Dwarf Pear Lilliput help

[russell]

Hello All

I ordered a Dwarf Lilliput and planted it in a 35 cm pot. about a week ago. The leaves are still crinkly and curved and it doesn't look any better than when we got it trhough the post.

Can anyone help at all?

If you need any more info please ask and I'll try to explain better.

[mrs dog]

Russell give it time. You don't say whether it was sent bare rooted? If so then they keep them in dormancy somehow. Anyway as the weather gets warmer and you water and feed it it will soon recover from the shock of being moved.

[russell]

Hey Mrs Dog

thanks for the advice. I don't know what bare rooted means. It came in a plant pot we think.

What sort of feed do I need to give it? I'm OK at growing veg but not very experienced when growing fruit.

Thanks again

[russell]

Hi Everyone

Just an update to this.

We've had no flowers nor blossom either last year or this year. The pear tree is growing though.

Can anyone suggest anything for next year?

Ta

[FB.]

It sounds as if the tree has been a bit stressed and needs time to settle down. That's not at all unusual.
If it was mine, I would give it a good feed right now, before it drops it's leaves, and then see how it goes next year. I've noticed a curious phenomenon with fruit trees and feeding -often the tree responds to the feeding in the growing season after you fed it (i.e. a 6-12 month delay). So get it fed now.
I would not prune the tree this winter.

Next year, if it grows reasonably well (six inches or more by July), you could induce fruit buds for the following season by hard-pruning some of the new shoots in mid-July.
The timing and the type of pruning is very important (i.e. don't prune in May-June, nor in Aug-Sept and don't prune anything other than the young shoots and don't prune any shoots that have grown than three inches).

If the tree is not growing at least six inches by next July, leave all pruning until next winter. Unfortunately, winter pruning discourages fruiting, but there's no point summer-pruning a weak-growing/unhappy tree because summer pruning is very stressful - it removes precious light-gathering leaves at the peak of the season. The loss of photosynthesis shocks the plant into thinking it will die, which is why the plant then usually responds with a lot of fruit buds which will flower in the next season or two, in the hope of reproducing before it dies. Of course, we're not actually going to cause it to die - we're just making it think it's going to die.

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[solway cropper]

I like the idea of getting trees to think they're going to die. If I wander round the garden with a chainsaw will that terrify my fruit trees into giving a better crop next year

[FB.]

I was once told the story of a terrified old Bramley tree that was threatened with a chainsaw.

Apparently, an old Bramley stood in this persons garden. It hadn't fruited for many years. The chap decided that the Bramley was going to be cut down and replaced. He decided to plant a new apple tree and get it established before cutting down the Bramley.
The very season after planting the new tree, the Bramley began to fruit heavily and regularly. The owner assumed that somehow, the Bramley had understood his intentions and the Bramley was therefore putting on a good show, in fear of it's life.

[FB.]

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Of course, what was really happening was that the Bramley finally had a pollination partner!

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[russell]

Thanks everyone...

Just one more question - what do I feed it? And if anyone says pear food......