# Cleveland pear



## hague (Sep 7, 2012)

Want to know if bees will use these trees. I'd like to plant some because of fast growth


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

ewwwww. Not a fan of those trees, I would NOT recomend planting them. They've put alot of Bradford pears in neighborhoods around here. They look spectacular in bloom and thats about it. They smell like garbage, rotting, stinking flesh in bloom, the berries they produce make a mess, starlings come in to feed and litter the streets with poo. They are also not very strong and are easily damaged in moderate winds. Many of the trees are split, broken in half. If you plant them put them far away from your house not near driveways, sidewalks, etc. 

Gardenwebl 

Never seen the girls working them either. 

Plant a tulip poplar, linden, black locust. Something else. I hate bradford, cleveland pears.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

I've got 3 within 50 feet of my house and never had the problems that burns375 mentions. However, I've never seen the bees work them either, which is why I originally planted them. Oh, well. They do look pretty, tho, even when they're not in bloom.

HTH

Rusty


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## ccar2000 (Aug 9, 2009)

Be sure to provide diverse forage. Plant trees, shrubs and flowering plants to provide forage for the longest possible period.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Rusty Hills Farm said:


> I've got 3 within 50 feet of my house and never had the problems that burns375 mentions
> 
> HTH
> 
> Rusty


How old/big are they? They may not be big enough yet to be a pain. I would rather plant natives, these trees are terrible and are invasive. Plant natives


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## VolunteerK9 (Aug 19, 2011)

Although I agree with most of what was said about being weak and everything else, my bees covered them this year. In years past there wasnt much activity on them, but sounded like a swarm was moving in for a little over a week. When these last two break, Im replanting with more fruit trees like crabapples or the like.


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## Kenww (Apr 14, 2013)

They all seem to a fall apart here. I planted dwarf fruiting pears for part of my landscaping. They look great. I don't like to eat the common Bartlet pears too well. The sweeter finer textured ones like Seckel are great. Of coulter you don't want more in the yard than yoo can keep picked. I'm planning to plant a couple full sized pears on my farm for the bees and deer. Deer like them better than apples.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

burns375 said:


> How old/big are they? They may not be big enough yet to be a pain. I would rather plant natives, these trees are terrible and are invasive. Plant natives



They are 8 years old and over 30 feet tall. Three years ago they withstood the tornado that peeled the shingles off my roof. They bent to the ground and bounced back. Like you, I always thought they'd snap and break, but they did just fine. The bees ignore them. They go ape for my Bartletts and Seckels, tho.


Rusty


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Fruiting pear varieties can be grafted on the ornamental pear trees. Fruiting pears are supposed to be easy to graft to each other with success rate being high. Why not get some fruit and not just the bloom from the ornamental pear tree?


Ken,
All pear varieties are supposed to be refrigerated for a period of time and then put on the counter at room temperature to ripen to sweet, softer and yellow. The flavor really develops in cold storage. Each variety is a little different as far as length of cold storage. I think there is less grit when the pear ripens off the tree.

Pears should be picked when they change from the dark green to the lighter green stage and put in the fridge. A pear that is ready to pick will have the stem break from the tree when the pear is lifted gently to a horizontal position from vertical.

We love our sweet Bartlet pears! They do have a fine texture when ripe.


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