Bradford Pear Tree

A neighbor has a beautiful Bradford Pear but the roots are coming up to surface. She called a "tree guy" who said it was healthy but with those roots coming up like that...the best thing is to cut it down so the roots don't go into your neighbor's yard or damage your sprinkler system. He also told her that it probably wasn't planted deep enough. The tree does look healthy. All that I read about this tree is that it is used along streets because roots are not invasive. I don't want her to lose it and she definitely doesn't want to lose it. Any thoughts on this?

They tend to be pretty short lived trees anyway, so if there are any doubts about it I'd get rid of it and replace it with a different type of tree.

Ditto to Ecrane. After 10-15 years they start to fall to pieces, literally. The branching structure is about the weakest of any tree known.

Plant another new tree now so it will start growing well immediately, and remove the Bradford Pear in 2 or 3 years (or sooner if it starts breaking apart!) when the new tree provides some cover.

Resin

Bradford pears lose major branches easily and then look very bad on their way to losing another branch. Resin hit it on the nose, I would plant something else and take down the bradford in a couple of years. They are over planted where I am and they do look good but a big storm or something once they get big and problems will happen. I have to go take some pictures of a few broken bradfords. Questions about them come up a lot.

I tend to agree with the others on the desirability of Bradford Pears...though I moved into a house two years ago and 3 of the 4 biggest trees are Bradfords. I am not a professional "tree guy" but taking down a tree because it has surface roots seems pretty dumb. If your area has hard clay soil then trees will tend to have more surface roots. How big of a tree are we talking about? To me it sounds like the 'tree guy" just wanted a paying "tree job".

- Brent

For your neighbor: The tree guy is doing the right thing (take it down) for the wrong reason (profit from disseminating erroneous information). Have it removed, but choose a different company. Explain to the first tree guy that if he had provided accurate information he might have gotten the job. Choose your replacement wisely, taking into consideration space for the tree at maturity, sun, soil and moisture requirements and the purpose of the tree, such as shade or spring bloom or fall color. Contact your local university extension agent or Rutgers University for their recommendations on a good replacement for your situation. Rutgers is renowned for their research in the field of horticulture.

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/garden/

Please post the resolution. It would be nice to hear what happens.

I had an old bradford removed, that was breaking in the middle.I had the stump ground, but didn't dig out all the roots.I have a mess, with roots sprouting, and making an inferrior root stock, with thorns.They are so hard to get rid of.Food for thaught.Mike

The only thing to even remotely recommend a Bradford is how pretty they are in
spring. Even with that, they're just too much trouble. I hear there is a new and sup-posedly improved variety, but the jury's still out. Depending on where you are,
something like a serviceberry is a good replacement.

I had a mature Bradford removed (for $350) the day of Hurricane Isabel 3 yrs ago.
Earlier in the summer, a neighbor lost 2 Bradfords during a severe thunderstorm:
one split & fell into the other one!

Well...the situation got worse...my neighbor came home one day from shopping and the tree was gone. The tree guy was just packing up the truck. She was so mad. She had just had a conversation with a Master Gardener who told her to shave the roots. We looked at Serviceberry and Redbud the day before. She hadn't made up her mind what to do and never told him to take it out. He told her that he was going on vacation for the next 10 days so figured he would get it done before he left. It was on the verge of blooming so she didn't even get to enjoy it. That particular tree guy won't ever be coming back to this neighbor again!

Actually the tree guy did her a favor. True, his timing was off, but that tree would had to have been cut down eventually. I hope your neighbor has time to call Rutgers University extension.