- Flowers are not fertilized
- How can you remedy this?
- Select the appropriate pollinator variety
- Grafting or grafting on a pear tree
- tips and tricks
In spring, the pear tree is covered with blossoms. But the harvest in autumn fails, because the flowers hardly produce any fruit, if at all. What causes are responsible if no pears grow on pear trees?
Flowers are not fertilized
The most common cause of fruit failure is lack of fertilization. Either there is no second pear tree nearby or there was a frost during the flowering period, which prevented the bees from swarming out.
Just like apple trees, pear trees are not self-pollinating. The flowers are so-called hermaphrodites, which contain male and female organs. For fertilization they need pollen from another plant of the same species.
How can you remedy this?
There are several ways to provide pollinating plants nearby:
- Plant a second pear tree
- Refine with a second pear variety
- Grafting on a branch of another variety
Select the appropriate pollinator variety
If you want to plant a second pear tree, you need to make sure you choose the right pollinator variety.
Some of the best pollinating varieties, which are suitable for many other pear tree varieties, include Trevoux Early, Club Dechants Pear, Conférence and Madame Verté.
Not every pollinator variety suits every pear tree. Check with the nursery about which variety to plant. It is also important that both trees bloom at about the same time.
Grafting or grafting on a pear tree
If there is little space in the garden, it is advisable to refine the pear tree or graft another variety on.
To do this, scions of a suitable pollinator variety are placed on branches of the pear tree. Both scions are cut or notched in the spring, grafted or stuck together and wrapped with raffia.
Success will show next spring when new shoots have grown in the spot where you grafted or grafted the pear tree.
tips and tricks
If your pear tree does not have a rich harvest every year, but only every other year, it is not due to lack of pollination. Some pear trees are subject to so-called alternation, a natural phenomenon that also occurs in apple trees. Sometimes it helps to thin out the tree in June by cutting out part of the inflorescences.