been affected by scab for the first time, and pollenation has been very low. Morettini is usually very healthy in growth, but nearly every fruitlet is completely covered with deep scab lesions. Beth is affected in both leaf and fruit, Winter Nelis and Josephine de Malines don't have a single fertilised fruitlet on the whole tree. Fondante d'Automne has just a couple that I could find. By contrast, Bishop's Thumb, Comice and Conference so far have bumper numbers of fruitlets, but overall I think it will be a very bad year for pears at least. A lot of the apple blossom was by contrast spoiled by unseasonably hard frosts but so far the fruit seems to have set. Fingers crossed that the season isn't an entire washout.

Santa Claus

I've been assuming the damage on my Santa Claus was due to scab, as (unlike what is says in the catalogues) I find the leaves and shoots very susceptible. This only happens to the ones in my back garden, the front tree (part of an arch) never has this problem on the fruit even though the rest of the tree is scabby. I think I'll pick them soon, they are still very hard at this stage and take a time to ripen but I don't want leave them too long and find they rot from the core (cropping has been light so far so I haven't had much practice with them).

Pear scab

A terrible year for pear scab, mostly affecting foliage. The usual suspects all succumbed, but to a worse degree, and others varieties suffered for the first time. Worst affected are Santa Claus and Devoe, but Fondante d'Automne and Beurré Gris d'Hiver Nouveau have also showing a lot of yellow/blackened foliage. I think the explanation lies in the very warm spring, which encouraged a lot of soft growth which has succumbed during the colder, more humid months of true summer. Only the fruits of Santa Claus are affected, and only in a particularly dank corner.

First Spray

I haven't sprayed for fungal diseases for quite a few years. Very few of the varieties I grow seem to be affected by fungal ills, but those that do are affected badly enough for spraying to be worthwhile. The worst is pear Santa Claus; the fruit that set on the cordon was completely 'corked' by infection, and the arch was almost completely defoliated, so these really need to be treated or grubbed up. Conference is affected by some sort of dark smut which doesn't affect the internal fruit quality but causes bad coarse russeting and discolouration of the skin. So I've just treated these for the first time, and will do so again at appropriate intervals, dependent on weather conditions. I use a saturated solution of Bordeaux mixture, with a tiny squirt of washing up liquid as a wetting agent. Conditions were perfect today, absolutely no breeze at all and no rain predicted.

Reinette Rouge Etoilée

The Reinette Rouge is finally 'étoilée' - the little russet stars have eventually developed, and the colour has turned a lovely raspberry red. I hope the flavour is equally raspberry like. This half-standard has been very slow to set fruit, having been planted about ten years ago.

The dark patches would appear to be scab infections, as some have now developed characteristic cracks.

Ended up eating this one slightly earlier than planned, thanks to a squirrel knocking it off and gouging lots of holes (Sept 10). Crisp texture, nice fruity flavour with plenty of acidity and sweetness to balance. Slightly fragrance and only a hint of raspberry, but not bad considering it was less ripe than I would have liked. No trace of bitterness under the skin. Definitely one of the nicest red varieties. Bunyard doesn't appear to be quite so keen.

REINETTE ROUGE ETOILEE. Fl. and Pom., 1884, 169. F., Reinette Rouge Etoilee ; G., Roter Stern Reinette. [Cal ville Rouge Pre*coce (error), Early Red Calville, Reinette Etoile'e.] Dessert, October to December, small, 2j by 2, flattened round, regular. Colour, rich yellow, almost covered with carmine red with broad broken stripes. Flesh, firm, juicy, pale yellow with suffused red below skin, sub-acid, of slight strawberry flavour. Eye, open, in a very even, regular basin. Stem, very short, in a narrow russet cavity. Growth, compact ; fertile. Leaf, rather dark, long oval, held flat, tip down curved, very finely curved serrate. Origin, it has been grown in Eastern Belgium for some 100 years or more. It was introduced to England probably about 1830. It is the Early Red Calville of Hogg. Of fair quality and most attractive in appearance.

Crop: Santa Claus

The first year that this partial cordon of Santa Claus produced a crop it was very good. Large-sized, irregular fruits of good flavour that kept a very long time. Ever since, it's had difficulty setting any fruit, and that which has survived has been horribly affected by scab. 

Conference: crop

In spite of the early scab infection, the Conference cordon looks like it should have a good crop. The scab has only resulted in coarse russeting on the majority of fruitlets, though a few do have deeper cracks.

Pear Scab: Santa Claus

One venture that looks like it may not be a success is my planting of a previously vigourous Santa Claus maiden as one half of an arch in the front garden. Unfortunately it really does not like the situation and has been virtually defoliated by scab for the second year running, with die-back of the growing tip and no new growth to tie in to form the shape. The infection is much worse than suffered by it's partner grown as a cordon in the back garden, in a much more sheltered and humid space. 

The soil is decidedly less good in this situation, barely better than subsoil, even with extra top soil and compost added. Most of the pears don't seem to mind but variety obviously isn't thriving.

Pear Scab

As usual I'm kicking myself for not spraying for scab. Only a couple of pear varieties are usually affected, Conference and Santa Claus. The damage on the former (bottom) is usually just cosmetic, though last year all the Santa Claus were inedibly dry and corky.

more on pear scab