12' pear is too small for cabinet wood so useing it to smoke meat is about all that's left. The cedar can act as host to a serious rust in apples. Eastern Red Cedar 12" diameter and larger makes wonderful wood for several construction projects. Small cedar make atractive rustic fence and outdoor furniture.

Agree, whack the cedar at all costs. I had semi-wild pear trees in the back of my two acres. I used their fruit for pectin in jams with good success. Kept in the garage for two weeks to mellow, they were edible. My neighbor used most of the fruit for his chickens and that worked rather well.

I just bought another 2" diameter 70% discounted Bradford pear yesterday to topwork with scions from 2 good fruiting pear varieties. Your untended pear trees have proven themselves to be able to grow well w/o human assistance. They are a wonderful asset for a.) people who graft, as well as for b.) people who can find a grafter to graft for them. If you were to contact your county agricultural extension service, it is possible that the workers there would know of a grafter to refer you to......It has been said that "a smart man knows everything, but a shrewd man knows everybody". Who knows, you might be able to get those trees to make great fruit for many years.

Let me say, if you mean they're fruiting pear seedlings it's one thing...if they're callery pear seedlings (aka bradford offspring), they're invasive to wetlands especially and cutting them all out, is a wonderful thing you do.

Here are some pictures of two such trees.

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They only bare tiny fruits.

Callery pears...the invasive bad guys

At that size, as has already been noted, not much use other than as a source of wood for smoking meats.

Be certain that you use an appropriate herbicide on each freshly-cut stump, or they'll just resprout - and with the well-established root system they have, they'll be huge again in no time at all.

If you grafted a few limbs on them and cut them off close to the ground you would be getting fruit from those in a couple of years with no cost to you. You don't have anything to lose trying your hand at grafting and a lot to gain.Why turn down 20-30 bushels of free pears? Here is a link with a video on the technique you would use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrE2CkQHudI. In some areas they are definitely an invasive species and need to be eradicated asap but your extension office could advice you on that. Many commercial orchards use similar varieties as rootstock. To get rid of unwanted trees I would hit the stump with tordan when I finished cutting them down. Keep in mind tordan frequently kills other trees in the same area that have roots crossing the undesirable varieties. Cedars are a source of cedar apple rust so you may want to take a look at this link on info http://nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/treefruit/diseases/car/car.asp
Cedars aka Juniperus virginiana are also alleopathic meaning they kill other plants around them. You might want to look at this article on similar species and the parts of the plants toxic to other varieties http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/SERVICE/LIBRARY/index.php3?docID=160&docHistory%5B%5D=2

Here is a link that might be useful: tordon

This post was edited by ClarkinKS on Sun, Aug 31, 14 at 10:21