I’m going with the theory it may be tired following last year's crop, which I had thinned heavily but was excellent in quality and bigger fruits than ever. Not so this year. I think pears and plums can also show biennial tendencies, I know plums do for sure.
But you said the fruits were there, so if it was producing biennially surely they would have formed when you thinned them to 2 per spur. I could understand that, if you hadn’t found the need to thin because it hadn’t produced many. But they were there.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I’m going with the theory it may be tired following last year's crop, which I had thinned heavily but was excellent in quality and bigger fruits than ever. Not so this year. I think pears and plums can also show biennial tendencies, I know plums do for sure.
But you said the fruits were there, so if it was producing biennially surely they would have formed when you thinned them to 2 per spur. I could understand that, if you hadn’t found the need to thin because it hadn’t produced many. But they were there.
Hi Lyn, I don't recall saying that the fruits weren't there before thinning, I said the fruits had dropped after thinning. I'm fairly sure I made that clear early on.
I guess I'll just have to accept then that they have either dropped and then been taken away or been taken off the tree, which I believe is unlikely knowing the creatures in the neighbourhood unless the wood pigeons made off with some.
Hot dry wind can do a lot of dessicating damage to large trees and fruit bearing trees. Combined with the extreme weather patterns we have had it may simply be too much for the tree. Fruit trees will drop their fruit to survive and there is plenty of wild life which will clear up fruitlets. A couple of years ago I had an apple tree loaded with apples which suddenly lost all of its fruit. I initially thought deer, plenty of them around here, but there was no trampling of the ground around the tree, no bits on the ground and no damage to the tree. Then I came up with another theory. My neighbours twin daughters. I let the mother know I had a suspicion someone, naming no names, must have come into my garden and taken my apples so, not to leave anything of value lying around outside. It never happened again.
A bit left-field, but one possibility is pear midge. One of mine has it this year. Initially there were lots of fruits developing and a while later there were no pears to be seen anywhere. Not on the cordon itself or the ground below as the fruits had been completely eaten by the larvae.
Hot dry wind can do a lot of dessicating damage to large trees and fruit bearing trees. Combined with the extreme weather patterns we have had it may simply be too much for the tree. Fruit trees will drop their fruit to survive and there is plenty of wild life which will clear up fruitlets. A couple of years ago I had an apple tree loaded with apples which suddenly lost all of its fruit. I initially thought deer, plenty of them around here, but there was no trampling of the ground around the tree, no bits on the ground and no damage to the tree. Then I came up with another theory. My neighbours twin daughters. I let the mother know I had a suspicion someone, naming no names, must have come into my garden and taken my apples so, not to leave anything of value lying around outside. It never happened again.
we don't have that sort of thing here thankfully in terms of neighbours' kids being even remotely interested in what trees are in the neighbourhood.
I believe it must have been something weather-related and that the tree is tired from last year's crop.
A bit left-field, but one possibility is pear midge. One of mine has it this year. Initially there were lots of fruits developing and a while later there were no pears to be seen anywhere. Not on the cordon itself or the ground below as the fruits had been completely eaten by the larvae.
if the problem is on the ground though then presumably that wouldn't affect those on the tree/cause them to drop? some of the fruits, maybe half a dozen, have remained and that is all. most were lost following thinning and still unsure of the cause.
The eggs are laid on the flowers just as they open then the larvae then burrow into the fruitlets and demolish them. It may not be that but seems you're struggling to find the cause so thought I'd throw it in there as a possibility. There was no trace on the ground of any small or damaged pears - nothing.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It’s one of those mysteries isn’t it. The pears were on the tree, they needed to be thinned out to 2 per spur, then they disappeared. Poltergeist probably.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I could understand that, if you hadn’t found the need to thin because it hadn’t produced many. But they were there.
I don't recall saying that the fruits weren't there before thinning, I said the fruits had dropped after thinning. I'm fairly sure I made that clear early on.
I guess I'll just have to accept then that they have either dropped and then been taken away or been taken off the tree, which I believe is unlikely knowing the creatures in the neighbourhood unless the wood pigeons made off with some.
I guess we will never know.
Combined with the extreme weather patterns we have had it may simply be too much for the tree. Fruit trees will drop their fruit to survive and there is plenty of wild life which will clear up fruitlets.
A couple of years ago I had an apple tree loaded with apples which suddenly lost all of its fruit. I initially thought deer, plenty of them around here, but there was no trampling of the ground around the tree, no bits on the ground and no damage to the tree. Then I came up with another theory. My neighbours twin daughters. I let the mother know I had a suspicion someone, naming no names, must have come into my garden and taken my apples so, not to leave anything of value lying around outside. It never happened again.
One of mine has it this year.
Initially there were lots of fruits developing and a while later there were no pears to be seen anywhere. Not on the cordon itself or the ground below as the fruits had been completely eaten by the larvae.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/pear-midge
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I believe it must have been something weather-related and that the tree is tired from last year's crop.
It may not be that but seems you're struggling to find the cause so thought I'd throw it in there as a possibility.
There was no trace on the ground of any small or damaged pears - nothing.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
The pears were on the tree, they needed to be thinned out to 2 per spur, then they disappeared. Poltergeist probably.