Our cat did that to a pear tree one year and the tree died the next
winter. If your tree has settled down and has produced a good crop
for 2 or 3 years, at least, you can probably stop the beatings.
The way all this works is like this:
When you beat up the trunk, you are causing damage that partially
girdles the tree. This slows down the flow of sap from the leaves to
the roots. (Remember that sap flows upward in the wood under the
cambium and it flows the other way in the bark outside the cambium
layer.) Disrupting the downward flow lets sugars (produced by the
leaves) accumulate in the twigs. This accumulation of sugars
promotes the formation of fruit (flower) buds.

Steve

Dataminder wrote:

This is going to sound strange but here goes.
I had a non-producing pear tree in my yard for four years and went
through the usual suspects, transplant stress, over/under feeding, too
hot/too cold, lousy soil, soil too rich, to no avail. Maybe one pear a
year and it would drop off in July. Then we got a cat and the cat used
the tree as a scratching post. I figured, go nuts, at least the tree's
good for something. The year that the cat began doing so I got so many
pears that I had to thin the fruit twice so it had room to grow.
Intrigued, I broke out a few 19th century English garden books and
found orchard keepers used to beat their trees with chains. It puts
stress on the trees and feeling endangered, goes the theory, they set
seed (fruit) like mad in case this turns out to be their last year
upright .
Cat's now dead, but each spring I walk up with a sturdy flat wooden
paddle and give the tree a therapeutic beating around the
circumference of the trunk. I check carefully for nicks or gouges in
the bark and repair if necessary. It usually isn't necessary if you
use a wide implement with some flex in it, i.e. not an iron chain. The
neighbours may talk, but that tree is a producer. If all else fails...

"Loki" wrote in message ...

Oh and my book of wordsdoes also say pears can 5 to 6 years bear
flowers. So maybe this year...


il 02 Mar 2004 18:55:02 +1300, "Loki" ha scritto:

The other thing too is how to prune but keep the two-year-old wood.
There is a big difference in pruning depending on fruiting wood age.
You may be pruning off the 2-yr-old wood. "They bear fruit on short
spurs and fruit buds on two-year-old wood." I once decimated my grape
harvest for a year due to bad pruning.

"Pears produce a better crop grown with a suitable pollinator
(another variety that flowers at the same time," i.e. early)

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]