Pear Growth in six years

[Native Hunter]

These 4 pear trees have been putting on some amazing vegetative growth. This group of pears is interesting, because so far they have barely fruited at all, but at some point they will explode with fruit - possibly this year. Some others planted at a different location about 300 yards away have been fruiting well for about 3 years, but are probably only around 60% as tall.

I would estimate the trees below at around 20+ feet tall.

Kieffer:

Senator Clark:

Ms. Lanene:

Gate:

 

[Mennoniteman]

Beware of those exploding pear trees, they could be dangerous...
Now that you have raised our curiosity, so you're going to have to sit down for an interview. Did you trim these trees at all? If so, when, and how much? You probably didn't fertilize them much to keep the fireblight risk lower? And where did you buy the trees?

 

[Native Hunter]

Beware of those exploding pear trees, they could be dangerous...
Now that you have raised our curiosity, so you're going to have to sit down for an interview. Did you trim these trees at all? If so, when, and how much? You probably didn't fertilize them much to keep the fireblight risk lower? And where did you buy the trees?

Good questions Mennoniteman. I will do my best to answer them:

Did you trim these trees at all? If so, when and how much? When they were very young I did attempt to shape them a little, but didn't do any trimming after that. The Senator Clark variety seems to spread out just a bit more than the others. I have one of those at another location and it is also showing the same attributes. Kieffer seems to be the most vertical.

You probably didn't fertilize them much to keep the fireblight risk lower? They have never been fertilized up to this point, but I did spread just a little fertilize around them in the past few days. All of these varieties are advertised as being highly resistant or even immune to fireblight - except that Kieffer has been know to show minor signs in some locations. However, I have had Kieffers growing for years and have not experienced any problems.

PS: A lot of people don't realize that you will generally never see fireblight on a pear or apple tree until it flowers. This is because that most initial infections start with the shoot blight phase, where the disease enters through the blooms. Even then, you could go for several years without an infection, because the weather conditions may not be right for an outbreak. So, you might have a fireblight prone tree for several years and not see any problems - then suddenly it can be eat up. My neighbor had that to happen with both and apple and pear tree.

And where did you buy the trees? These trees came from Wildlife Group. They were really a nice size, but some I got from them last year were very small. I wasn't that happy but went ahead and planted them without complaining. They look to be okay this spring but still pretty small.

 

[BoneCrusher20]

I was just about to mention you did some great pruning in younger years as you have some well trained trees if you did minimal amounts. I wish all my pear trees grew like that, some of the i don't care how much you train them or stake them off they have mind of their own sometimes. 6 years seems like they should be about ready explode.

PS im jealous of your bare ground already...tried to go prune this last weekend and snow was still at my waist, makes for tough day trimming.

 

[Native Hunter]

I was just about to mention you did some great pruning in younger years as you have some well trained trees if you did minimal amounts. I wish all my pear trees grew like that, some of the i don't care how much you train them or stake them off they have mind of their own sometimes. 6 years seems like they should be about ready explode.

PS im jealous of your bare ground already...tried to go prune this last weekend and snow was still at my waist, makes for tough day trimming.

Thanks. My early trimming consisted of trying to get the scaffolding limbs to grow away from the tree. When a limb would fork, I would cut off the inside limb - trying to force it to grow outwardly. There comes a point with pears that you just have to step back and let them do their thing. However, I am convinced that some early shaping is worthwhile.

 

[cutman]

Your pears are beautiful. Mine are ugly. They produced pears pretty much from the very beginning and so many limbs broke from the excess weight that it looks like I have a bear problem (I don’t). Ugly, ugly trees.

 

[Native Hunter]

Your pears are beautiful. Mine are ugly. They produced pears pretty much from the very beginning and so many limbs broke from the excess weight that it looks like I have a bear problem (I don’t). Ugly, ugly trees.

Cutman, I had a pear at home to do the same thing. It always stayed kind of ugly but went on to make a lot of good fruit. I guess in the end, that's what we are all after. Good luck with your trees!

 

[Triple C]

I envy you guys that show these pics of pears loaded with fruit. I've got em out that were planted in 2012 and 2013 that are about the size of Native's. Almost without exception, I lose the blooms to late frosts. Last year I thought I was in business and had escaped the late frosts. Even had tiny fruit growing. Then late freeze wiped em out. Still trying though. Prolly didn't help that the majority of them were planted in low lying areas.

 

[BoneCrusher20]

I envy you guys that show these pics of pears loaded with fruit. I've got em out that were planted in 2012 and 2013 that are about the size of Native's. Almost without exception, I lose the blooms to late frosts. Last year I thought I was in business and had escaped the late frosts. Even had tiny fruit growing. Then late freeze wiped em out. Still trying though. Prolly didn't help that the majority of them were planted in low lying areas.

