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I was really hoping for a defense of the Bradford pear. Specifically, a defense of the criticisms levied against it. There isn't one here. People don't like th

I was really hoping for a defense of the Bradford pear. Specifically, a defense of the criticisms levied against it. There isn't one here. People don't like them because the fruit is inedible to humans, they spread everywhere, they smell like sperm, and they are generally the mark of housing developments whose landscaping can only be described as lazy and uninspired. Worse, when planted by lazy people and improperly pruned in its youth, the natural growth pattern learns to it getting relatively easily damaged by storms. Without pruning, the limbs at about 8ft grow into each other, creating cracks, which make them highly susceptible to splitting at approx 20 years of age. If you search for "Bradford pear split" you'll find hundreds of photos. This article has a lot of information about the utility of the rootstock for grafting, and history, but does zero to address why people don't like the trees. It does address the smell, but only to complain that people complain about it. What's the point of calling this a defense? It's just a history.

nkurz 5y ago
I think your criticism is mostly correct. The "defense" is mostly to say that the blame should be spread between the Bradford Pear, the birds that are spreading it, and the other species that are cross-pollinating it. It's a good history, though! There might be a little more of a defense in the follow up article, which isn't clearly linked from this one. It's still mostly a deflection rather than a defense, but it does included suggestions for intentionally cross-breeding it to make a larger, edible, less invasive fruit: https://www.thefruitexplorers.com/blog/making-callerybradford-pears-less-invasive https://www.thefruitexplorers.com/blog/making-callerybradfor....
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
Don't park under one, in November. Just sayin'...
- floren 5y ago
  I recently parked under a tree at my in-laws and came away with my car utterly covered in sticky rotten fruit... after googling some pictures of the bradford pear, I think that's what got me! It's disgusting stuff, sticky as hell, stinky, and gets wedged into the soles of your shoes.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    Sounds like it. It looks like an incontinent buzzard suffered a disappointing series of bowel movements over your car.
Alex3917 5y ago
Is there any precedent for using existing rootstock for grafting at a large scale on publicly-owned trees? E.g. I know you can also graft che trees onto osage orange, but I've never seen it done in a large public park with lots of osage orange trees, only by rare fruit hobbyists in their backyards.
curiousllama 5y ago
Grew up with like 20 of these around my backyard. It was my primary chore half the year to cut and stack them. When dried properly, they burn crazy well though.
jfengel 5y ago
I'll say I'm fond of mine. I live in just such a lazy development, and my tree does a nice job of shading my front window. I especially like the one day in early spring when it flowers but it looks like snow (until I put my glasses on). I have it professionally cut back every decade or so, and the tree has survived almost 40 years. Eventually it will die and I'll be really sad. Not much of a defense, I suppose, except to say that I don't find its smell too noticable. It's lazy landscaping but it's nice enough for me.
pvaldes 5y ago
> I was really hoping for a defense of the Bradford pear. The article explains clearly the advantages: Pest resistant, spectacular bloom and fall color and self-sterile so fruits weren't a problem and it was not invading until many decades later. > they smell like sperm. To be fair this is a problem shared with common pears and nobody complains. The cultured Pear tree smell like fish in bloom to me. The flowers are gorgeous. Photinia Red Robin has the same problem and is widely planted also. Small inedible fruit is a feature, not a bug. If you put a common pear tree in a sidewalk and don't remove the 250g fruits, the people will start to slip in the mashed fruit and you will have a lot of broken hips. And pears attract wasps also. In any case you can obtain the same effect with crabbaples and replace it by a tree that smells good, has a wider palette of colors and is less prone to split. They will drop a thousand of small fruits still and (unlike callery pear that is very plague resistant) they are prone to several diseases but not so prone to split in two if they are pruned correctly
- pvaldes 5y ago
  Oh, and Cornus rubra is awesome also. Extra tough wood but sadly fragile to fungal diseases. You have several good replacements.

nkurz 5y ago

I think your criticism is mostly correct. The "defense" is mostly to say that the blame should be spread between the Bradford Pear, the birds that are spreading it, and the other species that are cross-pollinating it. It's a good history, though! There might be a little more of a defense in the follow up article, which isn't clearly linked from this one. It's still mostly a deflection rather than a defense, but it does included suggestions for intentionally cross-breeding it to make a larger, edible, less invasive fruit: https://www.thefruitexplorers.com/blog/making-callerybradford-pears-less-invasive https://www.thefruitexplorers.com/blog/making-callerybradfor....

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

Don't park under one, in November. Just sayin'...

floren 5y ago
I recently parked under a tree at my in-laws and came away with my car utterly covered in sticky rotten fruit... after googling some pictures of the bradford pear, I think that's what got me! It's disgusting stuff, sticky as hell, stinky, and gets wedged into the soles of your shoes.
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  Sounds like it. It looks like an incontinent buzzard suffered a disappointing series of bowel movements over your car.

Alex3917 5y ago

Is there any precedent for using existing rootstock for grafting at a large scale on publicly-owned trees? E.g. I know you can also graft che trees onto osage orange, but I've never seen it done in a large public park with lots of osage orange trees, only by rare fruit hobbyists in their backyards.

curiousllama 5y ago

Grew up with like 20 of these around my backyard. It was my primary chore half the year to cut and stack them. When dried properly, they burn crazy well though.

jfengel 5y ago

I'll say I'm fond of mine. I live in just such a lazy development, and my tree does a nice job of shading my front window. I especially like the one day in early spring when it flowers but it looks like snow (until I put my glasses on). I have it professionally cut back every decade or so, and the tree has survived almost 40 years. Eventually it will die and I'll be really sad. Not much of a defense, I suppose, except to say that I don't find its smell too noticable. It's lazy landscaping but it's nice enough for me.

pvaldes 5y ago

> I was really hoping for a defense of the Bradford pear. The article explains clearly the advantages: Pest resistant, spectacular bloom and fall color and self-sterile so fruits weren't a problem and it was not invading until many decades later. > they smell like sperm. To be fair this is a problem shared with common pears and nobody complains. The cultured Pear tree smell like fish in bloom to me. The flowers are gorgeous. Photinia Red Robin has the same problem and is widely planted also. Small inedible fruit is a feature, not a bug. If you put a common pear tree in a sidewalk and don't remove the 250g fruits, the people will start to slip in the mashed fruit and you will have a lot of broken hips. And pears attract wasps also. In any case you can obtain the same effect with crabbaples and replace it by a tree that smells good, has a wider palette of colors and is less prone to split. They will drop a thousand of small fruits still and (unlike callery pear that is very plague resistant) they are prone to several diseases but not so prone to split in two if they are pruned correctly

pvaldes 5y ago
Oh, and Cornus rubra is awesome also. Extra tough wood but sadly fragile to fungal diseases. You have several good replacements.