What causes fruit cracking in pear trees?

When growing pear trees, fruit cracking is one of the most feared problems, because it is one of the most common issues with pear trees. Because its incidence rate is so high, many growers do not have reasonable prevention methods. Below, let us understand several causes of fruit cracking, so you can provide targeted protection and be prepared to prevent it.

1. Physiological fruit cracking

Physiological fruit cracking refers to abnormal conditions that occur during the pear tree's growth cycle, such as abnormal rainfall, temperature and other factors, while the grower does not make targeted adjustments, leading to fruit cracking. Common examples include too much rain during the fruit expansion period and the grower failing to drain water in time; sufficient light during the expansion period causing the fruit to grow extremely fast while water is insufficient, and so on. These are all causes of physiological fruit cracking. Therefore, when planting, you should adjust your orchard management methods in a targeted way and not remain unchanging.

2. Uneven fertilizer application

Fertilizer is also relatively likely to cause this disease. Many people have a habitual way of thinking, that is, more fertilizer means the fruit tree grows well, but going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short. Balanced fertilization is the key to healthy growth of fruit trees. Common examples include not taking nitrogen fertilizer seriously and continuously adding nitrogen fertilizer, which can lead to fruit cracking; second is knowing only a few basic fertilizers such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, while ignoring other trace elements needed by the fruit tree, such as calcium and boron, which can also lead to fruit cracking. When fertilizing, mix and use them evenly, understand what kind of fertilizer is needed at each stage, and do not fertilize blindly.

3. Diseases

Diseases can also cause fruit cracking. Do not assume that most pear tree diseases only cause the pears to rot; some diseases can also cause pear trees to crack fruit. For example, black spot disease, although in the early stage it is only on the leaves, after it transfers to the fruit, it will cause the fruit to gradually crack and rot. So if you find that while the fruit is cracking, the fruit tree also shows abnormal conditions, then you should pay more attention to the disease-related causes.

4. Abuse of hormones

The last one is generally caused by human factors. Not every orchard's pears will grow very high quality. In order to promote pear growth and market appearance, some people choose to use hormones on pear trees. If the dosage is well controlled, it can indeed help grow high-quality pears, but if the dosage is not well controlled, fruit cracking will occur, because these hormones cause abnormal growth of the pears, leading to an increased demand for certain nutrients. If these nutrients are sufficient, the fruit will naturally grow with an excellent market appearance; otherwise, it will cause the fruit to crack.

The above are some causes of fruit cracking when growing pear trees, though these are only the more common ones. There are also some rare ones, such as too much sunlight cracking the pears open, and so on. Everyone should first understand the causes before solving them.