Bradford pears are very short lived ornamental trees which should not be used.
It's not your fault, they sell them at all the box stores, and are provided by
builders (which I'm currently working on a presentation for native ONLY trees on
residential property by builders).

Anyway, there are some very wonderful trees. For example, why not plant a real
fruit tree? Grow a peach tree. We have one in the ground for two years and it
was a stick about three feet tall, now about 12 feet tall full of the most
delicious peaches I ever tasted IN MY LIFE! We bought 'Dixieland' which is a
very low chill hour tree, and blooms later to avoid possible frost to the
blossoms.

There are so many. Here is a wonderful website to look at for great listings of
trees which will provide many years of pleasure.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/o...scientific.htm

Keep in mind that regardless what sort of tree, native or not, these newly
planted trees will absolutely have to be watered very well the first few years
till they establish a good root system. Also find out what type of soil you
have, how deep it is, are there rocks, caliche, or is it clay, dark or red clay.
There are many factors involved.

For the most part, trees come in several sizes. The more rare they are in the
nursery trade, the higher the price. You can buy nice sized redbud trees for 40
dollars. They grow fast, flower beautifully and are very drought tolerant "AFTER
ESTABLISHED." The person who said the grass is green, the tree is watered
enough obviously knows nothing. Forget all that nonsense!

Try to buy trees which are for this region of Texas. Spend the extra money on
specific species of trees. Go to the better garden centers like The Natural
Gardener, Barton Springs Garden Center...see what they have. If you then want
to check for better prices, go to Lowes or Home Depot, but beware, end of summer
is not a good time to buy trees which have been stressed out, un-watered, fallen
over a billion times in wind, etc.

I like flame leaf sumac, Mexican plum, lacey oak, redbuds, texas pistasche
(Chinese is a good tree as well, just not native). Many different varieties and
shapes of trees.

Best of luck to you. Fall is the absolutely best time to plant any and
everything.

Victoria


On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 21:40:54 GMT, "Gourd" wrote:

Greetings.

Basically, I have 3 Bradford Pears what were planted when my house was
built, back in September last year. They are about 8 foot tall, small
diameter trees.

The leaves are turning brown and curling...

I was told by the contractor that as long as the grass is green, then the
trees should be recieving enough water. In the spring, I also put tree
fertilizer plugs into the ground...

Should I water more around the base of the trees? Is it some sort of
disease or insect infestation? Are they too far gone at this point?

While I have your attention, may I also ask: if these trees die, what would
be a good, hardy, low water tree for this area, and how much should a young
tree like the ones above cost?

Thanks for your time.