What's wrong with my Conference pear tree please?

[karenskye]

I have three, 3 year old, fruit trees - one conference, one cherry and one apple. The cherry is a sickly specimen but is the only one to have flowered this year. The apple and the pear are nice and leafy but with no buds or blossom at all. Having looked at the leaves of the pear I can see long black patches on the underside only. The top is not affected and there does not seem to be any bugs or beasties attacking. I feed weekly with a soluble feed and water weekly in dry weather. Can anyone help please?
I'm a novice gardener in my second year growing vegetables outiside and in a poly.

[FB.]

The black specks on the pear may be due to frost damage earlier in the year, or may be scab.
Lack of fruit would possibly be due to frost killing the blossom - several of my trees will have no fruit this year as a result of being frosted while in flower.

A lack of blossom is completely normal in a young tree. The tree needs to grow a good branch structure and a strong root system before it should be allowed to fruit - and pears often take several years or more to reach full cropping potential.

Ironically, a fast-growing, non-flowering tree is often a sign of a very happy tree, while a heavy cropping tree is a sign of a tree under stress.
Even more ironically, if you treat a tree rough (no feeding, reduced watering, hard summer pruning), it is likely to start flowering the next year, as a result of the shock. But once a tree starts flowering and fruiting, its growth rate slows down considerably.

[karenskye]

Sorry for the delay in replying to you. Many thanks for the advice. SOunds like I have a good wee tree then! Bit worried about the black spotting, but I won't worry too much this year and see what happens next year.

Thanks for the advice.