Avoiding Common Tree Mistakes

Aristocrat Pear Tree: 2 Pests To Watch And Combat

2 March 2016 by Chiara Brun

An aristocrat pear tree is a tall, wide ornamental tree with widely spaced branches that allow the tree to show off its seasonal colors. From white spring flowers to green summer leaves that redden in the fall, the aristocrat pear tree provides great visual interest to a yard.

But the ornamental pear tree can also provide a great feeding ground for some pesky pests. Here are a few of the common insects to watch for, how to prevent an infestation, and how to treat an infestation that already happened.

Green Peach Aphids

Several types of aphids can affect a pear tree but one of the more notable are green peach aphids. The aphids are waxy, light green beetle-shaped insects that form a dark spot as they age. But it's the larvae that cause the damage to the pear tree.

Larvae hatch from egg sacs left inside the bark. The larvae then feed on the surrounding tree materials for nutrition. Leaves can begin to curl as the nutrition is stripped away. Deteriorating fruit will drip a honeydew-like material onto bark and leaves, which can cause further deterioration and the formation of a black fungal growth.

The good news is that green peach aphids rarely cause long-term damage to the aristocrat pear tree. The aphids will also move away from the tree after the start of the growing season.

You can ask a tree service to cut away affected leaves and to clean away any black fungus that may form. But the aphid problem should clear up on its own.

Flatheaded Appletree Borer

Flatheaded appletree borers are a type of beetle but look less like a beetle than aphids. The borers have a spherical, flat head that tapers to a smaller body segment that is green in color with a copper-colored metallic sheen. You might see a number of adult borers on and around your tree during summer, but it's the spring emergence of the larvae that's the potential problem.

The borers tunnel into the bark for nutrients. The tunneling can cause a white dust to form around the affected areas. The tunneling will also start to weaken the bark and hardwood in the affected areas. Left untreated, appletree borer damage can potentially kill your tree.

Flatheaded appletree borers mostly target young, quickly growing trees. You can protect a new planting from potential infestation by asking a tree care service to safely wrap the tree's bark to prevent access for the borers and larvae. If there are already borers in the tree, chemical control can be used to kill the larvae while the adults can be simply be manually pulled off the tree.

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