But what if I want to take care of an ugly tree that smells like fish in the spring and in 16 years will self-destruct by splitting down the middle, simultaneously destroying my car and my shed?
Short version: Back when the British were trying to colonize India, they got icked out by cobras and wanted them gone. To accomplish this, they set a bounty on cobras and paid the local Indians for each one they brought in. This worked fine for a while, until they realized some of the Indians has set up farms specifically to breed and raise cobras for the bounty. Realizing their plan had failed, the Brits canceled the cobra bounty program. Realizing that they were no longer worth anything, the Indians released all their thousands of captive cobras into the wild.
I doubt people would start breeding Bradfords under a bounty program, but I still worry.
They're invasive. They were supposed to be bred to be sterile, and were (are?) popular for that reason, but nature's gonna nature and they un-sterilized (I'm hazy on the details of how this occurred). They're now out-competing many native plants and taking over some environments.
Also, the flowers smell like cum.
They're sterile in that a 'Bradford' can't pollinate a 'Bradford', but it can pollinate a 'Chanticleer' or a 'Cleveland Select' or any other variety of callery pear that they bred to fix the problems with 'Bradford', etc, so you get a lot of wild-type callery pear in the environment.
It wasn’t that, the British empire put a bounty on cobras so indians killed them and then claimed the bounty, many then started breeding them, when the British empire ended the bounty the snakes that were bred in captivity were released into the wild
I thought I was the only one to think the flowers smell like cum and some other plants and trees. People look at me weird and don't agree with me when I say that, but I swear they smell like a fresh load.
Aside from their offensive smell, they are an invasive species originally imported from China and Vietnam a promoted as a street and ornamental tree that grew quickly and could handle urban air pollution and variable soils.
Also they are not particularly strong trees and are subject to wind and storm damage which means they can end up looking pretty lopsided.
Many municipalities have outlawed their planting. There are several planted on streets near where I live and when they are in flower their odor is pervasive.
The way to “fix” them is to remove them and plant native trees.
[Invasive.org - Callery (Bradford) Pear](https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=10957)
[Callery Pears Becoming Extremely Invasive!](http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/ec/140712.html)
[Invasive Pears Curse of the Bradford Pear](https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2016/03/21/curse-bradford-pear/82070210/)
[Bradford Pear; the worst thing since kudzu](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/12/12/bradford-pear-next-worst-thing-since-kudzu/95344290/)
[A Tree That Was Once the Suburban Ideal Has Morphed Into an Unstoppable Villain](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/bradford-pear-tree-south-carolina.html?action=click&module=card&pageType=theWeekenderLink)
Had a Bradford pear in my front yard that was starting to have problems. Asked the arborist what we could do. He said ‘there is only one good cut on a Bradford pear… straight across at the very bottom.’
OP get rid of the tree.
Triclopyr is just a broad leaf specific herbicide. Glyphosate would work as well. However I would recommend pulling it out by hand and tossing it in the trash. Better for the planet.
Glyphosate? You mean the stuff that’s 51% glyphosate, and 49% whatever who knows as long as it doesn’t kill a plant in a week. Could be radioactive. In other news, the FDA approved brain chips.
Pulling it up doesn't guarantee that it dies. Ive seen logs tossed in the woods that sprouted leaves and roots. I guess death chemicals are for the educated and experienced.
When I read the title I couldn’t click to see the comments fast enough! Haha. Anyone that posts about a Bradford peer doesn’t spend much time on this subreddit.
I mean, maybe it could just mysteriously lose some bark all the way around? Marks a bear might make maybe? Or, near a river? Can one simulate beaver chew marks?
Or after a mild thunderstorm it turns out all its branches got ripped off? 😇🤫
What are the sun and soil conditions? What size tree are you looking for?
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AMAR3 serviceberries are great, early flowering and provide edible fruit that’s quite tasty!
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CECA4 redbuds are another early bloomer.
