vigorously growing pear tree not fruiting
chicken chaser
Posts: 147
We inherited a pear tree when we moved in a couple of years ago. At the time it was only around 5ft, but did show fruit the first year we were in, although it got rust and they dropped. The same happened last year although it did grow somewhat. It is sited in a sunny spot beside the fence where a neighbour has a conifer on the opposite side. As a result, its usually dry soil so I mulched heavily over winter with manure and have loaded compost around it which has helped to retain water and goodness again in the soil.
This year, the tree has vigorously put on growth and has never looked healthier. Its not had any sign of rust but has not produced any flowers. Its probably around 11ft tall now.
Any ideas on what has happened to it? 3rd summer its been nothing but a green tree in the bottom of the garden!
Posts
I am not sure about friut trees, but if you manure and feed a plant before it starts flowering, it wont flower, just grow lots of green. Not sure manure was the best thingi am sure that a fruit tree grower will come along and help you.
There! I knew some kind, modest do - nut eating person would know.
Do you have access to woodash from a woodburing stove? We inherited a fifty year old pear tree that produced nothing until we started emptying the wood ash around the bottom of it, now it groans under the weight. I'm sure a purist would tell you to put it on at the start of the growing season but we just tipped it on during the winter whenever we emptied the stove. Since then we've completely invigorated all the old fruit trees, some of them seventy and eighty years old, using the same method. Must be pure wood ash though, no coal ash.
As an addition to the original issue, I have a pear tree fruiting. It is in a garden for a house I bought last year so I only had last year to see what it did. It did produce pears but they were very....Woody and not edible.
Is this down to the age of the pear tree or was it neglected in some way?
Most pears need another pear tree from the right group in order to be properly pollinated - some (e.g. Conference and Concorde) are at least partially self-fertile and will produce a reasonable crop without a pollination partner (but an even better one with).
Your difficulty in providing a pollination partner will be knowing the variety of the pear tree you have in order to select a partner from the right group.
Info here http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/pollinationchecker.aspx
Remember that pears will not ripen to the eating stage on the tree - they need picking before that stage and storing - explanation here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/pears
Hope that helps
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Same here.. I planted my very first pear tree two years ago and did not know what pear variety it was I was planting. Last year it started fruiting with about 40 pears and this year nothing. Just recently I purchased and planted a bartlett pear tree to see if this will cross-pollinate the existing tree. Wish me luck
Not sure if thats normal Brent. Someone once told me that some pear trees only fruit once every two years.
Whether or not this is true I do not know.
However it seems to be the case with mine at the moment. Might of just had a bad year last year though.