Pear

[catfish chapstick]

here is a little pear i dug up a couple years ago. im not exactly satisfied with the branches. i keep waiting for it to do something. i guess its taking its sweet time. i feed it regularly and it pretty much gets full sun. still waiting to see some flowers. buds are opening and i dont see any signs that it might flower this year... am i doing something wrong?

i dont have a front picked out but this is the angle that hides the chop. one thing i like about these, besides being hardy as hell, is the fine bark-texture that they eventually display. this one is beginning to show it.

 

[JudyB]

Maybe this is the year it'll take off. Some trees sulk longer than others. I have a hawthorn that is doing this...
Does it have room for the roots to run at all in that pot?

 

[catfish chapstick]

Maybe this is the year it'll take off. Some trees sulk longer than others. I have a hawthorn that is doing this...
Does it have room for the roots to run at all in that pot?

i hope it takes off... i think it has room. maybe i'll lift it out to check if it continues to "sulk"

in autumn it turns bright red, another reason i love these.

 

[berobinson82]

CC, I notice you often collect wild material and go right into a bonsai pot. I wonder what the board would say about giving a bit more room to breathe to newly collected material. I'm certain there are multiple more factors. Just trying to spit ball here. I think JudyB was saying the same.

 

[coh]

I tend to agree with the other comments about the pot. If you want to develop new branches and increase vigor, it would probably help to put it in a wider pot to allow the roots to run a bit.

As for blooming...I have a pear that I obtained a year and a half ago from a local club member. He collected it many years ago (at least 10, maybe closer to 20). It apparently never bloomed for him. It's possible it's a non-blooming plant, or maybe one that just takes a long time to reach blooming age. Or, maybe it's something cultural. I think Jim Lewis has a pear that has also never bloomed for him.

Chris

 

[catfish chapstick]

I'm sure it would gain some vigor in a larger pot. When I collect deciduous trees, especially small stuff like this, I put them into a large pot and just let them grow for their first year. This one I just forced into this pot when I repotted. You're right, I do tend to jump the gun on cramming them into a smaller pot. I just like the way it looks better I guess. If I know it will survive and I like the trunk I just do it. I never thought this tree would really amount to much since its pretty thin and the leaves hardly reduce in size. The upper branches are thick also but for now I like the way it looks. I'd like it even more if I could get it to flower. It's hard to get good ramification on these because they don't get all twiggy.

Maybe I will put it in a large pot just to see what it does but I don't want it to outgrow its taper... What I really need to do is find another one that is much bigger. This one is only about ten inches tall. I like to imagine, in the future, it producing huge pears.

 

[bougie nights]

I understand that some apples/pear wont bloom until they reach a certain age. Some apple flowers, and maybe pears too, bloom on spurs, which are like little, slow-growing branchlets and cutting back branches sets you at year zero. For bonsai, it is unavoidable since one has to cut back branches. I have a crab that hasn't flowered for five years. I'm no expert by any means, but I have a friend that is into heirloom apples and grafts spurs onto his trees and I think that is how I recalled it.

 

[daygan]

There is a saying that you "plant pears for your heirs" .. essentially rooted in the fact that typically, pear trees of the consumable variety on their own roots do not start producing flowers (and therefore fruit) for many years. Maybe your tree just isn't old enough?

 

[catfish chapstick]

here is what it looked like last autumn

 

[fourteener]

I'm sure it would gain some vigor in a larger pot. When I collect deciduous trees, especially small stuff like this, I put them into a large pot and just let them grow for their first year. This one I just forced into this pot when I repotted. You're right, I do tend to jump the gun on cramming them into a smaller pot. I just like the way it looks better I guess. If I know it will survive and I like the trunk I just do it. I never thought this tree would really amount to much since its pretty thin and the leaves hardly reduce in size. The upper branches are thick also but for now I like the way it looks. I'd like it even more if I could get it to flower. It's hard to get good ramification on these because they don't get all twiggy.

Maybe I will put it in a large pot just to see what it does but I don't want it to outgrow its taper... What I really need to do is find another one that is much bigger. This one is only about ten inches tall. I like to imagine, in the future, it producing huge pears.

