Really off topic but anyone here know about plants/gardens

[YarisSedan]

My mom has a pear tree but past couple of years it stopped bearing fruit. Its like it wants to but can't. It has little baby pears that are about the size of a quarter but they never get to full size. The tree otherwise seems healthy.

Any idea to what could be the cause. She has a orange tree few yards away from this tree that is growing fine and has fruit like crazy. Best oranges ive had in my life.

[YAR1S]

acidity of soil perhaps?
Idk.... I have planted a dozen or so fruit bearing trees in my yard.... all of them bear tiny baby fruit but they get eaten by the birds.... the plum tree usually gives us plums cause its so big and the bird dont eat ALL of the fruit...LOL

[YarisSedan]

Originally Posted by YAR1S

acidity of soil perhaps?
Idk.... I have planted a dozen or so fruit bearing trees in my yard.... all of them bear tiny baby fruit but they get eaten by the birds.... the plum tree usually gives us plums cause its so big and the bird dont eat ALL of the fruit...LOL

I don't know really anything about plants. My assumption though if it was something to do with soil then it would effect other plants in the same garden not just one particular tree. The other plants seem doing fine she has some vegetable gardens in the same area and same soil as well.

[yaris-me]

You should look for a gardening forum, or PM Bailout.

[tomato]

Yaris Hilton might be able to offer suggestions. He seems to know a lot about nature.

[BailOut]

Hi YarisSedan,

Though they both bear fruit the orange tree does so on new growth while the pear tree does so on old growth. What this means is that the orange tree needs little to no pruning (though with some selective pruning you can greatly increase its yield), but the pear tree requires annual pruning in order to continue to bear fruit properly.

The best time to prune them is in spring, after the chance of frost has passed but it has not yet begun to leaf out. Since it's never been pruned before your first round will be more aggressive than usual, using a ladder and large pruning shears and a hacksaw to cut off the ends of branches, or even entire branches, from top to bottom and all the way around, in order to trim the tree back to the older, thicker growth. Within the older, thicker areas prune out any dead branches and use "pruning paint" over any open "wounds" in order to keep a fungus know as "fireblight" out of it.

That will help it out greatly, and making it part of your springtime routine will ensure plenty of pears for decades to come.