God helps those who help their pear trees.

July 24, 2017 1:18 PM

We moved into our house two years ago, and we thought this tree was an apple tree the whole time. It's ancient, and honestly thought it was kind of dying. Due to some (meteorological?) miracle, it has 4 whole pears on it, and seems to be much more full of foliage this year. How do I nurse this thing back into production?

If I had to venture a guess (based on 10 years of working in a grocery store's produce department) I would say they're D'Anjou pears, or something very very close? I'm willing to go to lengths to make this tree produce; I'm allergic to apples and love love love pears. Lets make the goal for next fall for me to be asking "Too many pears, halp!"

Furnace.Heart's Pear Tree Facts:
-Pear Tree lives in Portland, Oregon, hardiness zone 8B
-It's blossomed every year we've lived here (3 times so far), but this is the first time it's fruited. There are usually quite a few blossoms on it. The prior owners said it bloomed in the 2 years they owned the house as well, but never fruited. They also thought it was an apple tree.
-There are several branches that produce no leaves nor blossoms.
-It stands about 2 stories tall.
-It is large enough that my very large 6 year has a swing on one of the larger branches.

We were planning on having an arborist out sometime this year to trim back some other, taller trees at our house, is there a better time to have them come out for a tree like this? How do I encourage this thing to bear fruit? Do I need a special fertilization schedule? Are there complimentary plants I should be growing nearby to attract pollinators (which, I think we do have many of in our hood).

Basically this all boils down to, how should I be caring for this tree, to ensure maximum yield?

posted by furnace.heart to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, and I won't threadsit, but if photos of the tree and/or fruit will help in this venture, I can provide those later today when I get home.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:19 PM on July 24, 2017

I had a big pear tree in the front yard; the trunk was all hollow and dead, but one year we had a huge crop of pears, I mean bushels and bushels. The next several years we had none, or so few that the squirrels ate them all. A lot depends on when the blooms come and if it storms or freezes while the blossoms are out. Somebody told me that pear trees go on a cycle where they'll produce a lot one year and not much for the next.
posted by rikschell at 1:36 PM on July 24, 2017

Could it be an issue with pollination? I believe most pear trees are not self-pollinating, so it could be that what you need to do is plant another pear tree in your yard with a compatible flowering schedule. Or maybe the pears this year indicate that one of your neighbors recently planted another pear tree?
posted by JiBB at 1:39 PM on July 24, 2017 [7 favorites]

If Oregon has a cooperative extension service, start by contacting them. Most of their services are free and fact-based.
posted by mightshould at 1:54 PM on July 24, 2017 [4 favorites]

Is it possible that this is an ornamental pear tree? We have an ornamental pear that occasionally sets on a few stray fruits.
posted by adiabatic at 1:59 PM on July 24, 2017

Sorrt to do this here, but growingfruit dot com. I have no affiliation to the site, but it's what you need. The answer will start with proper pruning, which you do mostly in mid-winter.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 2:14 PM on July 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seconding the need for a second pear tree, one that blooms the same time as the one you have (some trees bloom earlier than others.) pears do not pollinate easily, you need to put the new one pretty close to the existing tree, but not too close. Raintree nursery in Morton WA does mail order and is a great resource- might be worth the 2 hour drive.
posted by carterk at 2:18 PM on July 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

If you hire an arborist, you really need to hire someone with a specialty in fruit trees as pruning them requires some specialized knowledge about how to prune in a way to promote growth. Up in Seattle we have an organization called City Fruit that offers a lot of fruit tree specific services and classes. Maybe you have something similar down in Portland?
posted by brookeb at 2:23 PM on July 24, 2017

I grew up with 2 pear trees in my backyard and there were SO MANY PEARS. I'm pretty sure that, as mentioned above, pear trees need a nearby pear tree buddy to produce fruit.

For when you have so many pears you don't know what to do with them, I recommend pear pie. Yum!
posted by bighappyhairydog at 2:28 PM on July 24, 2017

I have several pear trees in Portland, Oregon. One Bartlett and two 4-way multi-variety, which are necessary for cross-pollination (as JiBB and carterk point out).

One other thing that you may not know: pears won't ripen on the tree -- they'll just hang there until they go bad. You have to pick them (they're ready when they come off if you bend the stem) and then refrigerate them. Then you'll have a ton of great pears.
posted by spacewrench at 3:32 PM on July 24, 2017

Response by poster: Since cross pollination seems to be requisite; would grafting on another variety of pear to the same tree "count" for pollinations sake?
posted by furnace.heart at 3:49 PM on July 24, 2017

That's how my 4-way trees work. I assume you could do the graft yourself, if you know how, but the easiest thing is to just get another tree of a different sort, or a multi-way tree.
posted by spacewrench at 4:07 PM on July 24, 2017

Yes on grafting--it's a thing people do when they are brave. I'm not! But I think you could do it.

Trees of Antiquity has been great for me for fruit trees and may be able to identify what you have and what you might want to plant to go along with it. You want something that blooms at the same time, basically, to produce more. Some species are 'self-pollinating' but as you've observed, that sometimes results in lower yield. And some species don't pollinate others.

They are more local to you than to me, and likely well versed in west coast pears. I bought five really nice fruit trees from them, and I'm in the northeast. And they're capable of email, which is always nice.

Good luck!
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:57 PM on July 24, 2017

Don't forget to make sure that you provide plenty of good nourishment for your tree - fertilize not around the trunk but around the drip line and further out, and make sure that your tree is not full of aphids and subject to scale. The biggest problem with fruit trees tends to come when the windfalls drop and are left to rot in the grass which sets up a cycle of parasites - you do not have that problem. But if little green pear babies ever do form and drop, vigilantly pick them all up to prevent this.
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:09 AM on July 25, 2017

You might want to check out Dave Wilson Nursery's information for home fruit growers, too.
posted by jocelmeow at 3:45 PM on July 25, 2017

Chop it down and start over, by planting two dwarf pear trees?

Seriously, I'd advise not encouraging a tall pear tree to fruit. The pear tree at our house is taller than the neighbor's two story house. As has been mentioned up thread, pears are best if they are picked before they ripen on the tree because they don't fall until they are over-ripe. Picking pears from the top or middle of a large tree is impossible. Only the lowest branches are accessible even with a ladder and long-handled picker. So what's the problem, why not just let the upper fruit fall and eat the lower fruit? They smash on impact and attract wasps. Lots and lots of wasps. It's a daily chore to keep them picked up. See my previous thread about dealing with mushed pears.

I've read that they can be encouraged to fruit yearly instead of every other year by thinning the tiny developing fruits. But then I guess you'd have to reach the top of the tree...

Maybe I'm just bitter.
posted by SandiBeech at 6:29 PM on July 25, 2017