Wild Pear, Pyrus piraster

[leatherback]

In early 2021 on a facebook auction group I saw a European wild pear. This being a rare species I decided to go ahead and make a bid for it. Long story short.. I had to pay & the owner sent the tree on its way from .. Croatia? .. to me.


Upon arrival the tree had sustained a bit of damage. Looked like a forklift went through, instead of below, the parcel, resulting in a sight I do not wish upon anybody. Sooo off into the worksop, and a repot & damage control was required..


Fast forward to spring:


And summer 2021:


I find this a dificult species. I have not really understood the growth habit yet. But I think that the tree needed a year off to get settled back in. And of course, I live in a much cooler place than where it came from. It might be just too cold for it.

 

[Hoyonokuma]

It has a very nice bark and movement. It seems like it pushed some timid growth, too, maybe?

I think the guy was Hungarian or Bulgarian, but that's no difference.. I just hope they didn't forklift him like the Pyrus and make him disappear.. Haven't seen him posting ever since

 

[Kadebe]

The species is native in Belgium and The Netherlands, so I guess it will do just fine

 

[leatherback]

The species is native in Belgium and The Netherlands, so I guess it will do just fine

Looking at some maps that seem to be based on actual occurance, I am really on the northern boundary of the range. So this will be getting a treatment similar to olives and pomegranates.

 

[leatherback]

It seems like it pushed some timid growth, too, maybe

Yes. It did push some 4-6inch / 10-15cm on the most enthusiastic branches. @Walter Pall indicated in his thread on his pear suggested this is a normal amount of growth for the species in a pot. It seems like I should also not hold my breath waiting for flowers. But, we'll see. Besides flowering, vegetative reproduction will be a challenge to tackle. Would love to plant a few of them out in a growbed.

I just hope they didn't forklift him like the Pyrus and make him disappear.. Haven't seen him posting ever since

I am not convinced he is still shipping things. I paid quite a lot for shipping to get the parcel insured. The tree took a looooong time to get here. And when it was damaged, I asked him to contact the forwarder for compensation (The pot alone was a good quality pot and in shatters and 1 main branch and several young branches were broken off. With additional security on the shipping paid for, I really did want to see a bit of money back). I still do not understand what the problem was, but he refused.He told me he could not complain to the shipping agency, as they would then no longer collect parcels from him. Some kind of * story. In any case, he returned half of what I paid him and we left it at that. But I could imagine the experience was not great.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I know pears as weak trees. Incomparable to anything else in the sense that they never ever seem to burst with life.
Plagued by everything from rust to bark fungi, root issues and every insect out there.
The people I know with pear orchards spend almost as much on preventative spraying as their crop will bring in, they barely make a profit in the margins. So most of them are slowly replacing them for apples instead.
A challenge, that's for sure! Good luck!

 

[luvinthemountains]

Sorry for the loss! But...I like the new image much better. It is the difference between a young, healthy tree in a relatively new orchard and an old, declining tree in an ancient orchard with a story to tell. I wish you well with it!