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.

"Gourd" wrote in message
ink.net...
: 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.
:
:

Grass can be green if the top few inches of dirt have water. Trees need
deeper soaking, especially ones that haven't been in the ground that long.
Get a soaker hose and spiral it around the tree starting a foot or so from
the trunk and ending just outside the dripline. Turn the pressure on low -
just sweating, no spray - and leave it on overnight. Repeat every couple of
weeks, every week when it's this hot and dry.

They'll probably be fine, but try a Pistache (sp?) next time.

Thank you considerably for your reply.

Just read up on Chinese Pistache and I REALLY like the way they look! Plus,
to be quite honest, my wife hates the Bradford pears we have right now. I
think I might just replace the 3 Bradford Pears with Chinese Pistache this
fall.
Thanks again.

----- Original Message -----
From: "groober"
Newsgroups: austin.gardening
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 6:48 PM
Subject: Bradford pears. Planted last fall. Brown leaves. Any
suggestions?

Grass can be green if the top few inches of dirt have water. Trees need
deeper soaking, especially ones that haven't been in the ground that long.
Get a soaker hose and spiral it around the tree starting a foot or so from
the trunk and ending just outside the dripline. Turn the pressure on
low -
just sweating, no spray - and leave it on overnight. Repeat every couple
of
weeks, every week when it's this hot and dry.

They'll probably be fine, but try a Pistache (sp?) next time.

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.

I have two young pear trees that are doing very well. I'm trying to recall
the variety...something like Pfannstiel Pear. Doing great....except some
bugs like to chew the leaves, but Neem takes care of that.


"animaux" wrote in message
...
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.

Hi there. Victoria's reply to you (great reply, Vicky) was a very good
one with many great points. She points out some goo

psd native tree choices. Bradford Pears are not native to your area. You
cannot go wrong with planting native trees and you won't regret the
decision to do so. And your neighbors will ask what kind of tree is
that? "The kind that is supposed to grow here". She refers to Benny
Simpson's Native Tree Site (Benny was co-founder of the Native Plant
Society of Texas) and its a great site:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/o...scientific.ht=
m

Also, there is a native shrub site:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/o...indexcommon.h=
tm

You have several Naive Plant Society chapters near you:
http://www.npsot.org/chapters/chapters.html

Their meetings are open to the public and you can get some great info
from them and find sources to buy native trees. I don't know about the
Hill Country chapters but our Chapter has an annual seed swap in
November. Last year I colleted over 20 varities of native seeds.

Investing in a tree requires great research and planting a native is the
best way to go. =

(good, hardy, low water trees)

Good luck on your journey and fall is the time to plant it.

J. Kolenovsky
VP, Houston chapter, NPSOT
http://www.celestialhabitats.com

ps - native trees are addicting once you get into this. You'll enjoy
nature more.



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 t=
he
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 w=
ould
be a good, hardy, low water tree for this area, and how much should a y=
oung
tree like the ones above cost?
=

Thanks for your time.

-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

Thanks everyone.

I'm definately going to bookmark all of the resources that have been pointed
out to me.
Basically I'm going to try to keep these 3 alive until the fall, then
replace them one at a time over the next few years. (my budget is a little
tight at the moment)

Thank you considerably!


"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
Hi there. Victoria's reply to you (great reply, Vicky) was a very good
one with many great points. She points out some goo

psd native tree choices. Bradford Pears are not native to your area. You
cannot go wrong with planting native trees and you won't regret the
decision to do so. And your neighbors will ask what kind of tree is
that? "The kind that is supposed to grow here". She refers to Benny
Simpson's Native Tree Site (Benny was co-founder of the Native Plant
Society of Texas) and its a great site:

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

Also, there is a native shrub site:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/o...ndexcommon.htm

You have several Naive Plant Society chapters near you:
http://www.npsot.org/chapters/chapters.html

Their meetings are open to the public and you can get some great info
from them and find sources to buy native trees. I don't know about the
Hill Country chapters but our Chapter has an annual seed swap in
November. Last year I colleted over 20 varities of native seeds.

Investing in a tree requires great research and planting a native is the
best way to go.
(good, hardy, low water trees)

Good luck on your journey and fall is the time to plant it.

J. Kolenovsky
VP, Houston chapter, NPSOT
http://www.celestialhabitats.com

ps - native trees are addicting once you get into this. You'll enjoy
nature more.



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.

--
J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
ô¿ô - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
ô¿ô - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

One thing you can do is water the trees with the cheapest of all sprinklers.
One of those little two dollar round yellow things, with the holes on top. Nice
large drops come down and soak in rather than evaporating into hot air. Don't
water when it's windy to cut down on water loss, and try to get the ground a
little wet before a rain is expected. That will break the surface tension and
allow more water to leach down. Never let the soil completely dry out and water
out by the drip line of the tree, no closer to the trunk than about two feet.
If you don't now have it, dig away the grass and put mulch on the soil where the
tree is. Invest five dollars and buy a gallon of aerated compost tea at The
Natural Gardener and use it according to their instructions. You can also buy a
few bags of Revitilizer compost while you are there for about 6 dollars. Make
some ragged holes around the drip line of the tree with a garden fork, really
jag up the soil, water it, put the compost down, mulch, water again.

Who knows, you may be able to get several years out of the trees which will
allow you to buy much smaller native species and get them in the ground this
fall. By the time you see too much damage on the pear trees, you will have a
few years jump on the native species and you can cut the ornamental pears down.

Victoria


On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 20:41:20 GMT, "Gourd" wrote:

Thanks everyone.

I'm definately going to bookmark all of the resources that have been pointed
out to me.
Basically I'm going to try to keep these 3 alive until the fall, then
replace them one at a time over the next few years. (my budget is a little
tight at the moment)

Thank you considerably!


"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
Hi there. Victoria's reply to you (great reply, Vicky) was a very good
one with many great points. She points out some goo

psd native tree choices. Bradford Pears are not native to your area. You
cannot go wrong with planting native trees and you won't regret the
decision to do so. And your neighbors will ask what kind of tree is
that? "The kind that is supposed to grow here". She refers to Benny
Simpson's Native Tree Site (Benny was co-founder of the Native Plant
Society of Texas) and its a great site:

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

Also, there is a native shrub site:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/o...ndexcommon.htm

You have several Naive Plant Society chapters near you:
http://www.npsot.org/chapters/chapters.html

Their meetings are open to the public and you can get some great info
from them and find sources to buy native trees. I don't know about the
Hill Country chapters but our Chapter has an annual seed swap in
November. Last year I colleted over 20 varities of native seeds.

Investing in a tree requires great research and planting a native is the
best way to go.
(good, hardy, low water trees)

Good luck on your journey and fall is the time to plant it.

J. Kolenovsky
VP, Houston chapter, NPSOT
http://www.celestialhabitats.com

ps - native trees are addicting once you get into this. You'll enjoy
nature more.



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.