Pear and Quince tree question

[Marcher]

My neighbour has a pear tree which was mature when they bought it and has been that about 4 years now.
I've never seen anything on it though and the Quince rootstock has suckered so there's a clear difference between the bottom and top of the tree.

So why isn't there any fruit on either the pear top half or the quince rootstock?

It in partial shade beneath some leylandii but the two apple trees at both sides seem to have done fine there and the tree itself looks fine (apart from it needs slight pruning and the rootstock has suckered). So why wouldn't it be producing anything?

[FB.]

Pears take much longer than apples to start cropping.
Cropping may also be affected by the rootstock (some rootstocks induce the scion to flower more readily than others) and lack of flowers or fruit may be due to nutrient deficiencies (especially potassium).
Some varieties are also slow to fruit in the same way as the rootstock can delay or bring forward the age at which a tree fruits.

There are also less pear trees around the country and most are the same few types, so cross-pollination doesn't happen as readily.

The earlier flowering season of pears (about three weeks before apples) means cooler weather, so less insect activity and more risk of frost killing the blossoms.

I've let one of my quince A rootstocks sucker since planting, but it's never flowered therefore never fruited.

[veggiechicken]

I have an old pear tree (maybe 70 years old) that has suckered a quince tree at the base. The quince has been flowering for the last 5 years but never fruited. This year it didn't flower at all.
Also this is the first year that I remember when the pear has flowered but not fruited. I put this down to the abnormal conditions this spring. Its also hammered my apple trees

[Marcher]

Pears take much longer than apples to start cropping.
Cropping may also be affected by the rootstock (some rootstocks induce the scion to flower more readily than others) and lack of flowers or fruit may be due to nutrient deficiencies (especially potassium).
Some varieties are also slow to fruit in the same way as the rootstock can delay or bring forward the age at which a tree fruits.

There are also less pear trees around the country and most are the same few types, so cross-pollination doesn't happen as readily.

The earlier flowering season of pears (about three weeks before apples) means cooler weather, so less insect activity and more risk of frost killing the blossoms.

I've let one of my quince A rootstocks sucker since planting, but it's never flowered therefore never fruited.

Well I've never seen blossom on it. There's another pear tree I know of a few streets away but I think the chances of the same bees visiting both is quite small. I also have one in my garden but it's just a maiden this year and I got a partially self-fertile one (Conference) to make sure at least some fruit would grow on it.

Yeah, there's apples, crab apples and plums practically everywhere around here but not nearly as many pears.

[FB.]

Yeah, there's apples, crab apples and plums practically everywhere around here but not nearly as many pears.

Pears and Quince are a bit of a mis-match.

Pears don't like either wet nor cool conditions.

Quince rootstock needs plenty of rainfall as it is shallow-rooted; it can't cope with dry conditions.

But pears on seedling pear or pyrus rootstock have very large and deep root systems which often makes them too vigorous for most people's requirements.

I have three pears on Quince A, one on Pyrodwarf and one on Pyrus Communis.

My soil is usually fairly dry (not this year!) and infertile; the Quince-rooted pears usually need lots of watering to keep them alive (they're OK this year), but the two pear-rooted bushes are an excellent combination on my soil.
The pear-rooted bushes don't need me to look after them at all; striking a perfect balance of growth and cropping, in most years.

[Marcher]

Pears and Quince are a bit of a mis-match.

Pears don't like either wet nor cool conditions.

Quince rootstock needs plenty of rainfall as it is shallow-rooted; it can't cope with dry conditions.

But pears on seedling pear or pyrus rootstock have very large and deep root systems which often makes them too vigorous for most people's requirements.

I have three pears on Quince A, one on Pyrodwarf and one on Pyrus Communis.

My soil is usually fairly dry (not this year!) and infertile; the Quince-rooted pears usually need lots of watering to keep them alive (they're OK this year), but the two pear-rooted bushes are an excellent combination on my soil.
The pear-rooted bushes don't need me to look after them at all; striking a perfect balance of growth and cropping, in most years.

I see. I'd imagine that quince is less cold hardy than pear though. It's a shame we can't just find a dwarfing pear tree on its own roots and create a pear rootstock from that.
One thing I've never quite understood though - with trees on own-roots couldn't you just keep pruning them to keep them dwarf or doesn't that work?

When I've read things about them they've always said that pear is a bit less hardy than apple anyway, but there are a few old varieties native to the Scottish borders which seem to do okay.

[orangepippin]

When it comes to winter cold-hardiness there is not that much difference between southern England and northern Scotland (ignoring the mountains) - compared with the average winter minimum temperatures you might find in the continental climates of central Europe or North America. The difficulty with growing quinces and pears in the north of the UK is not so much winter cold as the uncertain spring and summer weather.

The size of own-root trees can be kept down to some extent by actively encouraging early fruiting, and choosing naturally low-vigour scion varieties.

[FB.]

I see. I'd imagine that quince is less cold hardy than pear though. It's a shame we can't just find a dwarfing pear tree on its own roots and create a pear rootstock from that.
One thing I've never quite understood though - with trees on own-roots couldn't you just keep pruning them to keep them dwarf or doesn't that work?

When I've read things about them they've always said that pear is a bit less hardy than apple anyway, but there are a few old varieties native to the Scottish borders which seem to do okay.

Own-root trees, as OP says, can be kept at a reasonable size with good pruning.

In less-fertile soils and lower-rainfall regions, where the growing conditions result in smaller trees, own-root trees may be able to be kept remarkably small. In may area, the two biggest old unpruned "standard" Bramleys are 6-7m in size. A well-pruned Bramley nearby is about 4-5m in size. These are all old trees (minimum 60yrs, one is probably 100+ years) on vigorous roots, with trunks as thick as a person's body.
Not much is more vigorous than a Bramley on the old M2, seedling or crab rootstocks, so round here an "own root" tree would probably reach 3-4m if left to do its own thing.
If well-pruned, it could be kept at half that size. My general rule is that a tree can be roughly kept to half its potential with good pruning.

An own-root tree will not necessarily be equal to another own-root tree which would reach the same size on the same rootstock. This is because a tree on its own roots could have a preference for certain soils.
So in a soil/climate where an own-root James Grieve might do well, we might find that an own-root Golden Delicious did not like the soil/climate conditions.
This certainly applies to rootstocks, where some are known to perform well (or badly) in certain soils and not in other soils.