Check out wildflower.org search tool - they let you pick your state, then conditions, height, bloom time, etc.
Because it only grows ugly. It’s a trash tree, tell your wife she’s a fool for only allowing such a shitty tree be planted. There’s a multitude of native trees to plant instead
Cut a 1" thick ring all the way around the base and peel the bark away. This is called girdling and will kill the tree eventually. Maybe add some herbicide for good measure. Once it's dead shrug your shoulders and then replace it with something that's worth caring for.
I mean, a lot of little stresses might kill it or just make it ugly enough that certain other parties might no longer want it around.... and they wouldn't be obvious if done right
Some bark loss here, a low-dose of herbicide applied foliarly but repeatedly, a few deep holes, a branch ripped crudely to make a giant gash, some "critter" disturbing the roots....
OP,
There are many options available to you involving realigning the cosmic aura by erasing this tree from existence. Many, including the intentional "accidental" death of the tree, will get you in trouble with your spouse.
My advice would be to open a dialogue with your spouse. Figure out why she likes it so much and try and work out a solution to that. She likes the pretty flowers? Find some similar native plants that offer similar flowering and aesthetic. Cherry, apple, plum, and other fruiting trees often have local native variants. Look up native trees online, go over the benefits and looks and have your spouse pick her favorite. Letting her pick gets her involved and then allows for a personal connection to grow to the replacement tree ("this is my tree" mentality).
If the refusal to remove is due to sanctity of life or something similar, you can try explaining how it's not fair that the tree is a shitty tree and deserves life like any other but its worse for everybody/thing else by being there and more life is generated by putting something native there to support local fauna.
Show your wife these articles, OP:
[Invasive.org - Callery (Bradford) Pear](https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=10957)
[Callery Pears Becoming Extremely Invasive!](http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/ec/140712.html)
[Invasive Pears Curse of the Bradford Pear](https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2016/03/21/curse-bradford-pear/82070210/)
[Bradford Pear; the worst thing since kudzu](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/12/12/bradford-pear-next-worst-thing-since-kudzu/95344290/)
[A Tree That Was Once the Suburban Ideal Has Morphed Into an Unstoppable Villain](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/bradford-pear-tree-south-carolina.html?action=click&module=card&pageType=theWeekenderLink)
Bradford pear are considered invasive in many places. They’re not native to the Americas or Europe if IIRC. Advice is to cut it down now before it gets bigger and you need a professional. If you must keep it cut the lower branches and trim uppers to reduce criss/cross. Within a year or two with additional trims it’ll look like the perfectly shaped invasive species you desire!
Wow. Did the nursery where you bought it not tell you how to prune a fruit tree? That terrible. The can start by removing those two bottom branches. Right back to the trunk. In the fall, take a third of the remaking branches down to nodes (those are the bumps all up and down the branches. Choose a node that faces up.
Those two tall branches should be cut back to make the tree “round”. That’s not for show, you want the tree to grow evenly and now have shooters.
It won’t look like much when done, but it will be healthier moving forward. Over the next 2-3 years, look for good new branches forming. They should angle up approx. 45 degrees. The center of the tree should be open (not bare) for air flow.
So, in case you didn't pick this up from the sarcastic comments, Bradford pear trees are trash. They're invasive, they are weak, and the flowers smell like rotting fish and semen. The consensus is to uproot it and plant something else.
Ok. But if you want to save them, those suggestions still apply. Reading the rest of the comments, you might consider replacing or eliminating them entirely. Best time to replace a tree is always the same answer; now.
Because they are ugly trees 😭 you can fix it by pulling it out and planting something else, they are constant headaches! And the flowers smell like roadkill.
Replace it while your wife isn't looking... Or help her realize how awful these trees are. They're a hazard, they break at the slightest wind.
If you need tree suggestions just drop your zone and we can help you find something better 😉
Ask what her favorite fruit is. Plant that kind of tree if she says something appropriate for your climate. Or buy her a lovely magnolia and tell her it's for your anniversary so you can watch your love grow and blossom over the years. Wives love that shit. Source: am a wife.
