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Fruit & Orchards

crazy pear tree issues

16 years ago

I am hoping some of you experienced tree-growers will have a solution for me . . . although I doubt if anyone has ever DONE this!

On Mother's Day 2005, my 18-yeat old son gave me a pear tree. I dug a large hole, planted it, and . . . had a busy summer. I am sure that I didn't water it enough, and I was also sure that it had died. I didn't remove it, though, because I had hopes that it would come back the next year.

Fast forward to spring of 2006. Yup, the top of the tree looked dead (no new leaves), but there were "shoots" coming from the bottom. A local master gardener told me to forget it, that that was just root stock. But the tree had so much sentimental value that I still didn't have the heart to get rid of it, so I left it there and let it do its thing.

Now, around the main trunk, there are what looks like several tiny little trees, each a foot or two tall. I can't help but think that there is some hope for this little guy. What is the best way to treat it? Do I take out the (dead) middle and have a multiple-trunk tree? Is there something else I can do?

Please have a good answer for this hopeful mama!

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Comments (6)

jean001
16 years ago
The master gardener was on target. The tree is sprouting from the rootstock.
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jellyman
16 years ago
Chevere:

Jean is right that the tree is growing from the rootstock. Hundreds of us (maybe thousands) have had the same experience when a tree fails at the graft and the grafted scion dies. This may not have been from lack of watering, although that certainly did not help.

If you leave all the little rootstock suckers you will have what is essentially a pear bush. But it will not be of the grafted, named variety that your son bought you; instead it will eventually produce poor-quality, perhaps inedible pears, or no pears at all. It may, in fact, produce quince fruits, or something of that type.

If you are satisfied to have a decorative pear bush, then that is what you will have if you leave it alone. If you decide to do this, you might as well cut out the dead wood of the grafted portion.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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Scott makes several good points. Fireblight resistance is a major consideration in HotLanta. Unless you're planning to make perry, or you like eating green, unripe persimmons, you do not want perry pears - they are, for all intents and purposes, inedible - or at least, not very tasty, often with lots of astringency. Magness and Warren are top-quality pears, but both are pollen-sterile, and neither are very attractive to bees, as they produce little or no nectar. Anecdotal reports - and I'm beginning to believe them - are that they are best grown as a limb grafted into other variety trees here and there, rather than as a stand-alone tree - at least you'll get some bees visiting the Magness/Warren blossoms while they're working the other variety - as a stand-alone tree, there's not much to attract a bee to visit. Some pear enthusiasts are also claiming that unless you put Warren/Magness on a dwarfing rootstock, like quince(the fireblight susceptibility there scares me mightily), you'll wait 15 years or more for them to bear - and they may never fruit heavily. While I like Keiffer, I know that many folks don't, but it can take FB hits, shrug 'em off and keep on growing and bearing. Douglas is reputed to be better than Keiffer, while retaining similar FB-resistance. Pineapple is another one I like, and a friend in Cookeville TN is raving about the Pineapple pear crop this year - heavenly! Dabney is supposed to be another good FB-resistant hybrid selection that I didn't see on the list Scott linked.
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buffalocreek
16 years ago
Before jumping to conclusions, we might suggest she take a close look at where the sprouts are coming from before removing the tree.

I too am nursing a pear sprout from a 4 year old tree that was damaged last year and cut (broke?) off just above the graft.

After reading this, I went out to the tree and pulled mulch away from the base and took a closer look at where the sprout was coming from. Sure enough, it was coming from the base of the grafted tree stump, NOT from the rootstock. The sprout is about an inch above the graft union and clearly on the 2-3" stump from the original damaged tree. There were a couple more sprouts coming from the same location last year, but I removed all but one so it wouldn't become a pear bush.

So I would suggest taking a close look at the base of your tree before giving up.
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murkwell
16 years ago
I would also suggest that you not allow dirt or mulch to reach as high as the graft union, so ideally you'd be able to see whether the sprout is coming from above or below the graft without disturbing the mulch.
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franktank232
16 years ago
Could gather some scion wood and graft another pear onto the rootstock... right?
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chevere33
Original Author
16 years ago
Stay tuned---I am going to take a picture. I did look and saw that at least ONE of the sprouts is coming from the trunk . . . we'll see what you say once I look more closely. I am more hopeful, now. Thank you!
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