I purchased a house with an old (approx 50 years) pear tree. It was very neglected... lots of moss etc. I had it pruned and it blossomed profusely and started lots and lots of little pears... the problem is they are dropping... I am not sure any will survive. They seem intact - perfectly formed and getting bigger, but still dropping.. Any ideas what the problem is and can I fix it for next year?
I'm not sure why they are dropping. You can spray it in the winter with Lime-sulphur only. Don't use dormant oil on pears. The lime sulphur will also help to control the moss, which actually isn't hurting the trees. I rented a home on a thirty acre blueberry farm. We had an orchard too. The male bears used to come and eat the fermenting pears that had dropped. Five fat drunk bears used to stay in my front yard all summer. (no sows or cubs)
I pulled out a book. It says: fruitlets will fall following insect damage. Look for grubs in fallen fruit....But, healthy fruit also falls. (applies, pears, and plums) This may actually be beneficial as a heavy set must be thinned. The usual reason for fruit falling is incomplete pollination due to a cold wet spring. The major shedding is the "June drop". Irregular water supplies at the root, starvation, frost damage and overcrowding are other causes.
Pollination, cultural practices and environment greatly influence the plant's ability to bear. Any of these factors alone or in combination can prevent fruit set or cause flowers not to develop and fruit to drop prematurely.Unfortunatly you have limited control over most of these factors. Even though many trees blossom freely, some still may either fail to set fruit or they will shed most of their fruit prematurely if adequate pollination does not occur. Some fruit trees have "perfect flowering" blossoms with both male and female parts. When this type of tree bears fruit as a result of pollination from their own blossoms the tree is said to be "self-fruitful". Unfortunately many fruits with perfect (male and female parts in same flower) flowers do not set fruit if only their pollen is available, i.e., the female flower part requires pollination from another flower. If such pollination is required, then the flower and fruit type is said to be "self-unfruitful". Apples and pears are good examples of this type of pollination type. Remember that fruit trees that are classified as "self-unfruitful" may produce some fruit if an alternate source of pollination is not available but maximum fruit set will only occur if the proper pollinators are available.
Thank you all so much for the feedback - very helpful and very reassuring. Ithink it has slowed, so maybe it was the "June drop". Hopefully, I will get some fruit, so I can then determine the type of pear and if it has a cross polinator. I do keep bees, so hopefully they are busy polinating. And thanks for the story about the bears... I live in Vancouver, so I think is unlikely that I will get drunk bachelor bears this summer, but I'll be on the look out.