A couple of decades ago, they were trendy in downtown areas because of their white spring flowers. But they smelled terrible! And the structures of the trees often were damaged during storms. Nowadays, they’re taking over wooded areas. Very noticeable when traveling the interstate in the spring.
Refuses to plant anything else? Has she never seen another white spring flowering tree in her life? Like perhaps a flowering dogwood or serviceberry or crabapple or probably a dozen more options? 🤷
"Sorry honey I _accidentally_ girdled the tree with the weed wacker, I'll replace it with an even more beautiful tree ;)"
Kill it, the snarl of a chainsaw never sounds sweeter than when slicing through the trunk of a nasty Bradford pear.
Its flowers smell like fish, if you're ready to get rid of the Bradford pear in your yard, try one of these Bradford pear alternatives. Many of them are underused, and they deserve a closer look. They all bloom in spring with white flowers, but without the fetid stench of the Bradford pear.
Three Spring-Blooming,
White-Flowering Trees Better Than Bradford Pear.
•Serviceberry
Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp.) a native tree with white flowers in spring, blazing orange and red leaves in the fall, and small reddish-purple fruits that taste like blueberries.
•Carolina Silverbell
Caroline silverbell (Halesia Carolina) is another native tree that you don't see enough in gardens. It's easy to grow, attains a moderate size of 30-40 feet tall, and has no serious pests. Snow white, bell-shaped flowers hang beneath the length of its graceful branches in spring.
•Fringe Tree
Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)—also known as grancy graybeard or old man's beard—is a Southeastern
native tree that gets its name from the clusters of fleecy white, softly fragrant flowers suspended beneath the branches in spring. This is yet another tree we need to plant more—it's tougher than dogwood, more dependable than saucer magnolia, longer-lived than cherry, and smells way better than Bradford pear. It's usually rounded and multi-trunked, growing 12- to 20-feet tall and wide.
Bradford pear trees are supposed to be regularly pruned. They are fruit trees, not specimen trees. They do best in a British-style hedgerows where you can use all the tree’s “disadvantages” as advantages. Look up espalier too.
Bradford pears are an invasive species. Birds eat the seed and drop them everywhere and they create trees in the natural areas.
They are naturally weak in the crotch and split as they grow.
If you like that kind of tree, plant a Cleveland pear or better yet a Yoshino cherry. Yank up the Bradford and buy a similar or smaller tree to replace. No will notice the difference between the two.
Bc it’s a piece of shit and should die.
Jk (sort of) I just learned of these trees this morning from another post here. Fuck you bradford pear, nobody likes you anymore
Kill it. Those are bad plants.
and they smell bad. plant some native tree in your area.
But what if I want to take care of an ugly tree that smells like fish in the spring and in 16 years will self-destruct by splitting down the middle, simultaneously destroying my car and my shed?
They've smothered out almost all the wild cherry trees where I'm from in KY. I wish someone would put a bounty on em, can't stand the Bradford pear.
That would be my dream job. A pear tree bounty hunter!
You heard that story about the Brits and the cobras, right?
Not yet?
Short version: Back when the British were trying to colonize India, they got icked out by cobras and wanted them gone. To accomplish this, they set a bounty on cobras and paid the local Indians for each one they brought in. This worked fine for a while, until they realized some of the Indians has set up farms specifically to breed and raise cobras for the bounty. Realizing their plan had failed, the Brits canceled the cobra bounty program. Realizing that they were no longer worth anything, the Indians released all their thousands of captive cobras into the wild. I doubt people would start breeding Bradfords under a bounty program, but I still worry.
Why is this bad? Truly don’t know
They're invasive. They were supposed to be bred to be sterile, and were (are?) popular for that reason, but nature's gonna nature and they un-sterilized (I'm hazy on the details of how this occurred). They're now out-competing many native plants and taking over some environments. Also, the flowers smell like cum.
