Flowering Pear

I have a flowering ornamental pear tree that I had planted around January of this year. It has tiny growth buds on its branch tips and looks still green on a small piece of twig that I checked, but hasn't actually started to send out growth. I am in Central West coast of Florida in zone 9a. I know that I should expext different growth habits this year even with our routine watering schedule as it was dormant when planted and we've had drought conditions, but can anyone tell me when I should start seeing new growth to know that the tree is healthy? My Rain Tree, Japanese Magnolia, Nectarine and Peach have all been shooting out leaves.

I'd say stay patient. True, it should have sprouted by now, but if it has buds and is green in the twig, then that's a good sign. Does the routine watering schedule include the slow soak method or an automatic sprinkler? (Slow soak is the better route.)

By the way, the first year in the ground for my Royal Red Maple, it didn't get leaves until well into summer. I thought it was dead. My husband thought it was dead. My son thought it was dead. I was going to pull it out of the ground, and then, viola! leaves started popping out like a flame, albeit a really slow flame.

Good luck.
--Joulz

FLStu - I'm just up the road a piece from you and the flowering pear I got a month or so ago. I planted it last week and it has already pushed out some leaves. First one I've had so I didn't really know what to expect. I dug a big hole, took 5 bags of Jungle Growth Tree and Shrub to fill it up, put a rubber mulch ring on the top of it, and have been deep watering it twice a day. I plan on keeping up the twice a day watering for another week and then dropping to once a day. That JG "tree & shrub drains really well so I should be dissolving some of the "concrete" that surrounds it. I had to use a pick to make the whole. Man was that ground hard. Two feet down and it was still like a rock. Ed

Thanks for your notes guys. The tree has started to leaf from the bottom and has worked it's way up so that the buds are starting to pop at the top. I water by sprinkler, the only way I can keep up on 2.5 acres. Other bushes and trees that I planted are hanging in there with only some leaves remaining on a couple of loritropia. Now that the rains have started, I think they'll come around

Always good for root developement to use some nitrogen. IE composted manure or whatever. Phosphorous Bone meal is a good thing to add to planting at dry root stage.

Soferdig: Thanks for the advise. I usually, like kingedking, use Jungle Growth or another shrub and tree potting mix added around the root ball. It contains some fertilizer and helps retain water as our soil here is extremely sandy. I also use either mulch or a rubber mulch ring, depending where it's planted. As I planted this tree dorment in the ends of winter, it didn't need to be constantly watered as it would now. In my new planting areas, the sprinklers are set to come on very early (slightly before sunup) for daily watering to help prevent too much loss from the heat of the sun, yet not allow the water to sit too long before it can be absorbed (most of the water absorption that plants accomplish are stimlated and helped by the sunlight turning on the photosynthesis process). I usually don't furhter ammend the soil until at least three months after the plant is put in.

With all due respect, that sprinkler watering is not at all good for trees. You are developing trees with especially shallow root systems, competing with everything from grass to weeds for water at the surface. Sounds like you have quite a lot of stuff to water, but trees need a slow, deep soak when dry, not a spritz every day before the sun comes up. If you should move away, or discontinue the sprinkler watering plan after several years, the trees will be so used to this shallow watering, they won't know how to fend for themselves anymore. In other words, you are creating drought INtolerant trees. Probably not the best course of action. Just trying to be helpful.
--Joulz

Joulz, thanks for your comments, but during the summer and fall, I turn off the sprinkler system as we get enough rain here to surfice. The periods in between rain does promote what you suggest. This is just a stop-gap measure to keep the plants viable due to the unusual drought that we've been having this Spring......they're not yet established and need more frequent watering. Normally in spring, twice weekly watering for estqblished area and three times weekly for new areas have been enough in the past years. The owner of the nursery that I most frequent has had to do something similar at his own home. I have no way other than hauling by buckets to get water to the newly landscaped areas.

I guess no one else is going to mention this -- where is everybody, anyway? Stu and King, did you review any of the past threads on why NOT to plant flowering pears? Do some searches here for "pear" and "callery" and "Bradford" and see what turns up -- but sit down and hold on first.

Guy S.

StarhillForest.....I see a lot of picture posts, but don't see about problems. Can you elaborate? I'm new round these forms

They are brittle -- especially the bradford cultivar -- and they are becoming horribly invasive, at least in the southern states. Some people also find the odor very disagreeable and would never plant one upwind. There have been pages and pages and pages written about them here during the past year. I'm surprised a search for "pear" or "Bradford" didn't bring up some of them for you.

Guy S.

It brought up plenty, over 400, just couldn't skim them all. Will see how it does this summer. I got it at Lowes. If there are any problems, it can be returned. It's on the southdie of my house between the house an a chain link fence. We'll see if they act as a blockade. Thanks for the heads-up.

You probably will not have problems in the next few years or so. This is one of those sleeper trees that the nursery industry makes big bucks off of. Not only are these ornamental pears inferior structurally but they are also highly invasive. What does this mean to you? This means they can split on you 10-15 years down the road from now so you get to remove the tree yourself OR hire somebody to remove it for you for big $$$ and you can pay big $$$ in the form of a deductible on your homeowners policy if it hits your house and then you get to go out and buy a replacement tree which costs more $$$ and because it is a highly invasive species this means that even if it doesn't split it hits you and me up in the pocket because we tax payers get stuck paying for the removal of their offspring from natural areas which is mucho $$$. Yup, your Asian Calleryana Pear will breed with your neighbor's Asian Calleryana Pear and with their neighbor's Asian Calleryana Pear and with their neighbor's neighbor's Asian Calleryana Pear and all the little Calleryana Pear fruits will get gobbled up by birds and the seed of these ornamental pears will be pooped out in ready made fertilizer packs that will germinate in natural areas as the birds fly overhead and eliminate. If you are going to keep it as opposed to returning it, please move it AWAY from your house by about 50'. If you really did plant it between the house and a chain link fence, it's too close particularly if there are any bedrooms on the south side of your house.

Here's a really interesting article written about 6 years ago. Considerable research has been done since it was written but it gives you an idea of what these Calleryana Pears are doing to the natural landscape-
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/ipmnet/5-8art1.htm

This gal sums it up quite nicely too-
http://www.npsnj.org/temp/bradfordpears.html

OK. I'm convinced. It goes back to Lowes this weekend. I did not expect it to bare fruit as the Lowes label stated that it was not a fruit tree, but ornamental. I would take it up for that reason alone as I'm trying to keep all fruit trees on the opposite end of the property away from the house. Will take your advise. Thanks to all who wrote. This, in itself, has made the subscription worth it.

A convert! Cool.

Please know that flowering pears are sold under a host of names to lull us into a false sense of security. I can't count how many people ditched their 'Bradford' only to proudly come home with an 'Aristocrat', 'Whitehouse', 'Fauriei', 'Autumn Blaze', 'Capital', or 'Chanticleer'. These are very popular because they flower and grow fast. Look on your flowering pear label for the word Callery, or Calleryana, or Chinese Flowering Pear, Pyrus calleryana "Redspire', or 'Cleveland Select' or about 50 other cultivar names that are out there that are all invasive. They are all Callery Pears. Tricky aren't they!

Best wishes to you. Glad it isn't going to be up tight against your home.