How to Look After a Pear Tree
Growing pear trees is an option for home gardeners as well as commercial growers. Like many other types of fruit trees and plants, the pear tree does not self-fertilize, meaning that you must plant multiple trees if you want to have fruit. However, the trees are also attractive ornamental specimens when planted alone and develop fragrant flower blossoms in the spring. Properly caring for a pear tree encourages fruit production and discourages limb breakage from killing it prematurely. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 4- to 5-foot wooden stake
- Hammer
- Gardening tape
- Scissors
- Water
- Ammonium nitrate fertilizer
- Hand pruners
- Pruning saw
Instructions
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Insert a 4- to 5-foot wooden stake into the ground 6 inches behind a newly planted pear tree using a hammer. Cut off a 24-inch piece of gardening tape and wrap it securely, but not tightly, around the tree trunk and tie it behind the stake. Leave the stake in place for at least 4 years and then remove it.
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Water the pear tree only during periods of drought and then saturate the soil to 9 or 10 inches. Do not allow the soil under the pear to become soggy since the tree will quickly deteriorate.
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Wait until the pear tree is at least two years old and then spread an ammonium nitrate fertilizer under it, extending it out to the distance of the longest limbs. Multiply 1/8 by how old the tree is to determine the number of pounds of fertilizer to apply.
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Wait until the early summer and examine the pear clusters that have formed. Remove all but the healthiest pear in each cluster and dispose of them. This lightens the weight of the limbs and prevents breakage.
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Wait until the winter and look at the base of the pear trunk to locate any small suckers that have developed on it. Remove these with hand pruners. Locate any limbs that are rubbing against another limb or that are within 6 inches of doing so. Prune them off as close to the top of the main trunk as possible using a pruning saw.
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Tips & Warnings
Pear trees have few pests problems unless surrounding vegetation is infested.