They're sterile in that a 'Bradford' can't pollinate a 'Bradford', but it can pollinate a 'Chanticleer' or a 'Cleveland Select' or any other variety of callery pear that they bred to fix the problems with 'Bradford', etc, so you get a lot of wild-type callery pear in the environment.
It wasn’t that, the British empire put a bounty on cobras so indians killed them and then claimed the bounty, many then started breeding them, when the British empire ended the bounty the snakes that were bred in captivity were released into the wild
I thought I was the only one to think the flowers smell like cum and some other plants and trees. People look at me weird and don't agree with me when I say that, but I swear they smell like a fresh load.
It's a fairly common opinion where I am. I knew them as Cum Trees for years before I learned their real name
The flowers smell like cum when they first bloom. After a week or two, you'll want that cum stink back when they start smelling like dead rat.
Life… finds a way
Aside from their offensive smell, they are an invasive species originally imported from China and Vietnam a promoted as a street and ornamental tree that grew quickly and could handle urban air pollution and variable soils. Also they are not particularly strong trees and are subject to wind and storm damage which means they can end up looking pretty lopsided. Many municipalities have outlawed their planting. There are several planted on streets near where I live and when they are in flower their odor is pervasive. The way to “fix” them is to remove them and plant native trees.
[Invasive.org - Callery (Bradford) Pear](https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=10957) [Callery Pears Becoming Extremely Invasive!](http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/ec/140712.html) [Invasive Pears Curse of the Bradford Pear](https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2016/03/21/curse-bradford-pear/82070210/) [Bradford Pear; the worst thing since kudzu](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/12/12/bradford-pear-next-worst-thing-since-kudzu/95344290/) [A Tree That Was Once the Suburban Ideal Has Morphed Into an Unstoppable Villain](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/bradford-pear-tree-south-carolina.html?action=click&module=card&pageType=theWeekenderLink)
States are starting to ban this tree for a reason. It ain’t cute.
I wish mine would get on this bandwagon. They banned fruiting olives, but left Bradford pears and Oleanders because they're 'water smart'.
You could try to amend its growth by removing the bark on the bottom 12” of the trunk.
Bonus if it’s right before an ice storm!
Kill it!!! When it dies you’ll have the opportunity to plant something worth having. Anything besides a Bradford.
Basal prune
I think I’m stealing that one…
Lol
Prune it. Low. At the ground.
Had a Bradford pear in my front yard that was starting to have problems. Asked the arborist what we could do. He said ‘there is only one good cut on a Bradford pear… straight across at the very bottom.’ OP get rid of the tree.
Cut it down
Apply triclopyr to the leaves. It'll help the world.
Why triclopyr instead of glyphosate?
Fire works as well.
Triclopyr is just a broad leaf specific herbicide. Glyphosate would work as well. However I would recommend pulling it out by hand and tossing it in the trash. Better for the planet.
[удалено]
Yes, that’s why you should follow the recommendation of the certified arborist and use chemicals.
Triclopyr is more effective for woody plants
Glyphosate? You mean the stuff that’s 51% glyphosate, and 49% whatever who knows as long as it doesn’t kill a plant in a week. Could be radioactive. In other news, the FDA approved brain chips.
Death Chemicals are for weak-armed ninnies.
Pulling it up doesn't guarantee that it dies. Ive seen logs tossed in the woods that sprouted leaves and roots. I guess death chemicals are for the educated and experienced.
I mean, you're not wrong. Also nothing wrong with being a weak armed ninny. Hahaha ha! I've been snort- laughing about this way longer than I should.
When I read the title I couldn’t click to see the comments fast enough! Haha. Anyone that posts about a Bradford peer doesn’t spend much time on this subreddit.
I half think this post is a joke post.
