Pear tree problems

[johnsonian55]

Hello all,

Two years ago i actually managed to get 4 edible sized pear off my small pear tree and was hoping that this was the sign of things to come. Howver last year dispite having numerous small baby sized pears i ended up with nothing. You could see the tiny pears there in clusters however after about 1 week they seemed to have some black stuff on them and they simply feel off. Any ideas what could of caused this and how i might combat it ----- Many thanks As per below I live in the north east of england near newcastle. The soil is quite good as i have had a few pears a couple of years ago

[zazen999]

Hi and welcome to the Vine

This might be why: it's been a bad year for all fruit and veg growing.

'Ugly' fruit and veg make the grade on UK supermarket shelves | Environment | The Guardian

[FB.]

Hi j55

Can you put your location in your profile. It helps a lot as local climates and soils vary across the UK (or maybe you're from outside the UK - we have a few).

Also which variety and which rootstock?

Also any knowledge you have of your local soil or climate.

Every piece of information - no matter how silly it might sound - is helpful when trying to solve a problem.

My best guesses would be:

1. Fruits damaged by a pest or disease. Scab or fireblight perhaps. Location and climate can favour certain diseases, and certain varieties are more prone than others.

2. Poor pollination.

3. Tree too young to start cropping (some types of fruit tree and some rootstocks are slow to bear a crop).

4. The rootstock doesn't like your soil/climate (Quince rootstocks are rather fussy)

[johnsonian55]

hello i live in sunderland, the soil is quite good as i have had edible sized pears off it 2 years ago. it is a conference pear tree and i think it might be a disease or pest but unsure which

[veggiechicken]

Hi johnsonian and welcome . If you put Sunderland is your profile it will stop us asking you where you live all the time
I have several pear trees, including Conference. This is the first year that I haven't had a single pear. Plenty of blossom, small pears formed and then - nothing.
Same thing happened with my apple trees. Its been such a wet and windy year - that's the only thing I can put my total fruit failure down to.

[ancee]

Hi Johnsonian. I too have that tree. First year I took all the fruitlets off to give it time to settle in, second year I uprooted it (Moved house) and got 1 pear. Third year we got 13 pears that grew to full size, then three fell off. So we ended up with 10. I found ants to be a big problem tough. They were taking aphids up the trunk to the new leaves and making a heck of a mess with it = black mess and eating the leaves etc I bought these anti-ant little black hexagonal boxes from Morrisons (other supermarkets are available!) and put them in the pot with the tree, next day no ants, squished off remaining aphids, tree recovered. I'd have a good look at the tree in spring and see if you can spot any pests. Welcome to the vine btw