I bought 2 trees that were labeled Kiefer Pear 4 years ago. They have not borne fruit and they don’t look like my other Kiefer Pear trees which are bearing fruit. Should I dig them up?
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The nice thing about pear trees is that they graft easily. I would not dig them up but instead would add varieties to the existing tree structure. My biggest problem with pear trees is keeping everything labeled so I know what limb is what. I have some small trees that I planned on leaving a single variety but I have ended up multi grafting all of them
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I’m not the most experienced gardener. How hard is it to graft ?
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What if these trees aren’t even fruit trees, does that matter?
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Not hard to graft, and pears are the most forgiving of beginners’ less than perfect attempts.
But… if they’re not even pears… can you post a photo?
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It may be awhile before you can post a photo, I think you have to participate first. There is tons of information here. Lots of photos of pears for identification and threads about first time grafting . Not sure where you are located but it may be too late to graft a pear this year but you could collect some scion wood ( little dormant cuttings of pears you want) next winter , store them in a ziplock in the fridge with a damp paper towel, then graft them in early spring. I use pruners, a sharp knife, black electric tape, and wax I save off of baby bell cheese rounds, pretty simple.
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This is an Asian pear, shinko, grafted on an ornamental pear
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This is what was labeled Kiefer Pear, but has borne no fruit in 3 years. It does not look like the Kiefer Pear I bought this year. What do you think?
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I can’t tell for sure from the pic, but it looks like pear foliage. It’s almost impossible to tell one pear from the next from the foliage.
The other thing is that pears generally take a long time to bear. There is an old saw, “Plant pears for your heirs.”
I think Kieffer is a crappy pear anyway. If your other tree produces dessert pears, it’s probably not a Kieffer. If they were my two new pear trees, I would hope they were mislabeled (although also hope they weren’t mislabeled so bad to be a Bradford pear).
Btw, if you will clear the sod away from the trees, they will grow and bear faster.
I do have 2 of these trees and they have never even flowered.
I like Kiefer pears as they’re great for canning!
I’d never expect a pear to bear in 3 years. More like 10
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My experience with Kiefer pears is they will bear the 2nd year.
It’s now October 30 in Wilmington, NC and this same tree that has never borne flower or fruit in 3 years is flowering! Can anyone tell me if this is a Keifer pear or not? It was labelled Keifer pear when I bought it, but I have my doubts.
I can’t help with the ID but it looks like a major aphid problem on the tree. I’ve had to battle aphids on my pears, too.
What do you suggest for aphids? Any idea why it’s blooming now?
Someone with more experience will chime in, but do a quick search here for aphids. There are a few relatively easy options. Trees do some weird things especially when stressed. I had a crabapple leaning over a fire pit. If the fire injured the tree in late summer or fall, it would push blooms. Did insect damage take out the foliage in late summer?