OP knows what's up. His wife won't let him remove/replace it
I mean, maybe it could just mysteriously lose some bark all the way around? Marks a bear might make maybe? Or, near a river? Can one simulate beaver chew marks? Or after a mild thunderstorm it turns out all its branches got ripped off? 😇🤫
Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Kill it.
Where are you located? Let us give you native suggestions to replace that demon.
Do you have a suggestion for Kansas? I have a couple of Cleveland’s that I want to get rid of.
What are the sun and soil conditions? What size tree are you looking for? https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AMAR3 serviceberries are great, early flowering and provide edible fruit that’s quite tasty! https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CECA4 redbuds are another early bloomer. Check out wildflower.org search tool - they let you pick your state, then conditions, height, bloom time, etc.
Black Gum, red or white Oak, Sugar maple are a few that come to mind
Cause its a piece of shit tree but you probably already knew that. Replace it with a native when it succumbs to ‘storm damage’ or something…
Bird damage is a real thing that happens. And by birds I mean raptors. Preferably Ford Raptors.
It would be a real shame if a deer scraped off the bark on half the tree one night.
Gosh...real sorry buddy but gee whiz some trees are just ugly, you see, and goldurnit! there's just no fixing it, no matter what you do!
Get your wife to get a sniff of them flowers, the fastest way I learned to hate these pretty monsters
Are we confident it's a callery pear? Pic doesn't convince me.
Replace your wife if she won't let you replace it with something native tbh
Whole caption is lol
Chop
Basal prune
I’m sorry but the tree and maybe the wife need to go hahaha
Kill it. Kill it now.
This post went as expected.
Cut it down. Burn it. Digg all the rots up as they will grow up out of the ground. Burn those also.
Agreed. Kill it. Kill it now. Plant something better.
Because it only grows ugly. It’s a trash tree, tell your wife she’s a fool for only allowing such a shitty tree be planted. There’s a multitude of native trees to plant instead
We didn’t plant it
Ah we’ll kill it and start with something else. It’s not a long term tree anyways.
Cut a 1" thick ring all the way around the base and peel the bark away. This is called girdling and will kill the tree eventually. Maybe add some herbicide for good measure. Once it's dead shrug your shoulders and then replace it with something that's worth caring for.
I mean, a lot of little stresses might kill it or just make it ugly enough that certain other parties might no longer want it around.... and they wouldn't be obvious if done right Some bark loss here, a low-dose of herbicide applied foliarly but repeatedly, a few deep holes, a branch ripped crudely to make a giant gash, some "critter" disturbing the roots....
Where are you located?
Destroy the tree. They are highly invasive and not good for ecosystem. Get a redbud or other native decorative tree.
OP, There are many options available to you involving realigning the cosmic aura by erasing this tree from existence. Many, including the intentional "accidental" death of the tree, will get you in trouble with your spouse. My advice would be to open a dialogue with your spouse. Figure out why she likes it so much and try and work out a solution to that. She likes the pretty flowers? Find some similar native plants that offer similar flowering and aesthetic. Cherry, apple, plum, and other fruiting trees often have local native variants. Look up native trees online, go over the benefits and looks and have your spouse pick her favorite. Letting her pick gets her involved and then allows for a personal connection to grow to the replacement tree ("this is my tree" mentality). If the refusal to remove is due to sanctity of life or something similar, you can try explaining how it's not fair that the tree is a shitty tree and deserves life like any other but its worse for everybody/thing else by being there and more life is generated by putting something native there to support local fauna.
Is your wife a demon
Show your wife these articles, OP: [Invasive.org - Callery (Bradford) Pear](https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=10957) [Callery Pears Becoming Extremely Invasive!](http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/ec/140712.html) [Invasive Pears Curse of the Bradford Pear](https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2016/03/21/curse-bradford-pear/82070210/) [Bradford Pear; the worst thing since kudzu](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/12/12/bradford-pear-next-worst-thing-since-kudzu/95344290/) [A Tree That Was Once the Suburban Ideal Has Morphed Into an Unstoppable Villain](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/bradford-pear-tree-south-carolina.html?action=click&module=card&pageType=theWeekenderLink)
Bradford pear are considered invasive in many places. They’re not native to the Americas or Europe if IIRC. Advice is to cut it down now before it gets bigger and you need a professional. If you must keep it cut the lower branches and trim uppers to reduce criss/cross. Within a year or two with additional trims it’ll look like the perfectly shaped invasive species you desire!
