What should I do? Should the tree be dug up and disposed of just in case?

A young pear tree which I bought a few months ago from a local garden centre
is showing signs of what I think may be fireblight - according to my fruit
tree book. I'm a novice regarding fruit trees so am not confident about my
diagnosis. However I understand this is a notifiable disease and emailed
DEFRA but they are not interested since I am not a professional fruit tree
grower and just emailed back an URL to their page - which I'd already looked
at in the first place. This sounds a bit like ignoring cases of SARS if it
is not in a hospital or cases of foot and mouth if the animals are kept as
pets. Presumably the disease cannot spread in such circumstances to nearby
fruit trees in mine and neighbours gardens!!!

The flowers and leaves on one branch were dying and turning brown but not
falling off the branch, so I cut off the affected branch. However since
then, the solitary pear which had set on another branch has now turned black
and is shrivelling and a few other leaves nearby are turning completely
black. Some other leaves are showing black patches - a bit like some black
ink has been splattered on them. Most other branches on the tree look
healthy at the moment except for a couple which are showing signs of the
wilting tip as described on the DEFRA web page.

Is this fireblight? Should I wait and see what happens or destroy the tree?

--
Drakanthus.


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