About 3 or 4 acres of my property is covered in bradford pears. This winter i got curious and found out they can be used as root stock for edible pears.
Armed with my 6 inch milwaukee chainsaw and 18 inch husqvarna power axe ive been clearing off every branch 7 foot and below. Can already see better so i can pick out which ones to use for grafting.
My hatred for these trees has only grown this week. I already hated them for how bad they smell. Now i can add that the thorns/spikes are really something extra. They are hard and long enough to go straight through boots and any glove i can imagine being usable.
For evidence of my post title: any boot short of a stripper heel is not gonna offer any protection against these.
I actually feel safer in my regular shoes because i can feel the spike long before i put my full weight down.
Branches tangle up worse than christmas lights requiring a bit of pull to free them from the mess which is unfortunate since on most branches im lucky to have more than 3 inches between spikes.
I have recieved more than one self lashing from bad throws into the pile. Pile is about 8 feet tall now.
Its been pretty slow going and i am extremely happy i went electric over gas chainsaws. Being able to cut 10 to 15 branches and then set it down to clear out without it running the whole time or restarting has been wonderful.
by tillbloodonthehand
12 Comments
Bradford don’t really have large thorns. They r grafted onto the Cleveland pear root stock and those are terrible. Most of the trees u have coming up r probably Cleveland’s
They do make most excellent firewood though! I’m saving some of the long straight poles to cure slowly and see if they might make decent tool handles too…
Isn’t this a Callery Pear, which Bradford Pear is a cultivar of? The Bradford cultivar doesn’t have thorns. Or at least I’ve never seen thorns on a Bradford used in landscaping, and I’ve only seen Callery Pears with thorns growing in non landscaped areas
Just blow on it with a light breath, that should fell it. Weak, thorny, stinky bastards.
>Now i can add that the thorns/spikes are really something extra. They are hard and long enough to go straight through boots and any glove i can imagine being usable.
For evidence of my post title: any boot short of a stripper heel is not gonna offer any protection against these. I actually feel safer in my regular shoes because i can feel the spike long before i put my full weight down.
Let me introduce you to the [honey locust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust).
I’ve got one, and I’ve been thinking about turning it into a grafting experiment. I figure if I try to graft regular pears onto it, I might get something. Or it’ll kill the tree I hate, and both would be a win.
You could probably kill somebody infected by an Illithid with that.
I have non/bradford pear trees that make fruit and they have awful spikes like this, serious widow makers if a limb were to fall in just the right way. I don’t think it’s just a Bradford pear thing
Are those the cum trees?
Bradford pears are the devil BOBBY!
I hate the smell of bradford blooms, it’s like a frat house on Friday morning. Just the stink of nut and trash.
Legit thought this was r/Sacramento because they’re planted everywhere and universally hated. There’s even a new Bradford pear post there: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sacramento/s/UtSTWRnUBb