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Pear

Year-Round IPM Program

(Reviewed 3/08, updated 3/08)

These practices are recommended for a monitoring-based IPM program that reduces water and air quality problems related to pesticide use. Links take you to information on how to monitor, forms to use, and management practices. Track your progress through the year with the annual checklist.

Water quality becomes impaired when pesticides move off-site and into water.  Air quality becomes impaired when volatile organic compounds move into the atmosphere. Each time a pesticide application is considered, review the Pesticide Application Checklist at the bottom of this page for information on how to minimize air and water quality problems.

Note: This program covers the major pests of pears; information on additional pests is included in the Pear Pest Management Guideline.

Dormant/Delayed-dormant season activities
Bloom season activities
Fruit development period activities

Harvest activities
Postharvest activities
Pesticide application checklist

Dormant/Delayed-dormant season activities (leaf fall to bud swell)

Dormant pear bud Special issues of concern related to water quality: dormant sprays, drift, and runoff.
What should you be doing during this period?
Take beating tray samples for pear psylla adults.

Examine dormant spurs for:

  • European red mite eggs
  • Pear rust mite and pearleaf blister mite
  • Pear psylla eggs if sampling in February

Manage if needed according to PMGs.

Also, note the presence of predatory mites. Examine shoots for San Jose scale and pear scab lesions.

Look under bark for mealybugs.

Manage orchard floor vegetation:

  • North Coast: Eliminate weeds and ground cover before bloom in areas where frost and russeting are likely.
  • Delta: Mow resident vegetation or cover crop before bloom.
Monitor orchard temperatures and protect from frost, which can favor blossom blast.

Bloom season activities (red bud to petal fall)

Pear bloom Special issues of concern related to water quality: drift and runoff from rain.
What should you be doing during this period?
Examine flower clusters for:
  • Pear psylla eggs and nymphs
  • European red mites
  • Pear rust mites
  • Caterpillars (green fruitworm, obliquebanded leafroller)
  • Western flower thrips
  • Mealybugs (grape, obscure)
  • Western boxelder bug eggs and nymphs

Manage if needed according to PMGs.

Place pheromone traps in the orchard for:

  • Codling moth in late March for mating-disruption and conventional orchards
  • Consperse stink bug in early April
  • Obliquebanded leafroller in late April

Check traps and keep records (example monitoring form78 KB, PDF).

If using mating disruption for codling moth, place pheromone dispensers in orchard at biofix.

When weather conditions promote disease, time fungicide and antibiotic treatments as needed according to PMGs:

  • Pear scab. Check leaves and emerging fruit for pear scab lesions 7 to 10 days after an infection period to assess the effectiveness of treatment.
  • Fire blight

Watch the orchard for vertebrates and manage as necessary:

In cold, wet weather note the presence of blossom blast.

Fruit development period activities (petal fall to harvest)

Pears Fruit Growth Special issues of concern related to water quality: runoff from irrigation and drift.
What should you be doing during this period?

Take weekly samples and examine

leaves for :
  • Pear psylla eggs and nymphs
  • European red mites and eggs
  • Twospotted spider mites and predatory mites
  • Pear sawfly (pear slug) eggs and larvae
  • Aphids
  • Katydids or feeding damage
  • Pearleaf blister mite damage
fruit for:
  • Pear rust mites at the calyx
  • Mealybugs (grape, obscure) at the calyx
  • Codling moth larva or damage
  • Obliquebanded leafroller larva or damage
  • Plant bug damage (boxelder, lygus, stink)
  • Katydid damage after June 30

Manage according to PMGs.

Continue to monitor for codling moth:

  • Monitor fruit for damage at 800 to 900 degree-days from biofix.
  • Continue monitoring traps.
  • Check fallen fruit on the ground in early July.

Manage if needed according to PMG.

Check cover crops and weeds for:

Manage if needed according to PMGs.

Continue monitoring weather conditions during rattail bloom for fire blight.

Manage orchard floor vegetation:

  • Mow, cultivate, or apply** a postemergent herbicide to manage ground cover.
  • Survey for escaped winter weeds and emerging annual and perennial summer weeds.

Keep records (example late-spring weed survey form56 KB, PDF).

Note the presence of Armillaria root rot (oak root fungus).

Harvest activities

Pear harvest Special issues of concern related to water quality: unknown.
What should you be doing during this period?
Check fruit for damage caused by:
  • Codling moth
  • Obliquebanded leafroller
  • Plant bugs (boxelder, lygus, stink)
  • Katydids
  • Mealybugs (grape, obscure)
  • Pearrleaf blister mite
  • Pear rust mite
  • San Jose scale
  • Pear scab lesions (primary and secondary)
  • New or unusual damage or pests
Continue checking codling moth traps through mid-September.

Postharvest activities

Dormant pear orchard Special issues of concern related to water quality: unknown.
What should you be doing during this period?

Check top shoots for:

  • Pear psylla nymphs and eggs
  • Twospotted spider mite
  • European red mite
  • Pear rust mite
  • Pearleaf blister mite damage on leaves
  • Pear sawfly (pear slug)
  • Pear scab lesions on leaves and 1-year-old shoots.

Sample fruit left on trees for codling moth and codling moth damage.

Manage orchard floor vegetation:

**Pesticide application checklist

When planning for possible pesticide applications in an IPM program, review and complete this checklist to consider practices that minimize environmental and efficacy problems.

  • Choose a pesticide from the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for the target pest considering:
  • Select an alternative chemical or nonchemical treatment when risk is high.
    • Choose sprayers and application procedures that keep pesticides on target.
    • Identify and take special care to protect sensitive areas (for example, waterways or riparian areas) surrounding your application site.
    • Review and follow label for pesticide handling, storage, and disposal guidelines.
    • Check and follow restricted entry intervals (REI) and preharvest intervals (PHI).
    • After an application is made, record application date, product used, rate, and location of application. Follow up to confirm that treatment was effective.
  • Consider water management practices (224 KB, PDF) that reduce pesticide movement off-site:
    • Install an irrigation recirculation or storage and reuse system.
    • Use drip rather than sprinkler or flood irrigation.
    • Limit irrigation to amount required using soil moisture monitoring and ET.
    • Consider vegetative filter strips (236 KB, PDF) or ditches.
    • Redesign inlets into tailwater ditches (904 KB, PDF) to reduce erosion.
    • Consider your orchard's water requirements (284 KB, PDF).
  • Consider orchard floor management practices (912 KB, PDF) that improve soil structure and reduce erosion.
    • When possible, choose pesticides that are not in emulsifiable concentrate (EC) form which release volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs react with sunlight to form a major air pollutant: ozone.

PDF: You need a PDF reader, such as Acrobat Reader version 8 or later, to view or print this PDF. If no reader is installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
All contents copyright © 2008 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

For noncommercial purposes only, any Web site may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read Legal Notices. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual solutions to specific pest problems. See How to manage pests, or in the U.S., contact your local Cooperative Extension office for assistance. /PMG/C603/m603yi01.html revised: April 1, 2008. Contact webmaster.