There are two of these on the property where I work.The fruit doesn’t get much more than pea size.If the trees are in the genus Pyrus,I’d like to try and graft some scions in the Spring. Thanks,Brady
Sure looks like it to me. I’m sure some of the experts will chime in
Looks like a Callery pear. Could be Cleveland or seedling rather than the Bradford pear.
Brady,
I just have my phone with me so I can’t see the photo cleàrly. If you have not identified by the next time I jump online I will look at it for you. The wild callery have red fall foliage. This one closest to the camera is a wild callery that I have tried to graft three times so its getting large. I wont let it bear fruit. I plan to top work it over with clara frijs.
@Bradybb Yes you can graft it and it’s a member of the pyrus family. The fruit is characteristic of Pyrus Calleryana. Most callery pear have red fall foliage but that one is yellow/orange/red. It looks like a member of Pyrus Calleryana intended to be used as an ornamental called Redspire or possibly chanticleer. Aristocrat, , Redspire, Cleveland were all grown as improvements to the Bradford flowering pear, They are all native to China. They all are susceptible to Entomosporium leaf spot and fire blight. They are anywhere from very resistant to very susceptible to FB. As you can see in this article Chanticleer is highly FB resistant http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/trees/hgic1006.html. You might also look at this website on treatment with immunox for Entomosporium leaf spot which is highly effective http://www.spectracide.com/Products-and-Solutions/Disease-Fungus-Control/Spectracide-Immunox-Multi-Purpose-Fungicide-For-Gardens.aspx. Thankfully it’s not a Bradford flowering pear because they had lots of problems. One problem is they get 40 feet tall so fruit is very hard to pick commercially if the rootstock imparts that characteristic on the fruiting pear. Bradford pears live twenty five years so by the time you graft them over it is not worth it considering some pears wont bear for 15 years giving you just 10 good fruiting years. Bradford did tolerate pollution and disease well so you see it in a lot of cities and in that situation it’s very effective. Bradford was not good in terms of structure because the branches were given to breaking https://guilford.ces.ncsu.edu/2013/10/bradford-pear-a-mixed-blessing-in-the-landscape/. The wild species of callery that grow are obviously genetically superior to a fault so if I see them I stop them before they can fruit and graft them over. The wild callery don’t get fireblight, don’t have weak branches , reproduce like crazy , develop thorns and dominate areas where nothing else will grow. In your particular situation that pear looks like a great choice for grafting because the branches are very hard and the tree very tough. The people out there thinking of grafting Bradford pears over should graft them with a fast fruiting pear like Douglas and enjoy the next 20 years + of fruit. Keep in mind Bradford are not pears for your heirs. Cleveland and Chanticleer are said in many articles to be the same variety so what you read about one is true of the other.
Okay great.I am thinking of adding some Asian Pear and possibly European if I can get some scion wood. Thanks again,Brady
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Brady
I would stick with European pears or hybrids because Asian pears don’t do great on callery but rather pyrus betulifolia is better for them.
Thanks a lot Clark,I’ll definitely try some European varieties on the trees. Brady
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OK, here is a question. If short lived because it breaks to pieces, or is it short lived apart from that issue? As a follow-up question. Why would Bradford be such a short lived plant when other callery pears live a very long time? Is there hard evidence that Bradford is shorter lived than other callery pears as a root stock? God bless.
Marcus
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I was thinking that if you graft low enough that you kind of take the tendancy of the wood to split out of the equation.
My understanding is that the reason that Bradford splits so bad is because of the super sharp angels from which the limbs arise from each other. Sharp angled branching can be a problem for many fruit bearing varieties as well if you don’t spread the branches early in the tree’s life. The reason this is a problem is that bark is dead tissue. If two branches arise from each other at a sharp angle and become two leaders, as each branch gets wider and grow into each other dead bark and soft cambium tissue continue to separate the two branches. They don’t really fuse and the growth of the tree away from the joint does not compensate so that the joint is week. If the branches part ways at more of a right angle, the way gravity interacts with the plant hormones will cause the tree to reinforce the bottom side of the branch so as to make the joint stronger. My impression is not that the problem is not that Bradford wood is weaker. The problem is that Bradford the tight branching which gives Bradford its super tight almost artificial looking canopy also makes it structurally weak. Note, I’ve never been a big fan of Bradford pears because they always look plastic to me when they are healthy.
Note fruiting pears don’t split as bad as Bradfords in part because even if the grower does not use spreaders. The weight of the pears in effect start pulling down on the limbs and spreading them before they really start growing into each other resulting in a stronger structure. Beside, if you ever try to break of a living branch of a fruiting pear with your bear hands, you will discover that the branches are pretty darn flexible and hard to bread. God bless.