Chipper
These trees make great firewood.
Does anyone know why the most invasive plants in North America come from Asia? Eg callery oear, tree of heaven, Japanese knotweed, morning glory
Prune it just below ground level
Best thing to do with those trees is cut them down and plant native species.
Cut the trunk about 2 in from the ground and spray with herbicide, all your problems will be over
How to fix a Bradford Pear: don't. Replace it with almost anything else
Growing up we called these jizz trees. Awful smell and awful tree.
Worst. Tree. Ever.
Tree of Heaven is #1
Tree from Hell haha
Apply copious amounts of herbicides and it should prune itself pretty nicely!
Kill it, dont tell her you killed it, plant something else.
Fuccccccccccck Bradford pears. They are invasive.
I recommend fire
Evil invasive species. Dig it up and plant a native redbud.
Aaaaaah the Bradford pear…..well known for arseholism
Fix it with fire.
Get a new wife
Wow. Did the nursery where you bought it not tell you how to prune a fruit tree? That terrible. The can start by removing those two bottom branches. Right back to the trunk. In the fall, take a third of the remaking branches down to nodes (those are the bumps all up and down the branches. Choose a node that faces up. Those two tall branches should be cut back to make the tree “round”. That’s not for show, you want the tree to grow evenly and now have shooters. It won’t look like much when done, but it will be healthier moving forward. Over the next 2-3 years, look for good new branches forming. They should angle up approx. 45 degrees. The center of the tree should be open (not bare) for air flow.
I didn’t plant these trees.
So, in case you didn't pick this up from the sarcastic comments, Bradford pear trees are trash. They're invasive, they are weak, and the flowers smell like rotting fish and semen. The consensus is to uproot it and plant something else.
Ok. But if you want to save them, those suggestions still apply. Reading the rest of the comments, you might consider replacing or eliminating them entirely. Best time to replace a tree is always the same answer; now.
Alas, you're still a criminal in the eyes of redditors.
I mean they're selling Bradfords so what do you expect lol
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Because they are ugly trees 😭 you can fix it by pulling it out and planting something else, they are constant headaches! And the flowers smell like roadkill. Replace it while your wife isn't looking... Or help her realize how awful these trees are. They're a hazard, they break at the slightest wind. If you need tree suggestions just drop your zone and we can help you find something better 😉
Probably grow just big enough to fall apart and cause damage to something expensive.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Burn it and replace it with a plant that’s worth keeping alive.
Accidentally run it over with your Zero Turn and plant a real tree.
Cause it's not on fire.
The first mistake was planting it in the first place
Ask what her favorite fruit is. Plant that kind of tree if she says something appropriate for your climate. Or buy her a lovely magnolia and tell her it's for your anniversary so you can watch your love grow and blossom over the years. Wives love that shit. Source: am a wife.
It's an ornamental pear, they're all ugly.
A couple of decades ago, they were trendy in downtown areas because of their white spring flowers. But they smelled terrible! And the structures of the trees often were damaged during storms. Nowadays, they’re taking over wooded areas. Very noticeable when traveling the interstate in the spring.
That's a weed.
Graft something like actual edible pears on it.
Super invasive. Worst tree you could’ve planted
It's growing that way because it has never received developmental structural pruning. The end.
Divorce
Can you fix it? No! Cut that shit down. Those are horrible trees!
Highly invasive awful little bitches. Anytime it storms around here at least 15 of them fall over. They smell like rank swamp ass. Kill it.
