I would never delay planting because of the existence of any weed in a small planting- I've never encountered one that formidable although knapweed is not in our roster here in southern NY. A 4" layer of wood chips can work wonders for most weeds and glysphoshate with a wick stick can supplement if necessary. For you purposes you would be better served with Betufolia IMO. Cally could work too, although a test winter might test it. Fowler nursery can probably supply you with what you need if they aren't sold out yet. You could also purchase the rootstock only and graft to the varieties you want. Pear grafts easily and scions grow very rapidly. I've never believed in using size reducing rootstock for Asian pears even where drought resistance is not needed because the species can easily be maintained as a very small tree on any rootstock simply by aggressive pruning once the trees come into bearing.

One year later ... reviving this thread. Does anyone have proof that a Bradford pear will pollinate a fruiting pear tree? Why I ask is that one of my two pear trees died last year and I replaced it this winter so obviously will not have flowers this year (or next?). However, the older pear tree had one or two flowers last year (while the sick one had none), yet I got one super delicious fruit off the good tree. How did it get pollinated? It is possible that one of my neighbors has a fruiting pear tree so that could be the pollen source, but I'm sure the breezes and bees in this neighborhood are loaded with pollen from the ubiquitous Bradford pear trees. The older pear tree now has many blossoms which will probably open this weekend. So... you pear experts out there.... should I make an effort to obtain a few blossoms from another fruiting pear to improve my chances of getting any fruit or should I take my chances with the "wild" pollen? Thanks, Ron, (Dallas GA, Zone 7b)

I have 4 young pear trees. I didn't spray with dormant oil last year, the Keiffer started out with young pears, then dropped them and some of the branches had blight. The other 2 yr. old tree didn't produce. The other 2 were just planted in 2014. I seem to recall that pears should be sprayed with dormant oil before they start blooming, then after, but I am not sure........Can anyone tell me the schedule on spraying my pears? I am located in east Texas. The trees are all growing well and have unopened buds - they all leafed out and grew well last year, except for the Keiffer with blight, but after removing the black branches, it continued to grow well. Thank you! Judith

Steal, I won't pile on to the derision towards this invasive plant. Oops....I guess I just did. In any case, I tend to agree that mechanical injury was a likely cause of this canker or canker-like lesion. The truth is in the pudding, that being in this case whether or not the tree is able to form woundwood/callus tissue to close off the wound from the outside. Too early to tell. If it should happen that the wound does not close, then you've got some infectious agent or other happening there, and these are typically next to impossible to treat. But for now, no special requirements beyond the usual-keep the tree watered if drought should strike. Not much beyond that, and even that only in extraordinarily dry circumstances.