2018 Crabapple or Bradford Pear Collection

[ml_work]

When I was in the woods last Saturday I saw this tree and liked the small white flowers and leaves were not too large. I really did not know what it was but thought I would give it a try. My guess is Crabapple or Bradford Pear .... well after I got home I realized that it was in bloom to have the flowers and should have waited until next year to get it. I already had it so I cut the bottom and put it in a pot.
Any ideas of what it is are welcome.

​

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have no idea what it is, but I hope it survives! That is a big stump with no foliage and almost no roots. One never knows however.... here's hoping for the best!

 

[rockm]

It's a Bradford pear. They're a pest species and are vastly invasive. I hate them in landscapes.

They CAN make great bonsai though. They're tough and resilient, have nice flowers and the leaves reduce

This stump will most likely pull through and push new growth. However, it's future as a bonsai is going to require a lot of work. For a trunk that large, there are no notable surface roots, which would make things vastly easier. It also has very little taper.

I know you will not take the advice as you probably busted your butt digging this out, but I'd throw this one out and look for one with better surface roots and more taper. Where there is one Bradford pear, there are typically a hundred more--at least here in Va. where they are taking over woodlands at a pretty good clip. I'd concentrate on a smaller trunk with three or four bigger surface roots that are visible when you clear the top inch or two of soil away from the trunk before collection--checking the presence of decent surface roots is one of the items on my collection check list.

This is a Bradford Pear in the National Arboretum's collection. It was dug locally a few decades ago in Maryland, I think. Note its trunk is not all that huge and has nice surface roots and the trunk was small enough to grow out a reasonable looking apex.

 

[Giga]

it's a bradford, I have a couple of them and they are touch as nails and have amazing fall color. They are tough to get to flower unless you let growth go unchecked, but I love the species - good luck with it.


In a few years some carving and hollows with help with taper, for now just let it grow all year long unchecked

 

[aml1014]

As said, it's a Bradford. I don't have one but I did collect a very old ultra dwarf pear in mid summer 2 years ago and it didn't even realize what happened lol I think it'll pull through as well.

Aaron

 

[Adair M]

When Bradford pears were introduced to the landscape market, it was thought they were sterile. Bradford’s crossed with other Bradford’s didn’t produce viable seed.

They grew fast, have pretty (if stinky) flowers in the spring, and beautiful color in the fall.

The cons were the branches were weak. They tend to come off the trunk at a sharp angle, and that makes them susceptible to splitting off in the wind. The flowers don’t smell good. They do produce small fruit by the bajillions and when they fall, they make a mess. Also, birds eat the fruits, and sit in the trees making bird messes! (Don’t Park your car under one when they have fruit!). The tree is short lived, rarely do they get older than about 25 years. Then, they just start falling apart!

And, worst of all, while they didn’t breed with each other, they would cross breed with other pears if different varieties. And the crossings had all the bad traits of the Bradford’s, and none of the other!

So... they tree you collected is probably a cross of a Bradford. And if it doesn’t survive, you did the world a small favor for killing it!

You deserve a beer for your efforts!

 

[rockm]

When Bradford pears were introduced to the landscape market, it was thought they were sterile. Bradford’s crossed with other Bradford’s didn’t produce viable seed.

They grew fast, have pretty (if stinky) flowers in the spring, and beautiful color in the fall.

The cons were the branches were weak. They tend to come off the trunk at a sharp angle, and that makes them susceptible to splitting off in the wind. The flowers don’t smell good. They do produce small fruit by the bajillions and when they fall, they make a mess. Also, birds eat the fruits, and sit in the trees making bird messes! (Don’t Park your car under one when they have fruit!). The tree is short lived, rarely do they get older than about 25 years. Then, they just start falling apart!

And, worst of all, while they didn’t breed with each other, they would cross breed with other pears if different varieties. And the crossings had all the bad traits of the Bradford’s, and none of the other!

So... they tree you collected is probably a cross of a Bradford. And if it doesn’t survive, you did the world a small favor for killing it!

You deserve a beer for your efforts!

"If you have a Bradford Pear, cut it down."
http://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/the-curse-of-the-bradford-pear/291-110060521
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...-of-dozens-of-invasive-plants-under-new-rules
https://www.mydaytondailynews.com/l...invasive-callery-pear/DqYKwRKH5K7IiGFQAImsUO/

 

[Carol 83]

"If you have a Bradford Pear, cut it down."

