Bartlet Pear...Fire Blight or underwatering?

Hello all...I recently bought a Bartlet Pear tree around 8 feet tall. It was blooming when I bought it but now a week later the blooms are looking like this. Is this fire blight or from a lack of water? If its the former what do I do? I sprayed it with organic apple cider vinegar diluted in a gallon of water once when I noticed it happening. By the way I am in zone 5.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Fireblight is usually very distinctive in it's appearance.  The ends of small branches turn black and the tip curls under like a shepherds hook.

The flowers are usually the most susceptible place for fireblight to enter the tree. With the flowers turning slightly black, it could be very early fireblight, or it could just be the flowers fading after pollination or non pollination.

I would pinch off the flowers either way. With the tree being so young and newly transplanted, letting fruit form will greatly weaken the tree, and it probably won't have enough energy the first year to ripen the fruit, and if you pinch off the flowers it should hopefully prevent the fireblight from spreading.

Bartlett is an extremely susceptible variety, and I just had to remove a large Bartlett because it never produced fruit because it got fireblight on its flowers so bad. I live in fireblight central though, so maybe it won't be as bad where you are. Fireblight resistance is one of the main things I look for now when looking at getting pear trees. Seckel and Harrow Delight supposedly have good fireblight resistance and are high quality pears if you get another one.

Best of luck with your pear tree!

Steve

Did you have a late Frost that could have damaged a few blooms?

I got it from Home Depot (probably my first mistake) actually just brought another variety pear tree from a different home depot because of fire blight and traded for this one a week ago.  We could have had a frost a couple weeks ago while it was sitting outside there. The flowers were mostly bloomed when I took it home a week or so ago. Not sure how long the blooms last but my apple tree blooms seem to be doing fine. I just pruned a small branch off that had a black end but nit was all green on the inside and not dead like I thought it may be. I'm going to spray it with tbe vinegar mixture again. I dunno....

When I bought the farm I now live on 21 years ago, all the fruit trees, especially the pears, had fire blight.   I put minerals around all of them and built a small chicken tractor which was rotated under all three pear trees.  I pruned off the dead or dying branches and what grew back was simply amazing.  Much healthier trees and plenty of fruit.  Fire blight did not recur until two years after I stopped doing the chicken tractors there and neglected putting out an annual application of minerals.  

Faye Streiff wrote:When I bought the farm I now live on 21 years ago, all the fruit trees, especially the pears, had fire blight.   I put minerals around all of them and built a small chicken tractor which was rotated under all three pear trees.  I pruned off the dead or dying branches and what grew back was simply amazing.  Much healthier trees and plenty of fruit.  Fire blight did not recur until two years after I stopped doing the chicken tractors there and neglected putting out an annual application of minerals.  

What do you mean by chicken tractor? And what minerals did you use? Thank you!

Nick,
  A chicken tractor is a portable pen that is moved daily to new ground, and it moved it around both sides of the trees.  They clean up bugs, scratch up the soil slightly and leave fertilizer behind.    My husband makes a mineral mix which has all the trace minerals in it, along with the major calcium/phosphorus and potassium.  Has 3 kinds of clays, kelp, azomite and lots of other stuff.  Works miracles.  We even sell it since so many friends wanted some after seeing our gardens.  

Faye Streiff wrote:Nick,
  A chicken tractor is a portable pen that is moved daily to new ground, and it moved it around both sides of the trees.  They clean up bugs, scratch up the soil slightly and leave fertilizer behind.    My husband makes a mineral mix which has all the trace minerals in it, along with the major calcium/phosphorus and potassium.  Has 3 kinds of clays, kelp, azomite and lots of other stuff.  Works miracles.  We even sell it since so many friends wanted some after seeing our gardens.  

Thank you. Do you have a website I can buy it from/do you ship it? Also to you or anyone else who may know....due to the way the leaves are looking I am wondering if my issue ir over or underwatering. Noticed the leaves are all curled. Also I have not transplanted this yet and it is still in the big planter it came in. Thank you