I also tend to jump the gun on putting things into nicer pots. At this point I have purchased pots that are too big for trees and as they mature I've been starting to buy smaller pots for them. The big pots then get used for the new crop of collected items.

You should check into where pear trees bloom. Apples trees have growth spurs and fruit spurs. Blueberries grow on two year old wood, but I don't know anything about pears. The pears for heirs quote is interesting, never heard that before, but sayings like that exist for a reason!! You might be trimming the place where flowing buds would develop, therefore no flowers.

This tree probably won't ever get good ramification. But like all bonsai, there is a best time of year for their glory. When you get it to flower, it gets to be inspirational for a few weeks!! I have several flowering rhodi's that are show stoppers for a while, then they become pretty average.

 

[coppice]

It may just be that you are in a rush. Pear (for me) s-l-o-w-e-d way way down once roots got chopped.

It took five years just to get chopped down to the stump I was wanting. Its on the third year starting on a top.

He said ducking, patience grasshopper.

 

[JudyB]

Maybe I will put it in a large pot just to see what it does but I don't want it to outgrow its taper...

That's what training boxes/flats/oversized pots are for, developing branches after you've gotten a basic trunk shape. Ground is best for trunk, but trainers are great for branches. If you can get this one in something larger without disturbing it too much, I'd do it.

 

[jk_lewis]

Personally, I would chop it by 1/3, then develop real taper.

On blooming, I've been developing this pear since 1995. It has never flowered, while the parent trees from which this was a seedling have bloomed profusely for 30 years (they bloom on spurs, BTW). This pic is while it is still leafing out.

 

[JudyB]

Oh, I was hoping that you'd talk about your pear, JKL. So glad you posted a picture. This is one of my favorite trees... I never get tired of seeing this little beauty.

 

[catfish chapstick]

Personally, I would chop it by 1/3, then develop real taper.

On blooming, I've been developing this pear since 1995. It has never flowered, while the parent trees from which this was a seedling have bloomed profusely for 30 years (they bloom on spurs, BTW). This pic is while it is still leafing out.

I wonder, do they sometimes refuse to flower just because of being in a pot? Around here, even small ones in the ground get flowers.

Nice tree btw! I like they way the branches move. I know what you mean about chopping for "real taper". I have other pears that I am doing that with, developing better taper. This is my smallest one and it also has NOT got very good nebari. I'm going to see what it does this year and then maybe chop lower.

here is perhaps a better photo of it. it has some movement in the trunk. this tree might just become my clip-and-grow project since it's not all that promising to begin with.

 

[october]

Hello catfish. Just a couple of things I see. You probably don't want this tree to flower.. Flowers take the energy away from other parts of the tree. This tree needs all it's energy going to branch and foliage production. If it did flower, I would remove them. Second, depeneding on the level you want to take this tree to, would depend on the work to be done. For example. if you want to create a more pleasing tree/bonsai image. I would suggest letting the top grow out for a few years and creating a whole new upper part of the tree. It might take a little while, but the end result, in my opinion, would be worth it. However, it is completely up to you what level you want to take this tree to.

Here is a virt of what I mean.

Rob

 

[catfish chapstick]

Hello catfish. Just a couple of things I see. You probably don't want this tree to flower.. Flowers take the energy away from other parts of the tree. This tree needs all it's energy going to branch and foliage production. If it did flower, I would remove them. Second, depeneding on the level you want to take this tree to, would depend on the work to be done. For example. if you want to create a more pleasing tree/bonsai image. I would suggest letting the top grow out for a few years and creating a whole new upper part of the tree. It might take a little while, but the end result, in my opinion, would be worth it. However, it is completely up to you what level you want to take this tree to.

Here is a virt of what I mean.

Rob

I hadn't thought of making it taller

 

[catfish chapstick]

here is an update on this little pear

it really wants a new pot

 

[Smoke]

It looks like it really wants some branches!

 

[catfish chapstick]

It looks like it really wants some branches!

I will post a picture when it grows some