North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>]

I will do so, Rivka.  I took some time to document the damage yesterday.

The promised list of pears:
Severely affected (100% leaf death):
Blake's Pride
Potomac
Chapin
US-Michigan 437
Dana Hovey
Maxine
Several Potomac seedlings

Completely resistant:
Belle Angevine
Beurre Superfin
Carrick
Eldorado
Hoskins
Immamura Aki
Koyama
Lucy Duke
Meadows
Meigetsu
Mericourt
Miss Label
Morgan
Old Home X Farmingdale 51
Pyrus calleryana
Spalding
Tenn
Tsu Li
unnamed local pear imported from China in the 1800's
Waite
Warren


Intermediate susceptibility:
Ayers (probably fully susceptible and some of the trees didn't get full 
coverage)

Anton
Zone 8; North Carolina Piedmont


-----Original Message-----
>From: Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>
>Sent: Apr 18, 2015 1:15 PM
>To: Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>, mailing list at ibiblio - 
>Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: Re: [nafex] Azera insecticide and pears
>
>Anton,
>
>Maybe you've already done this, but if not: I'd immediately contact both 
>your local Extension office (and any state agency they refer you to) and the 
>manufacturer of the Azera. I would also take samples, and try to get 
>Extension to do so also. I don't know whether the material sold to you may 
>have been contaminated with something.
>
>Good luck,
>
>
>
>-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
>Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
>
>
>On Apr 18, 2015, at 12:50 PM, Anton Callaway wrote:
>
>> Dear fellow pear growers,
>> 
>> I just wanted to warn other readers on this group about Azera insecticide 
>> from MGK.  It is an OMRI-approved insecticide that's basically a mixture 
>> of azadirachtin (the main active ingredient in neem oil) & pyrethrins.  I 
>> sprayed a mixture of Azera and Serenade at the recommended rates on my 
>> orchard on Sunday and by Tuesday, several cultivars of pear with European 
>> heritage (P. communis) were completely black.  The damage is not 
>> fireblight.  The symptoms are quite different and it is hitting certain 
>> blight-resistant cultivars while blight-susceptible cultivars right next 
>> to them are unaffected.  I will compile a complete list this weekend, but 
>> I wanted to send a note quickly so that others can avoid the damage that I 
>> experienced.
>> 
>> I think the trees will survive, but I'll get no fruit from them.
>> 
>> I've been orcharding in the Southeastern U.S. since 1979 and have never 
>> seen anything like it.  I've sprayed this same orchard with neem oil and 
>> pyrethrins (separately) and neem oil & Serenade together for several years 
>> in the past with no ill effects.  Other species were not affected at all.  
>> I have one tree with 6 cultivars grafted in it.  One pure communis 
>> cultivar has all of its leaves killed and another communis X pyrifolia 
>> cultivar has slight damage while the other 4, including one pure pyrifolia 
>> ('Koyama') are completely fine.
>> 
>> 'Potomac' and 'Blake's Pride' are severely affected.
>> 
>> Anton
>> Zone 8; The North Carolina Piedmont
>> 
>