It may be a dud, but nothing suffers more from transplanting than a pear. Sometimes the root injury makes them come out of dormancy quite late- even when roots are carefully dug.

I do not work for SuperThrive, but I do use it every time when dealing with bare root plants. A very accomplished fruit nursery guy who would order many hundreds of bare root trees each Spring told me that he would lose X percent each year that wouldn't survive the shock. After he began to soak them all in a huge vat with the ST for a certain number of hours before potting them, the mortality rate shrunk to about one percent. I guess that doing the same with some other 'root stimulator' could be helpful before or after planting.

My experience with barefoot trees purchased from the Internet is not good at all. One of five worked and I gave up contacting the Nursery for replacement.
As a matter of fact I stopped buying trees from the Internet. It is like everything else starts good then the greed and consumer Rip-off prevail. Last year I Bought a Chicago Hardy Fig tree from EBay for $10 and $8 shipping it arrived in pot and the tree was about 6 inches long after one year it is about 1 foot long. I am stupid and I don't learn quickly. This year I purchased 2 black mission Fig trees from Purpee $30 cost and $10 shipping for a total of $40. It arrived after 4 weeks and when I opened the box my woman said they did they send you weeds. She thought it is weeds. The trees are 3-4 inches long and I said that is it. Never again. I was at HD buying some Sulur and found that they have new trees arrived I bought A brown Turkey Fig tree which has two 5 feet branches and in a pot for measly $19.00. I planted it and kept it inside the Garage and it is now has lots of leaves and look like a real tree. I have to find a nursery even within 100 miles and go and see what I am getting and it has to be in a pot. The so called barefoot gives the roots a big shock and most of the time don't recover.

Last year I planted a bare root pear, and it failed. I brought it back to the nursery, and they grudgingly gave credit. This year, forget it. I'm done with bare root pears. I'll continue to watch it in hopes that it is just very late.
RB

Millions of bare root pear trees are planted every year, purchased from commercial suppliers and established successfully. All you need do is buy from a supplier who supplies the industry or buy from a supplier with a great reputation for serving back yard growers.

On the west coast C+O Nursery is good as are outfits like Trees of Antiquity and Raintree nursery.

If you buy a potted tree from a nursery you'll be buying a bare root tree the nursery has potted and paying for less root and a poorer tree for establishment. You'll also run a huge risk of getting a tree not true to label.

I don't believe in anecdotal observations of products like Superthrive, which has been around for decades. I Believe if it provided any significant benefit, commercial growers would be all over it and universities would widely recommend it. As far as I know, neither is the case.

My experience with bare root trees is the opposite of Foolish Pleasure's. They have always thrived for me. I've received decent trees from internet nurseries that have good feedback.

I prefer to buy locally so I can see what I am buying. I buy bare root locally and they have all done well for me.

My experiences with potted trees haven't been so good.

Pears are just slow. They bloom really late, which is why they are so good for cold climates. They also tend to grow slowly and they take their own sweet time about producing a crop.

If you flex the branches very gently and they bend, then your trees are alive and just need more time. Don't bend them too far to they will break, just enough so you an tell that they aren't dry dead hard sticks.

I bought a bare root Moon Glow pear from a local retailer, who bought it wholesale, 7 years ago.
Two years ago I had my first pears (50)& the cold got the blooms last year, only 3.
I wish I had bought 3 trees instead of one.
Sorry it did not work for you.

I don't believe that tree sold potted has less roots than a bare foot tree. You receive the bare foot tree and look at the poor roots clipped to the nose and look ugly like a guy put his head to a lawn mower. The tree bought into a pot looks like spoiled princess you remove the tree from the pot and see a huge cluster of roots big and small and smaller. With my bare hand I pet the roots to release the soil. Now I have a cluster of roots which can pull a truck. I spread them wide and cover them by good soil mix then water and let the air escape along with handful of slow releasing fertilizer. In a week or less I see the bloom. Contrasted with Bare foot tree I watch it for two months sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, sometimes singing and sometimes praying for the first lease to show up. Then the season got lost and wait for next year. From two potted Fig trees I got two crops in the first year which the bare foot fig tree still working on the third leaf. If Human can grow organs and we cut one of yours you will need time to grow one lots of time. I rest my case.

Foolish pleasure, you're beliefs are probably based on limited experience. Nurseries buy their trees bare root and if they don't fit in a 5 gallon pot they usually clip the roots. If you purchased bare roots without a decent root system, fault the individual nursery, not bare root trees in general.

I purchase hundreds of bare root trees every year of every fruit variety I can grow here and grow them in 15 to 25 gallon pots before reselling them. This has been part of my business for 20 years. There are good sources and not so good sources but stock I purchase rarely fails to grow. I loose so few trees that I generally don't bother getting a refund. Of course I buy wholesale so it's usually a matter of not much money.

I agree with Smoke that if you can pick out your bare root trees from a reliable local nursery it could be a big plus in getting the best starters.

Bob my established(15 years)Bartlett has buds just starting to break, give yours more time. Al