I have four Asian pear trees, all decent size, about 6’-7’ tall. They all had some fruits last year. But this spring, one of them only sent out leaves and I do not see any flower buds. Is this normal?
The other 3 trees all have white flower buds before the green leaves…
Some asian pears are prone to alternate bearing. My Hosui is not blossoming at all this year and its skipped a year before. It and Shin-Li can do that, all the others bear regularly every year for me.
This is the tree I still have not ID’ed. From what I can tell from the photos, it is one of the (Chojuro, Shinko or Hosui). So from your post, then this is Hosui. Here is the fruit from last year.
I also have the Shin-Li and it has all the white flower buds. I did not know some pears would skip a year…
I hadn’t realized that either, but I may be having the same thing happen on my Korean Giant. On a relatively large tree, I see only one flower cluster. The one cluster is about to open, so unless the other buds are massively behind, they are just leaves. Which is disappointing, as it is one of my wife and kids favorites (it’s been growing on me too).
On the opposite end of the productivity spectrum, the 20th Century is covered in flowers for a 2nd year in a row, even though it had so many pears last year that it was almost pulled over. But, I think the 20th Cent gets more sun than the KG (up against a 8+ foot SW facing rock wall), which could be part of it.
From what I’ve read,the Twentieth Century is so productive,most Asian Pears seen in markets are this variety. Brady
My situation is opposite to Bob’s. Last year my 20th Century had no flowers at all after bearing loads of fruit in 2013. Korean Giant beras heavily several years in a row. I see several flower buds this year, too.
That strengthens my suspicion that it is the lower amount of sun that is causing it for me. I checked it out again this morning and noticed that the Shinko next to the Korean Giant on the wall is also almost devoid of flowers (only at the end of one branch).
Mamuang, does your KG get more sun than your 20th Century?
I should also mention that this will be the 3rd year for my 20th Century to bear. The first year wasn’t bad, but I picked the fruit when it was first “ripe” in late August to early September (seeds had just turned back). This past year, I had a larger crop, which I picked as I needed it. The fruit from late September was much better. Much more flavor and sweeter (13-14 vs 10-11 brix).
The semi-local PYO offers 20th Century in late Aug/early Sept, so it seems like a lot of people are picking it too early. I suspect that this is pretty common commercially, as it will probably keep better and they will have less losses due to pests (wasps and yellow jackets started attacking mine). And there are still people who like the early ones- my wife and kids liked that it was crisp and juicy. I’m pretty iffy on it then, but the late ones were very good.
All my trees are in the open. So it has to be something with the variety.
Sun could play a role. My 20 th C is behind the KG when for the afternoon sun. From morning to 1-2 pm, they get the same amount of sun.
I suspected my lack of good thinning in 2013 and the age of the trees played a role in it, too. I did not thin early and as many as I should have on both trees. In 2014, 20th C had no flowers, KG still had lot of fruit. However, KG is at least 2 years older, a bit larger tree and is in full sun all day long.
It’s not occured to me that Hosui is a biennial bearer. My Hosui which is part of the 4-in-1 asian pear tree fruits every year but it’s not as heavy bearing as Shinko. Shinko’s branches are loaded with spurs which appear to be very different from Hosui’s or other Asian pear’s branches, at least in my case. But I don’t expect Shinko to bear as heavily this year due to the lack of chill as it is still struggling to bloom and leaf out at this time.
I wonder if in some cases the bud wood for the next year is easily damaged while picking this years crop. Some pears have very brittle wood and buds and the fruit holds on very good. Does anyone pick their fruit with cutters? My only experience with Asian pears is drippen’ honey which does not have brittle wood but I noticed some pears grown do. I’m growing a lot more Asian pears next year so I was reading your old post for obvious reasons as I select varieties.
