Enormous Pear Tree

[Lymmguineas]

I've had my allotment for about three years now. At the back of the plot is a huge pear tree - it must be about 25 - 30 foot tall.
There was nothing on the tree the first year I had it. Last year there was one pear.
This year I got about eight pears from the whole tree.
They were delicious though. They look like Doyenne du Comice but could be something else. I picked the final two on the tree yesterday.
There's another pear tree on the next allotment and lots of apple trees nearby and they all get loads of fruit.
Any suggestions as to what I can do to get more fruit next year?
The tree looks healthy enough, it just doesn't have much fruit.

[Guest]

Are all the branches long upright shoots or lots of stubby branches? If it is the first then prune it in winter when it is dormant.

[Lymmguineas]

Thanks for replying so quickly!
I'll try and put some photos on later in the week.
It may be tricky to prune as much of it is too high to reach without a ladder.

[fishpond]

Have you tried clearing all of the undergrowth from beneath the tree canopy?
Have you fed it with well rotted manure/compost approx 2 - 4" thick?
Have you pruned out the dead, dying, diseased, crossing branches?
Do all of the above every year and give it a year now for the manure to start having an effect, then 2019 should be a bumper year.(providing it doesn't get attacked by pests and birds)
In the meantime, read up on pruning.
Have fun

[Guest]

Unfortunately if that is what is going on pruning is the only answer I know of. Also a one off pruning is not likely to resolve the issue either. It will take years. How is you allotment run? Can you contact the council and get a forestry person in to top it? (yes it is optimistic but nothing to lose by asking) then in future years you can continue to work on it.

Mine was around 15ft some 4 years ago.



In the first year I focused on removing some quite chunky branches (my pear doesn't usually don pink sparkly shoes)



The following year I was then able to thin all the uprights. The year after I was able to thin and reduce the uprights. Only now is it starting to get somewhere. If you stick with do not remove more than a third and remember it is a long term plan you should be fine.

Lovely spurry stumpy branch



Lots of upright growth needing attention

[nickdub]

Feeding it round the roots is probably the best single thing you can do - most fruit trees which have been neglected are 3 parts starving. I'd hang back form doing much pruning til its starts growing for a few years, though taking out any dead/diseased wood is always a good thing.

Pollination can be a problem with tree fruit - best to see how much/when it flowers next Spring and then you might need to consider another pear so that it has a pollen partner.

[Hereford fruit grower]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to feed a large pear tree generously and sounds as if yours may be on seedling rootstock. If you look at the thread I began (same time) on 'Pyrodwarf' rootstock, my problem is excess vigour and the trees haven't been fed at all.

I'm rather unsentimental. If your soil is really good, I suggest two £15-20 pear trees that cross-pollinate each other on quince C. If the soil's only 'good', quince A. Leave the 6 m tree to its own devices and admire its beauty when in blossom; it'll probably crop well when cross-pollinated by the two dwarfs.

Is it Doyenne du Comice? My Comice have been picked but are still hard as bullets.

I've spent far too much time in the past on monster fruit trees that had to be pruned or picked from high ladders. I think dwarfing rootstocks like M9, quince C and VVA-1 for plums are wonderful.

[Lymmguineas]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to feed a large pear tree generously and sounds as if yours may be on seedling rootstock. If you look at the thread I began (same time) on 'Pyrodwarf' rootstock, my problem is excess vigour and the trees haven't been fed at all.

I'm rather unsentimental. If your soil is really good, I suggest two £15-20 pear trees that cross-pollinate each other on quince C. If the soil's only 'good', quince A. Leave the 6 m tree to its own devices and admire its beauty when in blossom; it'll probably crop well when cross-pollinated by the two dwarfs.

Is it Doyenne du Comice? My Comice have been picked but are still hard as bullets.

I've spent far too much time in the past on monster fruit trees that had to be pruned or picked from high ladders. I think dwarfing rootstocks like M9, quince C and VVA-1 for plums are wonderful.

The only reason I think it's Doyenne du Comice is that's what the fruit looks most like when I've compared it to pictures of other pears online. It could be anything! The pears were hard from my tree too but were soft and ripe after a week in the fruit bowl at home.

[nickdub]

It might be a seedling from comice which has come fairly true to its parent or even a cutting from comice which someone planted rather than grafting in the normal way.

I'd leave it alone mostly and concentrate on providing a pollen partner somehow if needed.

BTW I made myself a long handled picker out of an extensible pruner by fixing a plastic container to the top - means I can reach fruit about 30' off the ground. Its a bit fiddly, but if you only have a few dozen fruit, it might be worth a try next year.

[flynch]

Question did it have lots of flowers or not? If it's flowering a lot the problem is with pollination if it's not really flowering there it could be a few things but I'd start with pruning. Remove any dead, diseased and overlapping branches being careful to remove no more than a third of live healthy wood in a single year.

[TrialAndError]

I doubt that feeding a large tree will have any effect at all, the nutrients simply wont penetrate far enough to be any good. In fact, most fruit trees fruit better slightly starved. From the sound of it, your pear tree is anything but starved.

If two years ago it produced one pear, last year it produced eight pears, it's on course to produce 64 pears in 2019. If you can't prune it, leave it alone or chop down and plant varieties on dwarfing stock..