No pear blossom!

[Ferryman2]

I have a 10 year old Beth pear tree which I have trained as an espalier on wires about 2 metres high and 2.5 metres across. It has a shed wall about half a metre behind it sheltering it from north winds and is south facing with full sun for most of the day. After a slow start it has improved year on year and last season produced over 100 fruits which it carried to maturity. The tree appears healthy and was fed last autumn with bonemeal and this spring with sulphate of potash. This spring it has produced a fine crop of new leaves but not a single blossom. Was it overstressed last year, did my feeding cause this problem or can this variety perhaps revert to being bi-annual? Any advice/ideas gratefully recieved. ps in the south-east.

[orangepippin]

Beth is a fairly weak-growing but heavy-cropping variety, a combination which can lead to biennial bearing - although Beth is normally quite reliable.

Over-feeding will often cause vegetative growth rather than fruiting. Incorrect summer pruning the previous year will also reduce blossom, although this sounds unlikely in your case.