pear tree

[yucker j]

i planted a conferance pear tree in 1999 which has blossom every year then produces tiny pears which drop off after about a week,can anyone give me any clues why ???

[mimififi]

Hi Yucker,

I'm not a fruit tree expert, nor a gardening expert of any type, but I there could be two possibilities for the fruit drop.

fruitlets will fall after insect damage so you should cut the fruit up and check for grubs inside the pears.

sometimes fruitlets fall if there are huge amounts of fruits as heavy set must be thinned out.

However, if the fruit drops when it is very tiny, it could be due to incomplete pollination due to a cold wet spring. Also, although conference is semi-self fertile, which means it will pollinate ok on it's own, but sometimes needs a pollination partner, a different variety which blossoms at the same time might improve the fruits pollination.

A heavy june drop could be due to irregular water supplies at the root, starvation, frost damage or overcrowding.

Maybe your tree could do with a pollination partner or a good feed and regular watering, esp considering the summers we have and the poor water table we have at present.

I hope you have a better crop this year, it is so dissappointing when fruit/veg doesn deliver, I always take it so personally.

hope this helps and if it doesn't, i'm sure someone will correct me and be able to help better.

good luck.

[Thunderbird+]

Hi Yucker,
I've been looking into this too and I'm inclinad to agree with mimififi, it does seem to point to the condition known as 'june drop', it could be due to any of the conditions mentioned and the one that I think is most likely is spring frosts, this can often occurre if the tree is positioned in an exposed site or a frost pocket.
Hopefully by following mimififi's advice you will reap the fruits of your labours. Good luck Tbird+

[jake-the-peg]

Pear trees require a pollination partner but conference and concorde will produce some by themselves.

You might have better luck if you can find room for a second one, either another conference or one that flowers at the same time

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Pollination_ Guide_Pears.html