brown branch ends on apple and pear trees

[greenfinger]

About 4-9' of branch ends turned brown. Not every branch, maybe 20%? Fruit seams to be developing normally.
Help? Sorry, no camera.

[mjc]

Pics would be great...but often that is a the sign of some sort of insect damage. If you have cicadas around this year they could be the culprits, but more often it's other bugs.

Some other possible offenders are fire blight and other fungal invaders.

[greenfinger]

Any suggestions as to what to do to get the trees healthy again?

[mjc]

I was out looking at my pear trees yesterday, I noticed a couple of branches looking similar to what you described...and it sure looked like cicada damage to me, but we aren't having a cicada year here...(although I do live where three broods of 17 yr are very close and possibly overlap...and there are the annual ones...but it isn't supposed to be a 'heavy' year).

Look at the damage and if it looks insect caused prune the affected branch back to below the damage. If it doesn't look like insect damage...prune it back, but carry a bucket of bleach water (at least 1 cup chlorine bleach to 1 gallon of water) and dip the pruners after each cut...then dispose of the prunings in a plastic bag.

You may also want to take one or two to your county extension office to see if they could diagnose the problem.

[grunt]

greenfinger: If all of this is happening on new growth, and you have recently had a wet period (lots of rain), it could be what is referred to as "brown rot". If that is what it is, there really isn't anything that you can do about it, but it will not affect the health of the trees in the long run. It is a fungal infection, and not much you can do about it, because spraying is pretty much useless when it's raining frequently. Once things dry up, it should quit manifesting itself, and you can spray then with an anti-fungal to reduce the chance of a recurrence = I use fixed copper as my only fungicidal, and it seems to work.