Apple Pear Trees (asian pears)

I moved into my home 3 years ago (but spent 4 summers here) the first 2 years i had so many apple/pears i did not know what to do with. I never trimmed the tree at all and last year my trees were so full but the apples never ripened. So in the spring i trimmed the tree as so many branches broke from the weight of all the apples. this past summer i have about 5 apples on 2 trees? did i over trim? the tree blossomed and and is full of green leaves but fruit. do these have a life cycle? i goggled it but got nothing

 

Yes, the fruiting spurs have a life cycle. New ones start to develop on one year old wood. Also probably many old spurs were removed when you did the trimming.

pear spurs

 

Fruit trees can vary a lot in production from year to year. Sometimes they bear heavily one year and very little the next. This was an odd year weatherwise. They may have bloomed too early for pollinators. I have noticed a lot of plants in the garden had poor fruiting this year. That said, my apple tree in Sechelt is loaded with fruit this year. Pear tree does not have any fruit.

 

I have a Twentieth Century Asian Pear that is bearing a normal crop this year. I've noted over the years that it definitely has a tendency toward alternate year bearing if you let it carry too much fruit one year. This variety definitely needs to have its crop thinned most years, or it will have too many small fruits.

 

My Asian pear did exactly the same these last two years. So much fruit last year that some branches had to be supported, but some broke anyway. This year I had 5 apples. I have pruned it exactly the same year after year, so I supposed that there was some issue with pollination and the weather.