Pears and rhubarb

[JimmerG]

Not whether I've done the right thing here - but I've bought for £5 a conference pear tree - well I say pear tree, its actually a pear stalk - about a foot of dry root stock and a foot of pear tree - so far completely bear of any growth. I've given it a good soak, and its sitting temporarily in a big pot of gorgeous fertile soil. HOPEFULLY it'll spring into action soon.....

So I'm wondering if I could stick it inbetween two new rhubarb crowns that are about a meter apart. The reason being - the rhubarb leaves wont grow more that a few feet high - and a pear tree should grow to a few meters high. The Pear trees roots are at least a foot and a half underground - not sure how far down rharbarb roots go.

Would this work - or would there be a bit of a floral battle?

J

[FB.]

Sounds OK to me.
I have all kinds of things inter-planted with my fruit trees/bushes.
In centuries past, it was not unusual to choose apple varieties with unusually upright growth habits (which included many of the old russet-types), so that the amount of shade was reduced and the fruits were grown on an upper level, with smaller crops grown underneath the apple trees.

[rana]

It all sounds a bit close to me. It will be fine for a year or two but rhubarb crowns get huge and the fleshy roots go deep. Once branching and in leaf the pear tree will create a lot of shade and while some roots near the trunk may go downwards the lateral roots will spread out near the soil surface. Damage to these roots in the future will affect the pear trees health adversely. It will also be in competition with your very hungry rhubarb for available nutrients.