Gardening Jill, It's good to see some other ideas on later posts. After reading a lot of posts on Milehighgirl's link it gave me a few ideas as to what caused your tree to take the multi trunk form it now has. Someone suggested that the original graft failed and the rootstock sent up multiple sprouts. That being said you have great rootstock to graft new varieties onto. I would still remove the portion to the left entirely. It looks very weak and will probably remove itself soon anyway. I would keep the two trunks on the right. Is that where the splitting is that you are first talked about? If it is here's how I thought about taking care of that problem. The front trunk with the hole that the birds nest in I would cut down to 6' high cut at a sloping 45% so the water drains away from the two splits.There's no way that the tree can collar all of that wood. So just paint it with an outdoor paint. Just like any wood you would need to do that on a regular basis to keep rot out. In the meantime you have a great root stock to work from. You have removed the weight from the trunk that's causing the split. Next year you could also remove the other side if you want to lower it as well. It's a multi year project. In bonsai culture they use thread grafting to insert branches any where on the trunk that they need them. This is done by drilling a hole through the trunk and threading a branch through the hole. If you use this principle you can get new scions to grow on the now lower trunk. You wouldn't have to drill all the way through to graft your new type of pear. I've not done any grafting myself so others could help you with that process. Milehighgirl, Please post recent pictures of your pear project tree.

Okay, another year and now what? We took off a lot of the tree, but I was afraid to actually top the tree. It put out a lot of sprouts low on the south side of the trunk and of course a lot at the top. The four grafts that I tried with the Plugger grafting drill bit did not take. They are painted with grafting wax. I was able to do three successful chip bud grafts on a few of the lower sprouts so I'll leave those no matter what, just for pollination. We had a near catastrophe as the wind almost broke off the lowest large branch (facing right on the top picture). Fortunately there was someone who used to work at the Forestry Dept. just waiting for my husband to arrive at The Big Box. He knew exactly what size bolts and washers to use and we were able to re-attach the limb before it completely broke off. It was swaying back and forth when we arrived! What do we do this year?

As with many of the "traditional" drinks of Mesoamerica, there are no hard and fast rules since each region would probably have their own version. So, be guided by the below and experiment. The worst that can happen is it sours and you through it away. IRT Tibicos, if you want to try using this, you should be able to get it online. Just Google it and you will see the large number of hits. Colonche is a sweet, fizzy beverage produced in Mexico by fermenting the juice of the fruits of the prickly pear cacti - mainly Opuntia species. The procedure for preparing colonche is essentially the same as has been followed for centuries. The cactus fruits are peeled and crushed to obtain the juice, which is boiled for 2-3 hours. After cooling, the juice is allowed to ferment for a few days. Sometimes old colonche or tibicos may be added as a starter. Tibicos are gelatinous masses of yeasts and bacteria, grown in water with brown sugar. They are also used in the preparation of tepache. Tibicos, also known as "bulgaros," are compact, gelatinous masses, with a white or yellowish color. The form and size varies. Tibicos are made up of water, bacteria and yeasts. Tibicos are consumed in many households as a refreshing beverage of low alcoholic content. In recent years, its consumption has increased dramatically, due to the popularity of Tepache made from Tibicos, a beverage frequently attributed with weight-losing properties. You might also be interested in this link: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/fermented-cactus-juice-134965/ about Tiswin. Finally, try this jelly recipe (and note well the comment about pectin boxes): 2 1/2 cups prickly pear cactus juice 1/2 cup lemon juice 5 cups sugar 1 box of powdered pectin (18 teaspoons (6 TBS) -note that not all pectin brands contain the same amount in a box, so measure it out to make sure) Hard boil cactus fruit juice, pectin and lemon juice for 3 minutes. Hard boil means the point at which the brew still bubbles even when you stir it. Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil for 2 minutes or until the jell point is reached. Put in 8 ounce canning jars, seal and heat process for 10 minutes. We followed the canning instructions on the Ball website for high-acid foods. Peter

They won't be ready to pick for awhile. Probably early to mid August. They will size up a good bit by then. Yes pick em and ideally put them in a fridgr for a few weeks then take them out a batch at a time and let them sit on the counter for several days until they soften. You will be rewarded with an awesome treat!