hey I just found this fourm and hope someone can help me.. four years ago I bought a 5 foot bartlett pear tree and set it out..mid july or so..well late november of the same year it bloomed..like 10 or 12 little white blooms(no fruit made)..the next spring nothing happened..just a few new leaves...then things changed..it started a "new shoot" off one side ot the tree about 6 inches above the ground that within a year had become the "tree".. it still has not bloomed but in the last two years the "tree" has shot up to about 18 to 20 feet tall and is 5 inches through at the base and has large spikes on all the limbs... they are really sharp and some are 2 1/2 to 3 inches long...the leaves and bark still look like all my other pear trees...any ideas?
it sounds like you have a grafted pear tree and the root stock took over. There is't anything you can do, except to graft another bartlett pear to this tree or you could leave this probably wild pear and enjoy it.
Do you remember when you bought if the Bartlett pear tree was grafted onto a full size, semi-dwarf, or dwarf rootstock? It sounds as if the rootstock suckered and is now the primary tree (though 6" up is a little high). Are you fertilizing? If yes, with what? Standard orchard practive is to remove suckers as they are produced because if they are below the graft, they are not the named variety, will rob nutrients from the grafted tree, and concentrate on vegatative growth rather than fruit. At this point, the tree might be too far gone to salvage and it will probably be easier to start over. Simon
