very early start

[FB.]

BUFFS

Yes, those trees should make some nice shade and hopefully keep the ground protected a bit from the sun and wind.
My problem is too little water and too much sun. I'm going to sacrifice some of the sun, to gain some water - and hopefully get a better balance.
Notice that I've gone for the maximum - very vigorous varieties on very vigorous rootstocks. But that's what will be needed for them to survive, once they mature and become too large to easily water or feed.

I shudder to imagine how big they'd grow in your area.

[littleexperience]

i wish we could get similar rainfall amounts to you FB but the fact is we get 6ft+ rainfall to your 2ft per year i guess thats why sw scotland is full of forestry even the copper beech which are only 10 years are 20ft tall a different world here FB.one thing for certain we will never run out of water

[FB.]

Ah, you won't want such low rainfall as I get.
But about 3ft per year - here - would be ideal. (it'd also help to have more than 1ft of topsoil over the gravel subsoil).
During the summer, we tend to get lots of light showers. They damp the uppermost few millimetres of the soil, but within half an hour, the warmth, the wind and the sun have dried it completely.
If only half of our showers were proper rain that penetrated an inch or two, the plants would be so much happier.

[littleexperience]

i think i may have solved the problem with my pear tree FB my back garden faces north and gets no sun whatsoever from december till the 1st week in february.i have this pear tree directly behind my greenhouse now the temp has not got above 5c this month so far but when the sun finally got high enough it shines through my greenhouse magnifying the temp to about 10c when it hits my pear tree which then thinks it time to waken up complicated to understand but its the only explanation i have as all my other fruit trees are well away from the greenhouse and obviously has not effect on them.

whats your thoughts on this FB is it possible

[FB.]

It could be the reason.
The chill hours are complete and now the sun is warming the tree.
I double-checked my Conference pear yesterday and absolutely no sign of buds opening, nor anywhere near ready to open.

Next year, try your tree in a different location and see what happens. Maybe switch positions with one of your other trees and see if the other tree leafs-out early.

[littleexperience]

thanks for your help FB.i think i could be on to a winner here during winter keep all my fruit trees away from this area till april then move as many as i can to this area 3 trees i should get into this area by having a quick look. i might get bigger and better crops dew to the magnification effect during spring and summer. they may be in whisky barrels and need 4 guys to lift them there but its probably worth it. the better half will just have to move her chairs and table to some other area in the garden.i will have to build some confidence before popping the question i feel

[plotman]

It's not so much the buds getting blasted by the cold, but the fact that if the flowers are open but the roots are still dormant, it can considerably impair flower fertility and fruit set, as a result of distorted or inadequate sapflow.
Both the tree and the roots ideally need to be coming to life at the same time.

Its just a case of a few leaves have opened premature probably due to some early sunshine.. There has been no mention of flower buds opening. Trees basically still dormant and has got little confused but will right itself in coming months. No cause for concern. Natures much more clever than we are

[WendyC]

Would be interesting to know what happened after 5 years.

[littleexperience]

Would be interesting to know what happened after 5 years.

unfortunately my conference pear died that year which i suspected was canker my other pear died the following season with the same canker i gave up trying to grow pears i found out the only two reliable fruit trees to grow here are apples.plums are boarderline here could well be because my plot sits at 1000ft asl