Trees - Callery Pear
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  I have been told that the enclosed sample is a "calla pear". How can I get rid of them? They came up from pear trees we had planted that died. We didn’t bother cutting them down, they weren’t in the way. Now they are coming up everywhere. I pulled up 25 seedlings this spring and some in a pine tree grove are as high as my head. When I cut them down, is there anything to put on the stump to keep them from resprouting?

  Callery pear is a common rootstock for edible pear trees. What you have are simple seedlings of a pear species. Because they are still setting small non-edible fruits, they are freely reseeding themselves. Keep the seedling mowed or pulled and that should take care of them. The larger trees should be cut and either brush remover painted on the trunk or Round-up. I don’t think your job will be over in one season, since I am sure there are dormant seeds that may still sprout. Keep a close eye out and catch them as they emerge.

  Enclosed find a cutting of a tree and a fruit from it. I bought this tree and planted it in memory of the Oklahoma City Bombing. I thought it was a Bradford pear, but am now wondering if I bought a real pear tree. I don’t want a fruiting tree in the front yard, so will cut it down if it is a pear tree. Thanks.

  It appears that what you have is a Callery pear, of which a Bradford pear is a cultivar of. The Callery pear has a more rounded growth habit, and produces larger fruits than the Bradford, but I would still classify it as an ornamental versus an edible form. The fruits are slightly larger than a crabapple, while the Bradford pear fruits are usually thumb nail size. The Callery pear is actually proving to be more structurally sound than a Bradford.

  There is what I call a wild pear tree in my yard. They are the color of pears when ripe, but they are small--about the size of a quarter at best, and round, not pear-shaped. I tried them, but they weren’t any good. The tree is not large. What do you think it is?

  I would guess you have a callery pear, the mother or our ornamental pears, including the Bradford pear. These small trees have beautiful flowers in the spring and set small round fruits in the late summer to early fall. They are not grown for their fruit, but for their ornamental habits. The callery is a smaller pear tree with a somewhat squatty shape. They are becoming a weed in south Arkansas.

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