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My area was hit with an early ice storm two weeks ago. This is the first time we were hit so hard so early in the season and my Cleveland Pear trees got beat up pretty bad.

Below are some pictures of an example of how 10 out of 15 of my trees were damaged. Since it was too early in the year for them to drop their leaves in time, they collected the ice and snow until one of the main branches split. In many cases this split into the trunk as shown.

Any advise on what I can do to help these trees? I planted them as seedlings 6 years ago and they average 17" in trunk diameter.


[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/01.jpg[/img]<BR>
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/02.jpg[/img]<BR>
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/03.jpg[/img]<BR>
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/04.jpg[/img]<BR>
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/05.jpg[/img]<BR>
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll184/amb278/06.jpg[/img]<BR>

Sorry - I meant 17" in circumference, not diameter

Sorry about Mother Nature but she hit that hard. You might want to call an arborist and see what they think. They might think tarring and wrapping it but then again they would be the best bet. 5" caliber hard and expensive to replace.

bullthistle, thank you for the reply. I am on the hunt for someone local who can stop by, take a look, and give some advise.

Are these the same pear trees that are also called callery or Bradford pears? If so, there have been multiple discussions here about the danger they pose in storms.

But they may be completely different varieties, and that's why I'm asking the question. Whatever they are, they certainly took some serious damage.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Hi cynthia_h,

These are actually Cleveland Pears not Bradford Pears. The Bradford pears are notorious for branches breaking due to the branches growing more horizontal. The Cleveland pears grow much more verticle which supposedly gives them greater strength. This is why I selected them for my application (mainly lining my driveway). They did great during some very severe winters in PA over the last 6 years and some very stong winds. However, this time we had a very unusual sticky snow and ice storm very, very early in the season and the trees had not dropped any leaves, making for an ugly situation!

I was really bummed out when I looked out the window to see the devistation for the first time.