How to rejuvenate an old neglected pear tree?

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You are not going to lose this tree. I wouldn't change anything with a retaining wall. That tree has been there a long time with no RW. I do think the duck poo will do the same thing as the stakes. The most effective thing you can do for the tree is to prune it. I agree with the 1/3 rule, so it might take a couple years. You have received some good advice on here how to go about that. Really. You'd be surprised how resilient trees are. I have a small orchard that was completely overgrown and dormant when we bought this place. It has taken a few years but we are getting plenty of fruit now. And guess how I fertilize it. I moved my chicken coop right into the orchard.

I will definitely build a retaining wall! Over time i will try to terrace as much of the hill-site i am living on as i can and plant more fruit trees. My dream is a fenced in orchard with happy ducks running under the trees, eating everything that has fallen to the ground, fertipooping the trees in exchange and drowning me in fresh yummy eggs…
I like to have some flat ground around the tree(s), so that i can safely use a step-mother to harvest the fruits.

 

[DiYMama540]

[QUOTE="WannaBeHillBilly, post:
I like to have some flat ground around the tree(s), so that i can safely use a step-mother to harvest the fruits.[/QUOTE]

Good grief!! The tumble through the deck looked awful! What a horrible way to spend Christmas! I love the idea of eventually adding more fruit trees! You could always pick up another pear somewhere and see if it helps with pollination. I've got 3 peach trees here that finally set fruit this year, and they were each loaded! Birds surprisingly weren't big fans...

 

[ValerieJ]

The Idea is to build up solid flat ground around the three so that i will be able to safely use a step-ladder in the future to pluck the pears and prune the tree.

That makes perfect sense. I thought you were doing it to benefit the tree. But, definitely do what makes you safe!!!

To my knowledge there is no other pear tree around, at least not on my land. Could that be the reason why the tree wasn't carrying any pears last year? Because it was flowering like madness last year and this spring. Maybe there is a pear tree somewhere on a neighbors land. (?)

But if you had some pears this year then obviously pollination is happening. Last year may have been a year the bees didn't come around. We had that problem this year. We had some bees, but a neighbor cut down a tress that was filled with bees and that effected our harvest this year.

When i'm talking about »duck poop« i mean the duck-poop soaked straw fresh out of the duck-house

Perfect.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

[QUOTE="WannaBeHillBilly, post:
I like to have some flat ground around the tree(s), so that i can safely use a step-mother to harvest the fruits.

OMG!
Damn you auto-correct!!! Why did it do that? Step-Ladder of course!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

[QUOTE="WannaBeHillBilly, post:
I like to have some flat ground around the tree(s), so that i can safely use a step-mother to harvest the fruits.

Good grief!! The tumble through the deck looked awful! What a horrible way to spend Christmas! I love the idea of eventually adding more fruit trees! You could always pick up another pear somewhere and see if it helps with pollination. I've got 3 peach trees here that finally set fruit this year, and they were each loaded! Birds surprisingly weren't big fans...[/QUOTE]
Seems i have to learn a lot more about fruit trees! I wasn't aware that pears are not self pollinating. I want cherry trees! Lot's and lot's of them, but they are so hard to come by at the nurseries here. Bought three in the internet last spring and they didn't made it through summer. At least my three hazelnut tree/shrubs survived the ducks this year.
And yes, my ankle still hurts a lot, even though the doc claim's that's all psycho-something! Walking on a hill-site is like having a jaw with dull teeth biting down on my ankle. But i will learn how to deal with that…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

That makes perfect sense. I thought you were doing it to benefit the tree. But, definitely do what makes you safe!!!

I like to benefit both! Putting up a restraining wall and fill the gap with nutritious earth will allow the tree to grow more roots and that kind of earth will store much more water than the clay/rock mix the tree is standing in right now.

But if you had some pears this year then obviously pollination is happening. Last year may have been a year the bees didn't come around. We had that problem this year. We had some bees, but a neighbor cut down a tress that was filled with bees and that effected our harvest this year.

There are definitely more bees around here than last year. I am too lazy to mow ~2acres of steep hill-site, it would all have to be done by hand (trimmer) machines would topple over. The previous owners burned down the grass during winter and i am too scared to do that, so a lot of shrubs have grown since we moved here and this year the were full of flowers and attracted a lot of insects. And even though a lot of the insects were converted into duck-eggs there are more wild bees around here.
Spring was very wet here and since then rain was scarce, maybe that helped the bees too. But i want some more pear trees too anyways… And cherries, apples, plums, persimmons, nuts and berry shrubs and, and, and. Sometimes i wish days had 32 hours!

 

[Sequel]

Still cracking up about the step motherThe other thing you could do is check and see if you have any fruit clubs around. If there is a 4H program in the area or county fair activities, maybe you'll get lucky and they can help you graft another 14 varieties right on that pear tree! Seriously, we have a local fruit club and my sister and I went to one of their meetings and it was amazing! They had hundreds of scions from more kinds of fruit than I knew existed. They gave us scions and in fact my sister brought a young apple tree and a guy grafted several new varieties on it right then and there. I tried it and had no luck but my pear has so few branches low enough to reach... Do ask around or call the county extension, you might be surprised how much help you can get putting a new orchard together with little or no money.

 

[Seatowner34]

If you go with stakes, then put them in the ground where the branches reach, that is also where the end of the roots are.

The root system of tree can extend 1 and a half times the end of the farthest branches aka drip line