Or, you will have to, eventually. Our long driveway was lined with them, and we had a huge one in the yard. All, split and destroyed during storms, became firewood. The last two in our backyard, my husband took down, before the next storm, and they fell on our house.

 

[Giga]

it is true, you need to wire when growth is green and soft else just forget about bending a branch

 

[rockm]

Or, you will have to, eventually. Our long driveway was lined with them, and we had a huge one in the yard. All, split and destroyed during storms, became firewood. The last two in our backyard, my husband took down, before the next storm, and they fell on our house.

The developers of my townhouse community planted the damn things all over the place twenty years ago. That stupidity is now taking its toll. I don't have exact tallies, but I know of a dozen trees that have split multiple times, crushing cars, taking out porches and a back deck or two. The idiots planted some of them within five feet of houses.

 

[garywood]

I wholeheartedly agree with Mark and Carol! I've been on a quest for a few years to change as many as I can to Asian pears. At least the fruit is good to eat! Make that great to eat and not near as easily damaged by weather.

 

[substratum]

I have a question related to something Adair M noted, and that is the short life expectancy and increasing fragility with age traits that Bradford Pears suffer. I'm old enough to have dealt with a couple of them at the end of their life span in my landscaping. They are popular with builders in this area, because of the beauty and the speed with which they grow. Seems like somebody would have had a Bradford Pear bonsai long enough to know if those traits translate to bonsai? For example, it seems like the fragility attribute would be significantly mitigated because each branch of a bonsai is not bearing the 20-30+ pounds of weight that a landscaped tree is, and is probably more protected from winds and such that are branch killers for fragile trees.

 

[Adair M]

I have wondered the same thing! But not enough to grow one, LOL!!!

If you look at the picture of the one in the National Arboretum, you see the branches do not come off the trunk in the typical Bradford manner, they’re more like how an oak would grow: at 90 degrees. That makes for a stronger branch than one that grows up at a sharp angle like most Bradfords do.

 

[Adair M]

I have wondered the same thing! But not enough to grow one, LOL!!!

If you look at the picture of the one in the National Arboretum, you see the branches do not come off the trunk in the typical Bradford manner, they’re more like how an oak would grow: at 90 degrees. That makes for a stronger branch than one that grows up at a sharp angle like most Bradfords do.

 

[rockm]

I have a question related to something Adair M noted, and that is the short life expectancy and increasing fragility with age traits that Bradford Pears suffer. I'm old enough to have dealt with a couple of them at the end of their life span in my landscaping. They are popular with builders in this area, because of the beauty and the speed with which they grow. Seems like somebody would have had a Bradford Pear bonsai long enough to know if those traits translate to bonsai? For example, it seems like the fragility attribute would be significantly mitigated because each branch of a bonsai is not bearing the 20-30+ pounds of weight that a landscaped tree is, and is probably more protected from winds and such that are branch killers for fragile trees.

Bonsai cultivation, I'd think, negates most of those concerns. The "fragility" and age thing come from physical limitations of larger trees. The wood on a life-sized specimen is infinitely heavier than on a bonsai. The stresses placed on the central trunk by closely grouped branches that can weigh over 1,000 lbs each on mature landscape pears isn't going to be present even in a four foot pear bonsai.

Additionally, there is a theory that theoretically, bonsai live a very very VERY long time (see the 400-year old Yamaki pine at the National Arb and even older specimens in Japan) because of the practice of root pruning. As trees age in the ground, their root systems extend a very very long way from trunks and consist of miles of unproductive thick roots (only the feeder roots at the tips of those thick roots are productive). As roots get long and less efficient, trees decline. Also branches get longer and longer and require the tree to push nutrients farther and farther. There is a physical limit to all this. It's different for each species, but from a lot of things I've read over the years, it is a primary reason trees die off after a few centuries--the laws of physics overtakes their abilities.

As bonsaiists we root prune regularly, pushing feeder roots back toward the trunk and increase their numbers--and ultimately, the root masses' efficiency. We also pruned back top growth hard, with keeps branches short and more serviceable to the tree. This treatment repeated over and over and over again rejuvenates the tree and keeps it from decline IF it's kept up and isn't messed up.

