Callery Pear, Bradford Pear
Miller, James H.; Manning, Steven T.; Enloe, Stephen F. 2010. A management guide for invasive plants in southern forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–131. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 120 p.
Callery pear or Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne.) is a widely planted deciduous tree to 60 feet (18 m) in height and with boles to 2 feet (0.6 m) in diameter. Major branches fork from trunk at narrow angles, and often split at the juncture after wind and ice storms. Leaves are ovate and long petioled, alternate, turn red in fall, and tufted on stubby thorned or nonthorned branchlets. Abundant small pears are typically present in fall and winter and are spread by birds and possibly other animals. Seed viability varies by location, and several commercial sterile varieties can crosspollinate with certain other pear species in close proximity to produce fertile hybrids. Thickets and dense stands are formed by root sprouts. This species can tolerate partial shade and a variety of soils. Fruiting starts at 3 years.
Management strategies
- Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
- Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
- Cut and bulldoze when fruit are not present.
- Manual pulling and tree wrenching is hindered by thorny branches and eye protection should be used.
- Manually pull new seedlings and tree wrench saplings when soil is moist, ensuring removal of all roots.
- Burning treatments are suspected of having minimal topkill effect due to scant litter.
- Treatment combinations should be used that are appropriate for dense thickets with limited access. Access trails may need to be cut.
Recommended control procedures
Trees. For stems too tall for foliar sprays, cut large stems and immediately treat the stump tops with Garlon 3A or a glyphosate herbicide as a 25- to 50-percent solution (2 to 6 quarts per 3-gallon mix). ORTHO Brush-B-Gon, Enforcer Brush Killer, and Vine-X are effective undiluted for treating cut-stumps and available in retail garden stores (safe to surrounding plants). Make stem injections using undiluted Garlon 3A during June through September in cut-spacings as specified on the herbicide label. A subsequent foliar application may be required to control new seedlings and resprouts.
Saplings. Apply Garlon 4 as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted); or apply undiluted Pathfinder II to young bark as a basal spray. Basal spray applications can be made year-round.
Seedlings. Thoroughly wet all leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: a glyphosate herbicide or Garlon 3A as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix), Arsenal AC* as a 0.25-percent solution (1 ounce per 3-gallon mix), or Arsenal PowerLine* as a 0.5-percent solution (2 ounces per 3-gallon mix).
* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.
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