pear trees help

18 years ago

hi!

thanks for ur help in my earier posting..just transplanted my pear seedlings to a larger container...they are 7 cm tall. with 6 leaves...(and it has not grown much for 2 weeks..is it natural?)

Quite worrying is that,after 1 month or so, it only has 1 very long root..a bit like my papaya's tree..is this a characteristics of fruit trees?? does my plant has a high chance of survival?

and..after germination.and thus now being seedling stage..does it means that it's spring time..and winter is over, and the pear should be treated as any other houseplants??

sorry..i dont know much about pear trees...as i live in singapore..somewhere near the equator, without winter-time..and i am 20 years old...not much experienced with gardening...and info on pear growing from seed is really limited from the net...it was a surprise that there were seedlings.. and even my grandma with decades of gardening experience cant help me.... she had no luck with daffodils and tulips(which she tried buying last time) and other bulb plants.. and most of her plants are tropical plants which she did not bring along with her to her new home.she is 77 now...and she has roses and orchids and ferns...sobs...

and may i know what will happen if i dont induce cold-weather this year, in dec'08.. will it grow like a tropical tree?? or must the pear tree really shed leaves and has its stem harden in winter..from wherever it originated from??

and if i do induce winter..i only plan to feed them ice, and keep the pot in a shaded place..or maybe put them in my room with aircon...

responses are much appreciated. thank you =)

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Comments (3)

fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
18 years ago
You don't need to induce winter in a small seedling tree. Just grow it until at least next winter, a yr from now. But feeding it ice or putting it in an air conditioned room will not help it now or later. If it needs chilling, and it likely will at some point, then it needs real chilling. Only temperatures between 34 and 54F, about 1-12C, continuosly for at least six weeks will satisfy it's chilling requirement.

The Fruitnut
alcan_nw
18 years ago
Fruitnut,
this is not always true. I have put Comice pear seeds on the kitchen sill in soil in October finding 15% of them germinated from moisture and air without chill to the seeds. All of them had the same growth pattern as lefevelyn stated so for the remainder of the year the roots continued growing and then slow growth resumed on top again but slooowly.

So then out of curiousity I moved these runty looking seedlings outside and when they woke up and grew new leaves next spring everything got back to normal. Later I found other studies citing this as a behavior as to be expected whenever seeds grow like this without meeting the chilling and that this first year is only temporary.
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alcan_nw
18 years ago
Reword second parageaph stance with underlined added text for clarity;

So then out of curiousity I moved these runty looking seedlings outside and when they woke up and grew new leaves in the next spring of a year later everything got back to normal. Later I found other studies citing this as a behavior as to be expected whenever seeds grow like this without meeting the chilling and that this first year is only temporary.