Pears won't bear

[roymunson]

I have 2 or 3 pears (I was young, dumb, and didn't label them well) at my home that are 6-7 years old (since I bare rooted them as 4' trees). I did transplant them about 3 years ago, since we were moving, they were small, and I wanted to take my orchard with me. but 2 years ago I had some flowers on them that never amounted to anything.

Last year, no buds. This year, no buds.

The trees are growing alright, but I cannot get them to put on any fruit.

They're in full sun, but 2 things I thought may be factors:
1. Heavy Clay. We have extremely heavy clay soil there, so much in fact that my cherry trees didn't make it. So I expected some stunted growth, but figured by now I'd have fruit. If this is the problem, what can I do to mitigate or break down the clay? Gypsum?

2. They're right on the edge of a pasture/hay field and there are a lot of redwinged blackbirds that come out of the hay and perch on these trees as they're the highest perch around. They're always crapping on everything and sometimes even using the trees enough that towards the end of the summer the leaves are struggling. Are these guys boogering my blossoms? If so, I've gotta do something. I have 4 or 5 apples coming along well in the same area, and I don't want the same problems.

 

[Prof.Kent]

I have a Warren pear tree that is 15 or 16 years old and has never blossomed. Looks healthy, dwarf, enough sunlight.

 

[Rit]

I will be following along on this one. I put 8 pears into heavy clay in an old hay field this year. I also put 6 apples in the same area last year. 2 of those apples have flowers this spring but they were potted trees. Might just be fools gold.

 

[H20fwler]

Clay shouldn't bother them at all, I've got clay here. I'm a big fan of gypsum it will soften the clay and help it retain moisture and helps feed trees, I would go with a half a cup around drip line early spring and again in fall if you think your clay is to heavy. Bare root pears seem to take longer to grow than potted and when you moved them it could have given them some root shock...I've done that with pears moving them from the garden in fall they are touchier than apples. I wouldn't think the bird poop is hurting trees at all but the birds may be eating the little started fruit? Have you put any triple 10 or similar around drip line in past? Sometimes young fertilized trees won't fruit.

 

[roymunson]

Have you put any triple 10 or similar around drip line in past? Sometimes young fertilized trees won't fruit.

I put a couple stake/fertilizer pieces around it last fall, but other than that, nothing.

The trees are growing, just no fruit.

 

[homerj]

There's a reason for the old saying "plant pears for your heirs"

 

[yoderjac]

We planted some pears that were labeled as kieffer but probably are something else. They grew like mad and were 30' tall but never produced. Then, one year I saw a couple blossoms and we had 2 pears on one of the trees. The following year, the trees were all hanging so heavy I thought the limbs would break. We have had good crops since then. Unfortunately, the wildlife cleans them all up before our archery season rolls around in early Oct.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[g squared 23]

I’ve got 3 dwarf pears from stark bros that went in the ground ~2013. The best grower is as big around as my cankle, and I’ve never seen a bloom.

None this year, maybe one day...


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[NE PA QDM]

I have a few 7th leaf pears that are 15-20’ tall and still with few or no blooms. They definitely seem to lag behind apples when it comes to fruiting. Hopefully they will pop in another year or two.

One good thing about the delay is that by the time they set fruit they are big enough to handle a fruit load and you don’t need to focus on thinning to promote growth etc.

 

[yoderjac]

One more thought. Keiffer pears are supposed to be self-fruitful, but as I say, what we got doesn't look like Keiffer. Many pears require pollinating partners. If you did not know that when you got yours, pollination could be an issue if you are seeing flowers but not fruit. Back when our trees were large but not bearing yet, I planting a seedling pear near each group. I don't know if that had any effect but it was shortly after that when ours began fruiting. I'm guessing it was more coincidence than anything else. Those seedling pears are much smaller and have not yet fruited.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[roymunson]

You guys are making me feel a little better, at least I'm not doing something wrong.

But I'm also frustrated that I'm not necessarily at the end of this thing. I want frigging pears!

 

[Benja]

You guys are making me feel a little better, at least I'm not doing something wrong.

But I'm also frustrated that I'm not necessarily at the end of this thing. I want frigging pears!

I don't have much long term experience with pears, but I planted one Olympic Asian pear that produced in its third year (that was last year). A nearby Ayers pear planted the same year didn't produce yet, so maybe Asian pears produce younger?
Or maybe I have an exceptional Olympic pear? After pinchng off half the blossoms it still made eight fruits. The largest weighed 16 ounces!

 

[Native Hunter]

I think others here have calmed your concerns, and I agree with them that you probably have nothing to worry about. I planted some pears at a new location in the spring of 2014, and some of them are 20 feet tall now. Most of them flowered a little this spring, but I can't see any fruit set on them. However, as pointed out in Post #9 above, they should be big enough and strong enough to carry the fruit load someday when they do start bearing.

I have other pears that started bearing at a fairly young age. I can't really explain why this happens. I have noticed that the location they are set seems to matter, but can't pinpoint the differences. At my farm, the ones set on high ground bear quicker than the ones set on low ground. The ones at my home seem quicker than any other place - yet all are cared for in the same way. I realize that low ground can be a frost pocket, but I don't think that was a factor this year for me.

The two biggest pear trees I have are Ayers, and they are now approximately 34 feet tall. They have been pumping out the fruit for several years now. One of them is loaded with pears this year to an incredible degree and the other one isn't far behind. I think the earliest pear tree to start putting out significant fruit for me was a Moonglow. That thing was covering the tree by the time it was 3 years old. My Kieffers have set fruit early too - except for the one on the low ground like I mentioned above.

 

[Charman03]

Either my shinko or Olympic from ACN fruited the year I planted it. Loaded with blossoms this year

 

[g squared 23]

I’ve got 3 dwarf pears from stark bros that went in the ground ~2013. The best grower is as big around as my cankle, and I’ve never seen a bloom.

None this year, maybe one day...


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Ok I’ll make a correction to my post. Two of them have very sparse blossoms for the first time. We’ll see if either actually fruit.


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[pinetag14]

I'm nowhere near as experienced as most everyone else here but I did have a few observations from the pears I planted last year.

I put four potted trees in the ground in the spring of 2018, 2 keiffers, 1 moonglow, and 1 bartlett. The bartlett and the biggest keiffer (approximately 7 ft) were planted up near the cottage on higher ground with more sunlight whereas the moonglow and the smaller keiffer were planted in my creek plot on low ground. All of the trees seem very healthy but only the large keiffer on the high ground put on much growth. This year it is about 10 feet tall and was loaded with blooms and now has a few select pears on it whereas the bartlett on the high ground did very little other than leaf out last year and this spring. The moonglow and keiffer down by the creek didn't put on much top growth either and none of the 3 had flowers.

Observations...
1. The keiffers definitely leaf out and bloom earlier than the others so I would expect on a late frost year those will be the hardest hit whereas the moonglow and bartlett might still have a chance to produce
2. The moonglow and keiffer in the low ground are growing slowly likely due to a combination of less sunshine and more soggy growing conditions
3. The bartlett seems like it needs more time to establish its root system before it even attempts much top growth, let alone fruit production. It is also not self pollinating like the keiffer so I would expect it to produce more as the nearby keiffer gets more established

First 3 pics are of the larger keiffer near the cottage and the last is the keiffer down in the creek plot with the moonglow in the background. You can see the moonglow hadn't leafed out when the pic was taken on March 30.

 

[buckvelvet]

I've seen people that have taken 20-30 years to get warren pears to fruit, it's just a shy late bearer.