After reading the reviews of Korean Giant on the forum I decided to plant one this spring. It leafed out this spring then the leaves started to curl and they all fell off. My Korean giant now has zero foliage and looks pitiful:
I planted a dripping honey pear 10’ away (same soil) and it leafed out and is starting to grow like mad:
Anyone have any thoughts on why the KG is struggling (or about to die)? I can post more pictures if that will help identify the root cause.
My guess is voles or excess water. The Drippin’ honey looks great! Congratulations on the great looking tree it should be producing in 2-4 years. There is no helping that Korean Giant at this point. I would call and get a refund. What type of soil is that?
Did you spray both trees with anything? How wet is your soil? Even the leaves of Dripping Honey seem affected by something. Usually pear leaves are snooth. There are more to it, I think.
I haven’t sprayed anything and I’ve been watering both trees when my moisture reader starts to tilt towards the dry side. The dripping honey has a couple of curled leaves but both of those leaves have playskydd applied. I assumed the oil is what caused the curling. The rest of the leaves on the dripping honey look like this:
I haven’t seen or had any vole damage though that’s not to say they aren’t causing issues in the orchard. A scratch test of the korean giant still shows green wood. Should I give it a bit more time to liven up or replace it with something else?
One more question for the pear gurus. Where’s the best place to order asian pears if I can’t find them locally? Any suggestions for top notch online retailers?
Right nowit may be quite late to order on line. You can order them from several nursery like Burntridge, Raintree, Stark Brothers, ect. If you go to the Reference category, there are lists of several things including on line nurseries.
For your pears, did you buy them bare root or potted this year?
Give the KG longer but losing leaves is a bad sign. When you bought it was it potted and did it did it have leaves already? Mamuang is definitely onto something there. Sometimes trees lose leaves due to disease but it can also be stress etc.
Cummins Nursery is popular amongst pear collectors.
I got my KG bare root from raintree.
It shipped without leaves. It started well but went down hill pretty quickly. I’m a bit perplexed since the trees 10’ away are growing like gangbusters. Totally agree Mamuang knows his stuff!!!
Well, since it was a bare root planting, leafed out, leaves wilt and dropped, I could make a few guesses:
soil - too wet?
graft union- any proble there?
Something damaging/eating the roots?
I don’t think pears have a sudden death syndrome.
Cummins nursery is another good one. Don’t know if they have any KG left. They may still have pear rootstocks on sale. You could get OHxF 87 or 97 and plant the rootstocks. Send me PM this winter, I will send you KG scionwood. Grafting pear is very easy. You have time between now and next spring to pratice.
I bought my 20th Century from Isons.com. I only have 1 flower from another Asian pear to pollinate due to winter damage but there are 8 pears for now. Must be partial self pollinating. They have KG but not on sale but a few others on sale. You need to order quick as they are about to stop shipping.
i found one at one green world and am going to order it today. @mamuang – what are your top 3 tasting asian pears? may order a second tree.
I am honored that you asked me but I only have eaten 4 varieties from my trees. I like KG and Hosui. I’m OK with 20 th Century. I removed Shinko for the fruit tasted bland ( I could have removed it too soon. Some fruit taste better with age).
Where do you live? I asked because A pears seem to perform differently at different locations/climate. KG seems to do well across the country but others may not.
There are people who have a lot of experience growing A pears. If you are on the east coast, you should ask @scottfsmith. In mid west, ask @tonyOmahaz5, the southwest, ask @fruitnut . Not sure who to ask about A pears in west coast.
have not tasted mine, fruits 1st time but you will find that Isons.com better price? they have some on sale for $12.95 
I have eaten Asian pears from grocers but do not know their name
I would order from Ison’s in a heart beat if they had KG in stock. Looks like they are sold out this year. 
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I’ll post picks of the KG roots when I rip it out. Curious what I did wrong.
Sorry they are oos I dont know if I KG. the other tree is multigrafted. Good luck with your new KG
If you have space, I would leave the KG there. It may come back. We don’t know what caused the leaves to fall off yet.
Be careful about picking A pears, some are more susceptible for fire blight than others. I wolud spray copper at dormant in early spring for a preventative measure but it is not 100% guarantee. It also depends on the timing of flowering, rain and warm temp.