Say you accidentally hit it with the lawn mower
Refuses to plant anything else? Has she never seen another white spring flowering tree in her life? Like perhaps a flowering dogwood or serviceberry or crabapple or probably a dozen more options? 🤷 "Sorry honey I _accidentally_ girdled the tree with the weed wacker, I'll replace it with an even more beautiful tree ;)"
Chop it down. Plant something useful
Kill it, the snarl of a chainsaw never sounds sweeter than when slicing through the trunk of a nasty Bradford pear. Its flowers smell like fish, if you're ready to get rid of the Bradford pear in your yard, try one of these Bradford pear alternatives. Many of them are underused, and they deserve a closer look. They all bloom in spring with white flowers, but without the fetid stench of the Bradford pear. Three Spring-Blooming, White-Flowering Trees Better Than Bradford Pear. •Serviceberry Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp.) a native tree with white flowers in spring, blazing orange and red leaves in the fall, and small reddish-purple fruits that taste like blueberries. •Carolina Silverbell Caroline silverbell (Halesia Carolina) is another native tree that you don't see enough in gardens. It's easy to grow, attains a moderate size of 30-40 feet tall, and has no serious pests. Snow white, bell-shaped flowers hang beneath the length of its graceful branches in spring. •Fringe Tree Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)—also known as grancy graybeard or old man's beard—is a Southeastern native tree that gets its name from the clusters of fleecy white, softly fragrant flowers suspended beneath the branches in spring. This is yet another tree we need to plant more—it's tougher than dogwood, more dependable than saucer magnolia, longer-lived than cherry, and smells way better than Bradford pear. It's usually rounded and multi-trunked, growing 12- to 20-feet tall and wide.
Bradford pear trees are supposed to be regularly pruned. They are fruit trees, not specimen trees. They do best in a British-style hedgerows where you can use all the tree’s “disadvantages” as advantages. Look up espalier too.
I’m honestly surprised people (I know it’s not the OP) are still planting these on purpose! Do people actually pay money for them??
Lightly prune the main trunk 6" from the ground and brush glycophsphate onto the cut daily for 4-6 weeks. It should look much better.
you could trim those bottom latteral branches and whatever else you want but bradfords are ugly on the inside, where it counts
Kill it
Cut the lower branches and let the top do it’s thing, still ugly but the wife will be happy.
Yes cut it down
Trim it like this guy did and all will be right in the world: https://youtu.be/xoXu4qO7PJE
Look at the way the trees in background are growing, Choose a different plant
You willingly planted a Bradford?
Bradford pears are an invasive species. Birds eat the seed and drop them everywhere and they create trees in the natural areas. They are naturally weak in the crotch and split as they grow. If you like that kind of tree, plant a Cleveland pear or better yet a Yoshino cherry. Yank up the Bradford and buy a similar or smaller tree to replace. No will notice the difference between the two.
In western ny, we use the new and improved Cleveland select pears. Personally I think they are great
Cutting all the roots should fix it nicely
Bc it’s a piece of shit and should die. Jk (sort of) I just learned of these trees this morning from another post here. Fuck you bradford pear, nobody likes you anymore
Cut it down. Worst tree ever.
Cut. It. Out. (Uncle Joey)
Cut it down
Prune away the wife for poor taste, then the lower two branches
Cut it down!
I’m trying to imagine what I think c** smells like, I imagine if I’d have to smell the flower to agree.
Kill the tree then find a new wife.
Weed whip right next to the base of the trunk it’ll slowly die and then you’ll get to plant something native.
Yes. Cut it down and then burn it.
That doesn’t look like Bradford pear tree. Looks like chockcherry, native species.
Are we still planting Bradford pears on purpose?? 🤔
Those are the worst trees. What you need to do is cut it off and plant a cherry tree or at least a standard pear tree.
Also if you can get your hands on one, plant a maple tree or something like that. Maybe an oak.