About 18 years ago I planted some dwarf pear trees. I hadn't looked at
the for 2 or 3 years and recently looked at them. One of them was loaded
with tiny apple like fruit (no pears). Is it normal for dwarf trees to
turn into full fledged Crab Apple trees after so many years?

In article , Goopy wrote:

About 18 years ago I planted some dwarf pear trees. I hadn't looked at
the for 2 or 3 years and recently looked at them. One of them was loaded
with tiny apple like fruit (no pears). Is it normal for dwarf trees to
turn into full fledged Crab Apple trees after so many years?

Are you saying it took 18 years to bear fruit (in which case you probably
bought it mislabeled way back when), or that it used to bear pears but now
it bears crabapples? The latter is not physically possible, as trees
cannot change species midway in life. So either you're getting senile (as
we all do in time) & are confused about which tree is which, or you just
weren't paying attention &amp it never did produce pear-shaped pears but
was always a round Asian variety like these:
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_fruit_trees/br40Asian_Pears.html

If you're not crazy & they were indeed previously regular yellow pyriform
pears & now they're tiny round red crabapples, then the orchard fairies
switched trees on you. If you eat one of their changeling crabapples,
you'll turn into a stubtailed macaque. The snowmonkeys of Hokkaido used to
be pear farmers whose pears were turned into crabapples by those damned
orchard fairies! The farmers unknowingly ate the fruit, thus were turned
into photogenic monkeys.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Possible that your tree has been taken over by suckers from the
rootstock? Trace those fruiting branches and see whether they come from
below the union. Dwarf pears are often grown on quince rootstock,
sometimes with an intergraft to improve compatibility; if the suckers
on one of these are allowed to grow enough to start bearing (neglect
them a few years, and they just might), they'll bear quince.
--
Chris Green

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:58:01 GMT, Goopy wrote:

About 18 years ago I planted some dwarf pear trees. I hadn't looked at
the for 2 or 3 years and recently looked at them. One of them was loaded
with tiny apple like fruit (no pears). Is it normal for dwarf trees to
turn into full fledged Crab Apple trees after so many years?

Probably are looking at fruiting branches that have grown from below
the graft.


Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!


Dancing dog is back!
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/smartdog.wmv