Mary:

I would act fast and buy the dwarf bareroot Flemish Beauty that you located, and get it in the ground immediately. I don't think it is too late where you live, but there is no time to lose. This is not an easy variety to find, and I doubt you will find it potted or rootballed.

I have a 14 year old standard FB here, and it took 8 years before I saw the first blossoming. Since then it has fruited regularly until this season, when it seems to be taking a timeout, perhaps due to the prolonged Easter freeze. You could probably get blossoming in year 3 or 4 with a dwarf, and it would do just as good a job at cross-pollination.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don, I appreciate so very much your efforts to help me - you made my day with you helpfulness and good advice! I will hightail it to the nursery to purchase the dwarf bare root and plant it asap. I would appreciate your advice about a few questions that come to mind now. You advised planting as soon as possible. I imagine you don't mean I should skip the step of soaking the roots in water for 18-24 hours but could you let me know if I'm right in this assumption? I tried searching this site for bare root planting instructions, and all I could find was that I should shape a cone of soil for roots to rest on then gently tamp down the soil around them, and to mulch 2-4" except around the trunk. Someone by phone said to give it 1" of water per week, watering once a week unless its very dry weather then twice a week. As I am pushing it to plant so late in the season, do you have anything to add to those instructions to give it my best shot? I was told the rootstock is OH/F Old Home X Farmingdale and that it is good for heavy soils, which would be a good thing because we have clay soil. Would you suggest any amendments for the hole - I usually add bagged compost and sometimes peat? How large would you suggest a hole to amend the soil around the tree? Is there any problem with planting right over the spot where the tree was just cut down, as they did not dig out roots extensively? I read that some very dwarfing rootstocks provide weak root systems and that also you need to water those frequently, but when I asked about this the nursery said this rootstock is not one of those very dwarfing varieties, Do you think I need to be concerned about this for this rootstock, as I'm guessing they have an interest in selling it and so am not sure if that affects the answer they gave me. When I go to the nursery I may be tempted to also buy the standard F.B. that they said looks like it was potted from bare roots about 3 weeks ago and is leafing out. Do you have any thoughts as to the chances of success in planting a tree at that stage of growth? Someone suggested keeping it in the pot till it goes dormant in the fall then planting it then, to prevent transplant shock now. If buying it have some good chance of success, would you suggest planting it now or in the fall? I wonder also whether its possible to train a standard tree to keep it close to the size of a semi-dwarf as that would work better in my yard.? If you are able to help with any of these questions I would once again be deeply grateful for your input.
Mary

Don-

You really can get fruit off a pear in 3 or 4 years? Thats my hesitation towards planting more pears...is that they take so long to fruit! (but then again, they live a lot longer then i will!).

When i plant bareroot i just soaked for maybe and hour or 2 and i've yet to lose one. Then again, i've never planted one this late, so maybe more precaution is needed?

Mary:

I don't soak bareroot trees at all -- at least in a bucket. When I dig the hole, I fill it about half full of water before putting the tree in, then fill with soil, and put a little additional water on from the top. That seems to be sufficient.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don and Frank,
Thanks for your advice. I was very pleasantly surprised when I got to the nursery to find that the tree was much taller and with large and plentiful leaves. I barely got it into my Corolla with the back seats folded down, and drove home with its top reaching my dashboard and the pot at the back end of the trunk! I also bought a dwarf bareroot in order to have a pollinator sooner for my Bartlett, and I hope to plant that tomorrow. It has the beginnings of buds coming out but two persons at two nurseries I spoke with today thought that should be o.k. so I hope they know what they're talking about. It was neat to go right into the cold storage room and see all the trees and to be able to pick out one myself with their help. I felt like a kid in a candy store! Thanks so much for the help - I would not have felt confident of how to proceed without your input, and probably would not have had this good outcome.
Mary

I agree with Don about not soaking the roots for an extended time before planting. There was a time that I did but I later learned that it could be harmful to deprive the roots of oxygen for an extended time.

I still soak a bare root tree though, but only for 15 to 30 minutes while I dig the hole.

For whoever asked, dwarfing rootstocks tend to promote earlier fruiting than standard rootstocks. That is one of the advantages of dwarfing rootstocks.

Franktank--

One of my espaliered pears (a Bosc) has set fruit this year. It's year four. It's on OHxF 333 and I've kept the top tier at about 8 feet.

So, yes, it's possible, athough my Comice, also espaliered and on the same rootstock apparently didn't get the memo.

Don

My Gold Spice on OHxF3?? fruited the year I planted it and the next, but took this year off. It was a three year old when I bought it.

For the record, I wouldn't buy a tree that old again, unless I had no choice. But this one has been healthy and reasonably vigorous.

M