Fruit Blossom Starting.

[solway cropper]

Conference pear and Opal plum have plenty of flowers. A wild plum/damson down the road is absolutely covered in blossom so I'm hoping that means a bumper harvest.

[DaveJ]

Same here, fruit trees now in blossom. I love Spring, it's my favourite season of the year.

[PrideRavyn]

Our Damson trees came into bloom on the weekend of the 9th/10th April, our Cherry nearly two weeks ago and the plum at about the same time!

[Mac]

Noticed last night that the Victoria Plum we were given last year has started to blossom, very happy! And it smells lovely too!

[Bigmallly]

Apple, plum & cherry all in full bloom..........nothing on the pear, just masses of leaves. I can only guess there are no compatable pear trees nearby for pollination.

[FB.]

If the pear tree didn't flower at all, it might be that it still wants to grow. Some pears take several years to start flowering, depending on variety, rootstock and growing conditions.
Pears aren't very common in the UK nowadays, so I would always recommend a pollinator unless you have one of the part-self-fertile varieties such as Conference or Concorde. Even the part-self-fertile varieties will produce better quality fruit if cross-pollinated.

[mogs]

I recently planted a pear tree Doyenne du Comice and my allotment neighbour has a Concorde, which I understand is a pollinator for mine (although not expecting fruit for a couple or so years yet of course) Question is; neighbours tree is about 10 metres away from mine, will pollination still be possible from this distance?

[FB.]

Pollination is possible from miles away. It depends on where the bees are flying and whether they travel between suitable trees.
The nearer the pollinator, the more likely the pollination. One or two gardens distance will be OK.

Comice is a very delicate pear tree. It needs a warm and sheltered position to perform well and in some areas, can suffer badly from disease or frost. It is also very vigorous and can take longer than average to bear a crop. I don't grow it because I consider it to be too difficult and unreliable in the UK - especially if grown "organic".
Since Comice and Concorde are related (Comice x Conference = Concorde), I suspect that pollination will only be partial.

[mogs]

Thanks FB - I'll give it a go anyway - I know it's mad, but I don't particularly like pears, so if I only get half a dozen in a few years time, it'll do for me - it's more about the challenge of having a go at something outside of the norm than massive crops - we can but try, try and try again

[21again]

I think this is the 2nd year we have had our Opal plum tree so this is the first year we have had blossom on it.

I took a look this morning and there are little green 'things' growing in the centre of the flower with the stamen coming out of the end.

I assume this is the start of the fruit growth so I will be really pleased if we get something edible from it this year.

Hopefully worth the £3.50 I paid for it at Tesco last year.

[FB.]

All of my fruit trees have now reached or passed full flower.

[mrscorpio]

I think this is the 2nd year we have had our Opal plum tree so this is the first year we have had blossom on it.

I took a look this morning and there are little green 'things' growing in the centre of the flower with the stamen coming out of the end.

I assume this is the start of the fruit growth so I will be really pleased if we get something edible from it this year.

Hopefully worth the £3.50 I paid for it at Tesco last year.

I have an Opal - it took several years before we had a big crop, but it was worth the wait.

[21again]

I have an Opal - it took several years before we had a big crop, but it was worth the wait.

I don't know what is considered to be a big crop but now that a few of the smaller fruit buds have fallen off there are still at least 50 plums growing on the tree.

I may have to have a count tomorrow now out of interest.

[21again]

I don't know what is considered to be a big crop but now that a few of the smaller fruit buds have fallen off there are still at least 50 plums growing on the tree.

I may have to have a count tomorrow now out of interest.

Well, I did my best to count the young fruits on there and there isn't far off 100 on there!

This is the first time it has fruited as I only bought it last year and it is only about 5' tall.