Pear buds, blossoms, and fruit 2017

What are your low temps looking like the end of this week? Some of my pears are just ahead of yours and I think I’m going to be right at 32 or maybe colder

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Our temps are smilar

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My pears are just a tad behind you guys.

Tony

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Some pics of our pear blossoms.

Moonglow, not too many clusters, but still a bit early.

Orient, this tree is in fourth leaf, not more than 6ft tall, and has a bunch of vertical branches, but is really blooming.

The much larger Pineapple, with many more wider angle branches, but nary a blossom. I thought trees don’t bloom as much on vertical branches?

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I have a pretty good idea what peach blooms can handle, do you think pears are less sensitive?

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@Derby42 Pears are tougher than people think as long as bacteria are not present that make them more susceptible to the cold. If you sprayed with copper it will likely go well or if the bacteria are not present in high numbers. See this thread from 2016 Strange weather - Will it get our blooms and fruit?. Pears are my best bet in Kansas! Here is a photo from 2016 which may make you feel a little better

Recall the 2016 harvest was still good Here comes the 2016 apple and Pear harvest! . The more technical answer can be found at the link below but at 32 degrees farenheit no problem unless copper was not sprayed and a large number of bacteria are present which reduce cold tolerance by as much as 3 degrees in my understanding https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://extension.usu.edu/productionhort/files-ou/CriticalTemperaturesFruitTrees.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjRoZKM_cbhAhUBbq0KHZ1TCMUQFjAMegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3BlPRtssrOlhFfutACBnDC

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@tonyOmahaz5
Those buds are perfect your still in really good shape. Ya li is blooming right now Tony so i wanted to thank you for that recommendation.
@subdood_ky_z6b
Thats a beautiful site! We can practically taste the pears those are going to produce! Nice work!

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Turned off cold today but the blooms are gorgeous!





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No wonder you have so many pears each fall! :blush:

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Thanks, we’ll see, but I think the tree is still too small to grow a lot of pears. If it does, would I have to worry about runting it out?

I was showing the Doodette the blooming trees, and she said did I see that the Harrow Sweet pear blooms, so that’s another. But it’s way too small to allow those to fruit.

I notice a lot of your trees have a bunch of upright branches that are blooming. I was under the impression that fruit trees need lower angle branches or need them pulled down to induce fruiting. So, does that just apply to apples, or to pears as well?

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@subdood_ky_z6b They fruit faster if the branches are pulled down but i have plenty of pears so early fruiting is not a big deal for me i like a full sized tree. Some pears eg. Harrow sweet you cant hold back it fruits quickly! You will get a bunch of pears from that tree just dont let it break the branches! They wont completely runt out. My trees are older and eventually all pears fruit if your patient. My oldest pear i planted around 25 years ago. Great job on your pears! Thanks @mrsg47 not all the pear trees are in the photos! I dont want to say how many i have!

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@Derby42 asked the question earlier but it’s likely on a lot of peoples minds related to temperature damage to flower buds. The reason why it’s a good idea to spray copper prior to blossoms opening is it kills bacteria such as fireblight aka Erwinia amylovora but it also kills Pseudomonas syringae aka blossom blast which is the bacteria responsible for forming ice at higher temperatures that can damage flower buds. Here is an article that explains the process the bacteria use Bacterial Ice Nucleation: A Factor in Frost Injury to Plants “Heterogeneous ice nuclei are necessary, and the common epiphytic ice nucleation active (INA) bacteria Pseudomonas syringae van Hall and Erwinia herbicola (Löhnis) Dye are sufficient to incite frost injury to sensitive plants at −5°C. The ice nucleation activity of the bacteria occurs at the same temperatures at which frost injury to sensitive plants occurs in nature. Bacterial ice nucleation on leaves can be detected at about −2°C, whereas the leaves themselves, i.e. without INA bacteria, contain nuclei active only at much lower temperatures. The temperature at which injury to plants occurs is predictable on the basis of the ice nucleation activity of leaf discs, which in turn depends on the number and ice nucleation activity of their resident bacteria. Bacterial isolates which are able to incite injury to corn at −5°C are always active as ice nuclei at −5°C. INA bacteria incited frost injury to all of the species of sensitive plants tested.” Here is another article on blossom blast Bacterial blossom blast of pear - Integrated Pest Management
At first glance sometimes people misidentify blossom blast and think its fireblight.

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My espalier asian pear. Yea I know my top branches are way to long. But just cant bare to cut them back till I get some more growth.

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The cold nipped a few blooms but the pears seem to be ok overall







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A Drippin’ Honey pear I bought from Gurney’s last year decided to blossom this year. I didn’t expect results this fast.

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@PharmerDrewee
Excellent results! You will love drippin’ honey!

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Did your Clara Frijs bloom yetor has flower buds ?

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The buds are not open yet but they are close!

Moonglow fruitlets

Unknown fruitlets

Orient fruitlets

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Nice looking fruitlets @k8tpayaso! My trees have a ways to go until they get to the fruitlet stage

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