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Stony Pit

Graft-transmissible virus (causal virus not definitively identified)

4 host plants

Last updated

Data Coverage 3 of 6 dimensions
Causal Agent
Host Plants
Symptoms
Management
GDD Threshold
Regional Notes

You'll see severe fruit pitting, dimpling, and deformation on pears (especially 'Bosc'), with excessive stone-cell development below pits. A graft-transmissible virus causes this under specific climatic conditions. The disease is sporadic in occurrence. Use only certified virus-tested trees and remove infected trees completely. Prevention through disease-free propagation is the only control.

Remove and replace with a tree that has been tested and found free of all known viruses. Establish new plantings only with certified virus-tested trees.

Quick Reference

Causal Agent
Graft-transmissible virus (causal virus not definitively identified)
Host Plants
4
Favorable Conditions
Specific climatic conditions appear to trigger expression; sporadic appearanc...

Management

What Triggers Infection

Specific climatic conditions appear to trigger expression; sporadic appearance suggests temperature/moisture/stress modulate symptoms; trees symptomatic one year may be symptom-free the next

Cultural Controls

  • Remove and replace with a tree that has been tested and found free of all known viruses.
  • Establish new plantings only with certified virus-tested trees.
  • References Leone, G., Lindner, J.L., van der Meer, F.A., Scheon, C.D., and Jongedijk, G 1998.
  • Symptoms on apple and pear indicators after back transmission from Nicotiana occidentalis confirm the identity of apple stem pitting virus with pear vein yellows virus.
  • Acta Horticulturae 472:61-65.
  • Milbrath, J.A. 1966.

Host Plants (4)