sand wrote:
We have a small pear tree in the garden which was already in the
garden when we moved in 10 years ago. the tree always produced small
hard pears which we could not eat. this year, the trea only had few
leaves and few flowers, they all died; now there is nothing on the
tree and it looks dead. could it be dead or maybe missed a season due
to the lack of water for 6 months in london? But few meters away from
the pear tree we have a mini willlow / salix, it burgeoned and that
is it. Had few leaves which died as well as the buds. it also looks
dead -- not sure what is going on -- thank you

A pear that has no leaves in high summer is very ill or dead. Bend the
smaller branches and twigs to see if they are still flexible, if they are
stiff, brown and break easily they are dead. On thicker branches scrape
away a small patch of bark to see if there is living tissue underneath. If
the stems seem to be alive the leaf drop is possibly due to something
environmental like excess fertiliser or overspray of weedkiller. Fungus is
also a possibility. I see in the news it is very wet in Ole Blighty now,
did the problem happen before or after it started raining? If before it is
unlikely to be fungus. If the fungus was on the leaves the tree may recover
in better conditions next year, if in the roots it is probably finished. If
it seems to be alive do not feed it until it has leaves you may make it
worse. If the lack of water was during the dormant season it is unlikely to
have killed it.

D