Get yourself a water tank with sprayer that isn't used for roundup!! Load it up with water on atv, grab the old lady to drive and nights before frost expected make the rounds spraying water on trees. Saved myself from a lot of frosts doing this and quick and easy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KSQ2]

I have a question and thought this would be a good place to put it. I purchased some pear tree seedlings last year late and potted them since they were so small. They survived the winter great and are now budding out. The forecast is calling for a couple frosts, with one night next week getting into the upper 20s. Should I hold off one more week before planting, or will the cold nights not hurt these trees at all. They are pretty much whips right now from 16” to 24”.

 

[KSQ2]

Get yourself a water tank with sprayer that isn't used for roundup!! Load it up with water on atv, grab the old lady to drive and nights before frost expected make the rounds spraying water on trees. Saved myself from a lot of frosts doing this and quick and easy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting.... How does this help? I’d think it’d make it worse.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I have a question and thought this would be a good place to put it. I purchased some pear tree seedlings last year late and potted them since they were so small. They survived the winter great and are now budding out. The forecast is calling for a couple frosts, with one night next week getting into the upper 20s. Should I hold off one more week before planting, or will the cold nights not hurt these trees at all. They are pretty much whips right now from 16” to 24”.

Don't plant them until the danger of frost is over. Store them in a cool, dry, dark place until planting, and keep the roots moist.

Interesting.... How does this help? I’d think it’d make it worse.

Spraying water on blooming trees is an age old trick that prevents the frost crystals from freezing the bloom. Water is an insulator. Spraying trees and strawberries in the morning right at daybreak works good too. It's usually right when the frost melts that it freezes the blooms.

 

[Native Hunter]

I agree with waiting.

 

[KSQ2]

Don't plant them until the danger of frost is over. Store them in a cool, dry, dark place until planting, and keep the roots moist.

Spraying water on blooming trees is an age old trick that prevents the frost crystals from freezing the bloom. Water is an insulator. Spraying trees and strawberries in the morning right at daybreak works good too. It's usually right when the frost melts that it freezes the blooms.

The trees are in pots in our garden right now. We buried the pots over winter to insulate the roots, it worked really well. I can bring them into the garage before those cold nights.
Thanks fellas!

 

[KSQ2]

Btw, these are ecos pear trees from oikos. I asked for the toughest pear tree he has, since we’ll be putting them in the farm where I won’t be able to baby them. Does anyone have any experience with these? I hope this isn’t hijacking your thread Native, if so, I will get rid of these posts. I just didn’t know if it was worth making a new thread.

 

[Native Hunter]

Btw, these are ecos pear trees from oikos. I asked for the toughest pear tree he has, since we’ll be putting them in the farm where I won’t be able to baby them. Does anyone have any experience with these? I hope this isn’t hijacking your thread Native, if so, I will get rid of these posts. I just didn’t know if it was worth making a new thread.

There is no problem with you posting this here.

PS: I don't have any experience with that pear. Tell us someday how they work for you.

 

[KSQ2]

There is no problem with you posting this here.

PS: I don't have any experience with that pear. Tell us someday how they work for you.

Will do

 

[TreeFan]

Oikos pears, after checking their catalog, I believe I planted 3 of these. At the time, 20 years ago, they were called "wild" pears and not Ecos. They grew well and after 6 years and at 15 feet tall, they began fruiting pretty heavy. After reading about the invasive Callery, the description was the same, I became concerned/scared and I cut them down! In all fairness to Oikos, the variety description does not indicate Callery, but alas, I am no expert. The thing about them was that the fruit would hang on the tree, turn brown in late fall, and remain until March or so to be consumed by wildlife and I was hoping for a fall drop, soft mast, type tree and it did not fit the bill anyway. They were tough trees, thorns and all... Also, from an invasive perspective, I cut them down about 5 years ago and I see no pears of this type in the area.

 

[Native Hunter]

That's good information TreeFan, and thanks for sharing it.

I can't speak for your area of Northern Michigan, but I have never understood why people in zones where pears in general typically grow well would consider planting "wild" types of pears. There are just too many great tasting "cultivated" varieties with a wide span of drop times that are available. It's fine to feed the deer, but a country boy in a pandemic () might even need to feed himself someday...….

 

[KSQ2]

Oikos pears, after checking their catalog, I believe I planted 3 of these. At the time, 20 years ago, they were called "wild" pears and not Ecos. They grew well and after 6 years and at 15 feet tall, they began fruiting pretty heavy. After reading about the invasive Callery, the description was the same, I became concerned/scared and I cut them down! In all fairness to Oikos, the variety description does not indicate Callery, but alas, I am no expert. The thing about them was that the fruit would hang on the tree, turn brown in late fall, and remain until March or so to be consumed by wildlife and I was hoping for a fall drop, soft mast, type tree and it did not fit the bill anyway. They were tough trees, thorns and all... Also, from an invasive perspective, I cut them down about 5 years ago and I see no pears of this type in the area.

I have a good friend with a callery pear, it produces very small, nasty tasting pears. What I purchased is supposed to produce a much bigger pear. I hope they didn’t false advertise. Back to my buddy’s callery pear though, the deer absolutely hammered it this fall/winter. It was a muddy mess underneath it.