Dwarf pear leaf problem

pondy1955

Hello there,
I'm sorry if this has already been covered but I am very confused about what this problem actually is.  I'm not sure if it is a fungus or a bug of some sort.  All the leaves on the tree look like this and I only have 2 pears forming.  I read that it could be something to do with Juniper but I don't have any and I don't know if my neighbours have any.  Will I have to destroy the tree or is there a treatment?
Thanks, Joan

Pete.8

It's pear rust 
There is a thread here that may help

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1021897/diseased-pear-tree

pondy1955

Thanks for this, I now understand.  I've no idea where the juniper bushes are (plenty of large gardens nearby).  I might get rid of it.  I am thinking of planting some patio raspberries and blackcurrants in the vicinity could they be affected?

Pete.8

I grow raspberries and and blackcurrants in the same border as my cordon pears (which get some rust every year) and they are not affected.
As far as I know, the pear rust spores can only infect juniper species and vice versa.
The rust doesn't have any serious effect on the pears, it just doesn't look very nice, and the pears look great - but not ready for harvest yet

Dovefromabove

I have an espaliered pear ... every year it gets a bit of rust. I remove and burn any affected leaves as soon as I see them and it never seems to get very bad. In fact this year far fewer leaves have been affected. 

pondy1955

A big thanks to Pete.8 and Dovefromabove for the info, it is much appreciated.

Dovefromabove

Hope it’s helpful. It would be a shame to get rid of a pear ... such lovely fruit. I’m looking forward to eating this year’s first ripe ones very soon. 
Keep your tree growing strongly and it’ll not be badly affected by the rust attacks. 
You have two pears this year ... how old is your tree?  

pondy1955

Yes, me and my husband are looking forward to eating one each 
It is a dwarf comice and it's in the second full season.  There were plenty of blooms and most seemed to start to grow pears but when they were about cashew nut size they dropped off.  ???????

Pete.8

It's called June-drop
The tree can't support a huge mass of fruits, so around June, pears (and apples) drop excess fruits
Hope you enjoy your comice, I've got my first harvest of concorde and comice to look forward to

pondy1955

Yes, thanks.  I hope I enjoy the only two pears I have!  It is a dwarf tree (I haven't got room for a full size specimen) so do you think this will keep happening, as the tree 'thinks' it cannot support the number of potential fruits each season?

Pete.8

Yes it's a natural thing to occur.
Every flower has the potential to become a fruit - and there a masses of flowers in the spring. Once all the fruits start to form many fruit trees drop excess fruit around June - hence the phrase 'June-drop' but it's still often a good idea to thin the fruits even more, so you get fewer but bigger fruits

Hope you enjoy your pair of pears