FWIW the branches on the pear at the Arb are most likely not arranged in typical Bradford natural style because they were regrown from a limbless stump to attain a more "treelike" image. The knotted branching arrangement most landscape Bradford pears have is pretty damn ugly, it's especially ugly boiled down to a two foot tree.

 

[substratum]

VERY interesting, rockm.

 

[Adair M]

Bonsai cultivation, I'd think, negates most of those concerns. The "fragility" and age thing come from physical limitations of larger trees. The wood on a life-sized specimen is infinitely heavier than on a bonsai. The stresses placed on the central trunk by closely grouped branches that can weigh over 1,000 lbs each on mature landscape pears isn't going to be present even in a four foot pear bonsai.

Additionally, there is a theory that theoretically, bonsai live a very very VERY long time (see the 400-year old Yamaki pine at the National Arb and even older specimens in Japan) because of the practice of root pruning. As trees age in the ground, their root systems extend a very very long way from trunks and consist of miles of unproductive thick roots (only the feeder roots at the tips of those thick roots are productive). As roots get long and less efficient, trees decline. Also branches get longer and longer and require the tree to push nutrients farther and farther. There is a physical limit to all this. It's different for each species, but from a lot of things I've read over the years, it is a primary reason trees die off after a few centuries--the laws of physics overtakes their abilities.

As bonsaiists we root prune regularly, pushing feeder roots back toward the trunk and increase their numbers--and ultimately, the root masses' efficiency. We also pruned back top growth hard, with keeps branches short and more serviceable to the tree. This treatment repeated over and over and over again rejuvenates the tree and keeps it from decline IF it's kept up and isn't messed up.

FWIW the branches on the pear at the Arb are most likely not arranged in typical Bradford natural style because they were regrown from a limbless stump to attain a more "treelike" image. The knotted branching arrangement most landscape Bradford pears have is pretty damn ugly, it's especially ugly boiled down to a two foot tree.

Knotted branching arrangement?

To me, they look like brooms that grow into tall flame shape.

 

[rockm]

Knotted branching arrangement?

To me, they look like brooms that grow into tall flame shape.

View attachment 179747

Well, yeah, all those branches originate mostly from a single point. That cross graining at the branch crotch is very weak, which results in the splitting of those heavy branches.

 

[just.wing.it]

Bonsai cultivation, I'd think, negates most of those concerns. The "fragility" and age thing come from physical limitations of larger trees. The wood on a life-sized specimen is infinitely heavier than on a bonsai. The stresses placed on the central trunk by closely grouped branches that can weigh over 1,000 lbs each on mature landscape pears isn't going to be present even in a four foot pear bonsai.

Additionally, there is a theory that theoretically, bonsai live a very very VERY long time (see the 400-year old Yamaki pine at the National Arb and even older specimens in Japan) because of the practice of root pruning. As trees age in the ground, their root systems extend a very very long way from trunks and consist of miles of unproductive thick roots (only the feeder roots at the tips of those thick roots are productive). As roots get long and less efficient, trees decline. Also branches get longer and longer and require the tree to push nutrients farther and farther. There is a physical limit to all this. It's different for each species, but from a lot of things I've read over the years, it is a primary reason trees die off after a few centuries--the laws of physics overtakes their abilities.

As bonsaiists we root prune regularly, pushing feeder roots back toward the trunk and increase their numbers--and ultimately, the root masses' efficiency. We also pruned back top growth hard, with keeps branches short and more serviceable to the tree. This treatment repeated over and over and over again rejuvenates the tree and keeps it from decline IF it's kept up and isn't messed up.

FWIW the branches on the pear at the Arb are most likely not arranged in typical Bradford natural style because they were regrown from a limbless stump to attain a more "treelike" image. The knotted branching arrangement most landscape Bradford pears have is pretty damn ugly, it's especially ugly boiled down to a two foot tree.

I'm glad you said that, about the "theory" that a bonsai may be able to live longer that the natural tree, maybe infinitely!!!
I've been thinking that for a while...
I'm just blown away every time I stand in front of the Yamaki pine... forget about it's individual history, which is incredible, but simply the age....."in training since 1625"....
It's mind boggling to think about it….
But there it is....right there...so cool!

 

[JudyB]

Search for a thread about a Pear that JKL made.(a passed member here and other forums) It was a very nice tree from seed.