I can't remember all the threads where I've read comments about pears, especially European pears, taking such a long time to bear, but that hasn't been my experience. My inclination in explaining why is that everything just grows better in North Carolina than anywhere else in the world, but maybe you all have other theories. Scott, are you counting 4-5 years from seeding the rootstock or from grafting or from planting the kind of trees that nurseries typically ship bareroot or...? I planted Asian and European pears the winter of 07-08, so this past year was my 4th growing season. The Asians came from Hidden Springs Nursery. They don't say anything about grafting onto any kind of dwarf rootstock, but I have really no idea. I got about a half bushel per tree this 4th growing season, an average of maybe 4-8 pears per tree in the 3rd year, and I can't remember if I got any at all in the 2nd year. My two Euros came from Johnson Nursery. Johnsons says simply that they graft onto some kind of standard rootstock. I got a few pears from a Kiefer in the 3rd year and nearly a bushel this 4th year. Even the Moonglow that had the whole tree broken off below the first limb a year and a half ago produced a few pears this year, and I assume it would have yielded more like the Kiefer apart from that.

Brandon, I'm going to disagree with you :-) First, box stores are NOT nurseries - they sell plants only as a sideline and suitability, selection or even current condition are of minimal concern to them. They buy in bulk regionally and they buy cheap. Operations that specialize in growing and/or selling plants only are where the OP should be looking. And these places DO focus on varieties that are best suited for local growing conditions. Retail nurseries that want to stay in business for any length of time rely on customer satisfaction to do so - offering plants that are not well-suited to local growing conditions are not the way to encourage any kind of repeat business. Sure, they may offer some things that are of questionable value or hardiness but it is not going to be something as basic as fruit trees. And with fruit trees, heating and chilling requirements that match the local climate are of paramount importance.....if it is not going to produce fruit or ripen the fruit successfully in that area, what's the point of growing it? As to supply or varieties, the one source I mentioned offered 7 different apples, 7 different pears, 4 plums and 2 pomegranates.....not a bad selection to choose from in my book. And they include many of the varieties especially called out as recommended good performers for that area by the Texas Agricultural extension service. And FWIW, fruit trees sold by retail nurseries in my area, while sold as potted plants, were initially received in late winter as bare root stock.......much the same as one would purchase online (although admittedly on the larger end). They are potted as soon as received to maintain the root systems in as optimal a condition as possible. Failure of bare root stock of any kind is typically much higher than if one purchased the same stock potted -- there is just too much chance for damage to that exposed and vulnerable root system. IF local nurseries offer the plants in sufficient selection, then I would encourage anyone to purchase these plants before ordering online. Here is a link that might be useful: Recommended fruit varieties

