Mother Nature knows best...

[treemanjohn]

Not to highjack the thread, but could you go into more detail on what you mean? I just planted a couple of kieffer pears on the homestead and im sure others would also take note on how to make sure this doesnt happen to them.

No problem. First I always suggest removing fruit or pinching blooms on fruit tree. I prefers for the first 4 or 5 years. Also, is the tree is overloaded help it along and remove fruit. Look at the pic I posted and that's a huge problem. That tree was like a wishbone. I prefer columnar trees. A main trunk going straight up and branches leading off of them. You can cable the two sides of the wishbone once the get some heft to them. Even a slight gust of wind will split trees like that in no time

 

[livinoutdoors]

No problem. First I always suggest removing fruit or pinching blooms on fruit tree. I prefers for the first 4 or 5 years. Also, is the tree is overloaded help it along and remove fruit. Look at the pic I posted and that's a huge problem. That tree was like a wishbone. I prefer columnar trees. A main trunk going straight up and branches leading off of them. You can cable the two sides of the wishbone once the get some heft to them. Even a slight gust of wind will split trees like that in no time

Thank you!

 

[Triple C]

Treeman - Thx for the insight. One thing I have learned from doing this for a long time now is that fruit trees require tender loving care. I became so frustrated from the years of watching these pear trees grow and grow and grow since 2011 and 2012, and always getting hit with late frosts that seemed to happen every year except this year.

I pruned these trees every year except this year. But, pear trees eventually grow so tall that you can no longer reach the upper branches to remove the undesirable branches. That particular tree I posted in this thread developed an early double leader and I pruned both over the years. Interesting enough, where this particular tree broke was the largest leader that was at least 3 inches in diameter at the breaking point. The issue was the amount of fruit I allowed to grow without removing any of it. I was so thrilled to have so much fruit this year that I hoped against hope that it would just be able to carry the load. It didn't. Nor did a number of my other pear trees.

Almost heartbreaking to see these relatively large pear trees with so many broken limbs. If you're planting Kieffers, or any fruit tree for that matter, they will require your attention and care. You just can't plant em and forget em.

On the other hand, the persimmons that I never touch just keep on keeping on, producing fruit every year with no maintenance. They have become my favorite soft mast tree. I also have about 6 Black Arkansas and Yates apple trees that I'm nursing along as well. They were grafted on the B118 root stock in 2016. I've lost about 60% of them and trying my best to protect the rest.

Unless, you are planning to spend the necessary time to care for fruit trees, stick with persimmons.

 

[Triple C]

Here’s another Kieffer planted in 2012. Prolly 6” in diameter at the base. Leader that broke was at least 3“ diameter where it broke from weight of fruit. Lesson learned...remove excess fruit early to lessen the load on the branches. BTW....every leaf is stripped within the reach of a deer’s mouth.

 

[Canuck5]

My Keiffers were my first real "swing" at planting fruit tree's and they are far from perfect, but I and the deer do enjoy the fruit! They aren't in my "yard" so it doesn't bother me what they look like, but I am confident that they will be there for a long time.

If I was to plant more fruit tree's, persimmons and crab apples would be at the top of my list. Just about no-brainers and almost no maintenance.

 

[Triple C]

My Keiffers were my first real "swing" at planting fruit tree's and they are far from perfect, but I and the deer do enjoy the fruit! They aren't in my "yard" so it doesn't bother me what they look like, but I am confident that they will be there for a long time.

If I was to plant more fruit tree's, persimmons and crab apples would be at the top of my list. Just about no-brainers and almost no maintenance.

Canuck - In full agreement. I’ve got 15 Kieffers that have all done well in terms of growth. No issues. I’ll prune the damage n just let em keep growing. But, after almost 10 years of doing this, it’s persimmons n crabs for me going forward in terms of any new soft mast trees.