Marcus
Marcus in my opinion you are correct. The Bradford pear grows rapidly for the first 15-20 years and then the limbs start to split out. If left alone this will occur in most of these trees. The beauty of the Bradford pear is also what causes it to self destruct. The limbs are closely space and have sharp upward angles which is the perfect combination for breaking. I would have no issue with grafting low or grafting to limbs that have been pulled down for better angles and of course better space alotment of limbs. Bill
I hate Bradford pears they look nice in spring but they self seed everywhere and are kind of invasive. I have 5 on my property about 25 ft tall and I’m always pulling seedling up throughout the yard. I would love to cut them down but my wife likes them.
Those seedlings are free root stock. Seriously, if you are into pears and are interested in getting into grafting, you can’t beat free. Bradford pears might be useful in cider making since they are very bitter. It might be something that when your are crushing milder pears for cider that can be crushed in with them to add tannins. Its just an idea I would probably try if I had Bradford pears that my significant other would not let me cut down. God bless.
Marcus
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Thanks for the tip but I already have pear trees that I’ll be grafting other varieties onto next spring I have 2 of each Moonglow, Kieffer, Orient, and Shinseiki Asian. I like pears but 8 trees is enough for me and once they are multigrafted with some good tasting FB resistant varieties I’ll be all set. I’m getting scions of Pineapple & Ayers this February and hopefully I can find a few more to try out.
Very cool. Of the trees that have produced for me so far, I think Golden Boy is the all around best pear and tree. I say that because its a big delicious pear on a vigorous tree. It can be ripened inside at room temperature or in the refrigerator. They seem to last about a month under refrigeration. The pears from my Southern Bartlett have a better skin texture, are good but bland when eaten strait off the tree. They are the best pears I’ve ever eaten ripened in the refrigerator, but they have a very short shelf life. It’s the juiciest pear I have ever encountered. That juiciness is both good and bad. It makes for a delicious pear when perfectly ripe but given its short shelf life its hard to eat them all fresh, and they cook up to nothing when you try process them because they are so watery. Tenns (Tennessee) is a small pear like an Ayers with lots of red blush. It’s only slightly bigger than an Ayers, pretty small. They have the most complex flavor of any pear I’ve tasted. There is a distinct bitterness and astringency to their flavor profile that prevents them from being my favorite pear for fresh eating. However, they are the sweetest pear I grow and are sweet and bitter at the same time when green. Once my tree is old enough to produce enough pears, I expect this to be my cider tree. I also have a LeConte that has produced as well as a “Baldwin” which looks suspiciously like a Carnes to me. LeConte is nearly identical to Golden Boy but Goldenboys are bigger and slightly better. My supposed Baldwin is a round pear. (Baldwins are not supposed to be round.) It’s blushed and fairly firm even after being ripened in the refrigerator with an apply textured flesh. Despite the firmness, there is no grit, but the skin is kind of woody. The tree is “Christmas tree” shaped, all of which matches the description of Carnes in the catalogue that I got the Baldwin from. Whatever it is, its a good pear for eating and I imagine a better pear for canning. God bless.
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I you want to try some of my figs I’ll happily trade you some cuttings for 2 scions of your Golden Boy. Feel free to message me if you are interested.
If you go to the topic I started called Southern Pears, you find pictures of Golden Boy. This is my tree’s third year in the ground and it produced 50 fist sized pears. This variety originates from a tree found growing at an old farm site in Wauchula County Florida. It was introduced commercially by Just Fruits and Exotics near Tallahassee FL. That’s where I have gotten most of my pear trees. It’s my favorite nursery bar nun. They also have a very large selection of pears that have been proven in the south with several varieties being ones they introduced.
According to Brandy, the owner of Just Fruits, Golden Boy is their most reliable producer in their orchard in North Florida. She said that they can depend on their Golden Boy pears to produce large unblemished pears every single year and that it has produced a full crop of pears in bad years when non of the other pears produce hardly at all.
In my own opinion Southern Bartlett has more pizazz when its perfectly ripened in the refrigerator. But the pears are not uniform at all. And the Golden Boys are wonderful when they are not quite ripe or when they are a touch over ripe. It’s a soft pear but a little meatier than a Southern Bartlett or even a Bartlett from the store. The texture is more like DeAnjue but maybe not quite as sweet. However, it’s plenty sweet. God bless.
Marcus
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My neighborhood has a lot of these trees. One of these days I’ll graft an Asian Pear to one of the branches. 
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LOL! There is already kind of a “subversive” movement to graft fruiting fruit trees into flowering fruit trees in public plantings. I wish someone would do that in my home town, except I’m pretty sure that I would get blamed. LOL! God bless.
Marcus
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