Growing Pear trees

Hi Heidi, welcome to A2K!

I did a Google search but have not come up with much. There are a lot of green thumbs here (my own tends toward, if not black, a rather deep greeny-brown) and I'm sure you'll get some useful information soon.

Hi Heidi, welcome to a2k! We had a long and cold winter in New England and many of my plants, shrubs and trees got badly damaged by the cold. Did you have an unusually cold winter as well? What part of the country do you live it?

If the tree is leafing out at the base, it's not dead, but branches can die back even when the trunk doesn't. I think the branch leaves should bud out at the same time as the trunk leaves. I'd let the lower leaves grow and do their thing to help the tree live in what ever capacity it can - at least for the time being. Maybe I can find some other info for you....

This looks somewhat helpful -- evidently pears are picky about their soil...

http://ceinfo.unh.edu/apft5300.pdf

Heidi- Welcome to A2K!

Youve probably suffered a dieback of the stem. The real bad news is that this could really turn bad next winter, and the lower part of the tree could die. Dont do any pruning at all, and give it a solution of vitamin B1 as if you were transplanting. Id get a backup tree because , as you probably know, its reccomended that you have 2 different varieties for best pollination and fruit production. Youll get fruit with only 1 tree but it wont be as loaded on the tree.
Get an asian pear cultivar whose variety matches the time of bloom as the one surviving. These are great pollinators and they are an excellent fruit when picked from the tree in a ripe state. They are very perfumy, unlike the asian pears you get at produce stores and super markets


from abuzz, I recall a member was a retired fruit grower from Mid US. He was really knowledgeable. Too bad Ive forgotten his name.

Funny..half of my pear tree is dead, theres no others around I've ever been able to see, and I have more dang pears than I know what to do with each and every year.....and believe me when I say the landlady...she does nada for anything around here...but, I have heard that the soil in this yard in particular is fabulous for some reason..people come by all the time about to burst that there is no veggie garden here anymore.
So, I guess the soil has not only alot to do with it but, a great deal to do with it when you take into consideration all of that.
Interesting.

be thankful and dont look at your pear tree with anything but love and respect quinn. You have something there that is not common but happens. Sometimes peach trees do the same. I have one peach out in a large field , and it was , apparently grown from seed over 10 years ago. it is always loaded with peaches and theres no pollinator nearby. Maybe the bees travel by your tree on their way to work, who knows.

OK, scratch back some of the bark on the trunk. If the tissue underneath is green, then there is still sap flowing and its alive. If the wood is grey/brown then you have a goner.

Next, you mentioned that there is growth at around ground level. That is just the understock, not the grafted plant (the bit you paid top dollar for). You can either pull it out or attempt to do some grafting of your own onto it.

Important to remember that with grafted plants you always remove any growth BELOW the graft (it will be a scarred region close to ground level. Grafts are made onto a different species that has growth habits of vigour or disease resistence. However, this usually means that they are poor producers of flowers and fruit and the energy they use in growing is taken from the scion (the graft). Chop, chop!

It could be just a bit of bad luck, but the most likely cause of the tree's death is soil condition.

Growing Pear trees
Hello All,

Thank you very much for all your input. I think my tree is gone but I learned a lot about the trees from you all. Maybe I will start again with a new one to keep the other one happy and producing.

Have a nice summer.