Pears?

albucsfan · Tue May 18, 2010 1:39 pm

Noticed a couple of pear trees on our property (waaay in the back) a couple of years ago, and then promptly forgot about them....

Was out scouting locations for the Little Man's new nectarine tree and found them again....

Loaded down with golf ball size pears....These trees haven't been tended to in at least 10 years (when we moved in) and also haven't been sprayed or anything in at least that time....

If we wanted to make use of the fruit from these trees, is there anything I should do now? or for next year?? No idea what variety either, never even saw them bloom

(I will pay more attention from now on

)

Thanks!

Steph

JONA878 · Wed May 19, 2010 10:33 am

If they are cropping well and the fruit is not covored in scab Steph..then why worry!

In the autumn take a sample along to a fruit farm and with a bit of luck you will be able to get them identified. Once you know the variety you can decide what next. You may well find it's one of the old , hard as bullet types that were used for cooking and perry.
Very old pear trees are best left alone, especially if they have grown to a fair hight as they can be reluctant to break old dormant bud.

Onei · Fri May 21, 2010 9:15 am

I have a well established pear tree that is about 20 feet high. I have lived in the property for about six years. The tree produced fruit for about 4 years in succession then the following year there was absolutely nothing (blossom or fruit). I thought the tree had had it, but the next year it came back to life and produced fruit again. Not sure why this happened but as JONA878 said it might be wise to leave your trees rather than upset them in case they are a bit sensitive to change, so to speak.

robert31 · Sat May 22, 2010 2:41 pm

The tree produced fruit for about 4 years in succession then the following year there was absolutely nothing (blossom or fruit). I thought the tree had had it, but the next year it came back to life and produced fruit again.

I have heard that if a tree over bears the previous year, the following year it might not have fruit. I'm not an expert or anything, but maybe that could be it.