Author Topic: Family pear tree  (Read 1273 times)

tricia

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Family pear tree
« on: October 15, 2018, 18:45:11 »
Well over 10 years ago I bought a Conference, Concord, Williams bon Chretien family pear tree on dwarf rooting stock - from either Poundstretcher or Lidl, can't remember which. It has fruited well most years with the first to be ready the Chretien, then the Concord and quite late the Conference.

Last year the tree went bonkers! Masses of all three varieties and a spurt in growth. This year, with the exception of just one small Conference, it produced loads of quite large Chretien over the entire tree which were ready in mid-August.

The Chretien is my least favourite - it has a bland lemony flavour and doesn't keep nearly as long as the Conference.

My question: is it likely that the tree has reverted to a single variety? It has grown a lot last year and this so something is going on :BangHead:

Tricia :wave:

ACE

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Re: Family pear tree
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2018, 18:53:32 »
Perhaps the blossom for the other varieties came at different times and just missed being cross pollinated. The Bon chretien  might be self pollinating or just caught one of the other varieties. It was a funny spring for blossom but like mine a good year for branch growth.

Beersmith

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Re: Family pear tree
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2018, 17:15:09 »
A family tree of this type is grafted together so the individual parts cannot revert as such. That said, a family tree can become unbalanced. That is one or even two parts can fail to thrive while the other grows bigger and bigger, so in time a single type rather dominates.

Study your tree carefully. You should be able to see the original grafting points where the top scions were joined directly to the rootstock, or possibly to one another. Follow the growth upwards and count how many main branches are growing from each type. If you have at least one strong main branch of each type, you need not worry about the tree becoming unbalanced. Basically you are looking at the growth to assess if each of the three elements are still doing well. Even if it is a bit out of balance sensible pruning should even it up without much difficulty.  Given it was in very good health last year it seems very unlikely to have deteriorated in a single year.

According to the books the concorde is slightly later flowering than the other two, and the conference is partially self fertile. But I think Ace is on the right track.  Pears are more sensitive to frost than apples. So it is possible parts of the tree suffered with frost but parts were a bit luckier and missed the damage.  The way frost hits can be astonishingly patchy. I have often seen frost damage on my potatoes in an inexplicable pattern. Was the fruit mainly on one part or side of the tree? If so and the tree is free of other disease, my bet would tally with that of Ace namely frost damage to the early blossom.

Not mad, just out to mulch!

Beersmith

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Re: Family pear tree
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2018, 17:39:54 »
And then I read your post again and was struck by your comment that it produced lots of Williams (bon Chretien,) over the whole tree. 

Over the whole tree? 

Hmmm.  Maybe the Williams has become a bit dominant.
Not mad, just out to mulch!

tricia

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Re: Family pear tree
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2018, 20:39:03 »
Yes, the Williams bon Chretien were pretty evenly distributed over the tree and all ready for harvesting at the same time (18 August). Once the leaves have fallen (they are only just beginning to change colour!) I'll have a look at the grafting area. The tree will get a good pruning in January anyway, to reduce both height and spread. I am forever snipping off shoots from around the base of the tree too. This has been a nuisance chore ever since it was planted! :BangHead:

Tricia :wave:

 

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