This is the pertinent portions of a thread from a few years ago that might help: Multiple Plants in One Hole The three-to-a-hole thing is a totally new concept to me. I question if that would work because each of the trees would grow at unequal rates. I have a Fuerte, a Reed and a Haas planted in close proximity (15 feet apart) and clearly the Fuerte is growing much faster than the other two. All three were planted at the same time, but the Fuerte is easily twice as big as the other two. If you put three trees in the same hole, wouldn't one eventually overgrow the other two? ___________________________________________________________________ Three in a hole planting is easy. To insure good drainage first make a 12" to 18" mound that is at least 4 or 5 feet wide. Then dig a hole in it large enough for the three 5 gallon size trees. Throw some slow release fertilizer in the hole. Make sure the trees are a few inches above the soil surface. They may settle a little. And you don`t want them planted too low. Cover the whole mound with a thick coat of mulch and you are set. The trees won`t grow any slower because they are sharing a hole. Its a great space saver. Reed and Pinkerton are Guatemalan and Fuerte is a hybrid. You need a Mexican for better pollination. Bacon would be a good choice. ___________________________________________________________________ For years I`ve done the 3 in a hole planting with all my fruit trees from avocados, persimmons, cherimoyas, asian pears and guavas to peaches, plums, nectarines, apples and apricots. I get good production from all of them. I`ve never had one of the three trees grow faster and take over the hole. It works especially well with stone fruits like peaches. In one hole I have a early bearing peach, a mid season and a late season variety. My avocado trees are still young so I don`t get that many avocados yet. _________________________________________________________________ Three in one or 4 in 1 up to several in one hole is a very good alternative to multigraft trees. I have pears that are not graft compatible so I planted them all in one hole, and they are not complaining. They've been busy supplying me with fruits for two seasons now. But then again, most of my fruits are multi-grafts, some I did the grafting myself. __________________________________________________________________ It is still possible to plant them in one hole if the difference in size is not great. So just find a bigger Granny Smith to match the size of your Pink Pearl. During the dormant season, you can dig out the pink pearl to bare root it. Make sure to prune the top to compensate for the root disturbance. You can prune the pearl to be the same size as that of granny smith. Then plant them back together in the same hole. Deciduous trees that go a period of dormancy are okay for this. I have even dug bigger trees, bare-rooted them and relocated them to the proper place. When the winter temperature is mild, I dump a lot of ice around the plant everyday for one week before I dig them out and bare-root them. You can not do this with Avocados and most other evergreen fruit trees like citruses. ___________________________________________________________________ ??? You're mentioning 5 gal plants.... I was under the, perhaps misguided, impression that to do this 'multiples in one hole' technique you had to use bare root trees. ???? ___________________________________________________________________ You don`t see bare root avocado plants. For some reason only "stone" fruits like peaches, plums and apricots are available bare root. I`ve only seen avocado plants in 5 or 15 gallon containers. The trunks aren`t as close as they would be if they were bare root, but it hasn`t made a difference in my trees. ___________________________________________________________________ I think the reason you don't see bare-root Avocados and Citrus is because they're evergreen trees. You can't really bare-root an evergreen commercially. __________________________________________________________________ ..so can i place all three 5gal buckets(with the bottoms cut out) in the hole?? will that work??? only reason ide like to do that is i once heard that the buckets serve as a guide for the roots to shoot more downward rather than outward.. that way the roots dont get all crazy and lift my back wall up in the future... but if you just drop all 3 in the hole bare root style so be it..whatevers best for the tree's is best for me. i love hass and reed never tasted bacon though .. anymore tasty trios that will work great together??.. ___________________________________________________________________ Â

Hi Curlers, PEARS: This is a hard question to answer because there are so many variables. First, if I were you, I'd contact my local agriculture extension agent (each county has one) and I'd ask how severe/common fireblight is on pears in that county. If you are in an area where fireblight is a huge problem, it might not be worth your while to try to grow pears. Bartlett has extremely low tolerance of fireblight, so the odds are that your trees will be affected by fireblight about the time they are the right size to start bearing pears. If you decide to keep them, I'd get a D'anjou but I wouldn't buy big trees. Larger trees take much longer to adjust to being transplanted, so go small. My favorite size to plant is little whips that are 12" to 18" tall. I planted some 12" to 18" tall oaks 7 and 8 years ago, and many of them now exceed 15' to 18' in height and are extremely healthy. Why? Because their roots/topgrowth grew together and the trees were never stressed by trying to grow more topgrowth than the roots could support (a common problem when you buy larger trees in containers from nurseries). When buying trees, smaller is better in the long term. Honestly, I love pears but I won't bother with them here because the odds of losing them to fireblight are so high. But, that's just me and I am very conservative. I don't like to spend precious resources (money, time, water and soil) on plants that are going to disappoint me. If you love the look of your trees, can enjoy them whether they fruit or not, etc. and space is not an issue, why not keep them and enjoy them though? (See, I could argue this either way. LOL) If they are strictly for pear production and space is limited, I'd be tempted to remove them and replace them with fireblight-resistant varieties. With the peaches, you don't have to have a pollinator. Both my dad and I have grown Redhaven when it was the only peach tree in our yards, and it has always produced just fine. It has replaced Ranger and Sentinel as my favorite peach. Almost all peach trees are self-fruitful, and I won't plant one that isn't. Hope this info helps. Dawn