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Do I have a sick Pear Tree?

mang0mang0 Posts: 6
in Fruit & veg
Hello hope everyone is well! I am new here so sorry if this is the wrong thing to do.. 

We have this pear tree which appears to be dead on one side of it and it is only blossoming on a small part. We are not sure what type of pear tree it is, however it used to produce very large, hard, green pears which were good for cooking with. We haven't had fruit on the tree for about two years. Some of the branches are just snapping off at the moment.

Would anyone happen to know what the problem might be and if there is any way of saving it? 


Thank you very much in advance!



Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2020
    Hi @mang0 and welcome to the forum  :) Thanks for the good wishes ... hopefully you and yours are all well in these difficult times.  :)

    I think that your venerable old pear tree may be on it's way out  :'(

    Maybe now's the time to plant it's successor ... it sounds as if yours could be a Conference, which is self fertile so you don't need it to be near another type of pear tree.  Nowadays you can get them on different rootstocks which control the height and vigour of the tree, so they don't grow as bit and they fruit at a younger age ... the taller the pear tree the more years you'll have to wait for fruit.  

    We have a Concorde pear which is like a bigger juicier Conference so it's a really nice eater ... we've grown it as an espalier at the end of our veg patch  (so it works as a fence)  but you could grow one up against your shed wall, if you prepared the soil well.  If you did that this summer you could order a bare root tree this coming winter.  Ours fruited in it's fourth year.  







    They're not always quite that big 😉

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mang0mang0 Posts: 6
    Hi @Dovefromabove thank you so much for your reply that is very helpful although sad to hear that it is on the way out! Do you think there could be something in the soil? We have just recently lost a birch tree on the other side of the garden. There is also an apple tree and another (different type) of pear tree in the middle of both and they are only slightly starting to blossom but hoping they will in the coming weeks. Really hoping they all aren't going to die!!

    Thank you so much for your advice I think a new tree would look great by the shed! Your garden looks lovely!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Thank you ... it has it's idiosyncrasies, but we like it :)

    Trees don't last for ever, so it may be that some of yours are reaching their end.   The recent very dry summers have also put a lot of trees under stress and we are still losing them as a result ... I see you have a large tree nearby which will have taken a lot of moisture out of the soil.

    There is the possibility of Honey Fungus, but if your neighbours' trees and shrubs are ok and you've not seen any of the telltale honey coloured toadstools at the foot of your tree it's probably not that. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mang0mang0 Posts: 6
    Oh dear @Dovefromabove now that you mention it, my mother said there was honey coloured toadstools at the bottom of the birch in November 2018. I guess that’s what killed it, how sad. Surely it can’t have reached the pear tree which is about 20 metres away!?
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    A species of Armillaria (Honey Fungus) is actually the largest living organism on the planet;  20m is a mere stroll away!

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Not all honey coloured mushrooms are honey fungus, so don't panic yet 😉

    Take a look here for a bit more info https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=180

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mang0mang0 Posts: 6
    @BobTheGardener @Dovefromabove Oh thank you so much for all you help! I have found a photo of the fungus at the bottom of the birch. From November 2018. Do we think it’s the dreaded honey fungus? It looks as though it could be more rounded than what is shown on the link you sent so we’re remaining hopeful  :)


  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    It is difficult to ID but I'd say that is very likely HF.
    However, looking at your ancient pear tree, it looks like it had been badly affected by canker for decades, and which probably got in via pruning cuts made many moons ago.  Apple and pear trees can live for decades after being infected by canker but once the canker 'rings' a branch, all growth above will die.  As Dove said, time to look at a replacement as this one is too far gone to save. :'(
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I also think that may be HF ... although there are other folk on here better at fungi ID than I am.  But don't despair, plenty of the gardeners on here have HF in their gardens and garden perfectly happily.  On that RHS page I linked to there's a list of plants which are resistant to attack and that will give you quite a few options ... and pears are usually pretty resistant so it may well be the canker that got your tree.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • mang0mang0 Posts: 6
    @Dovefromabove @BobTheGardener thank you so much for all your help and I’m sorry for the late reply. The canker is very interesting and we had no idea about! Might be on a few other trees as well. Thank you and enjoy the weekend.  :)
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