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Thursday, July 27, 2023

PHONE CALL FROM THE POWER COMPANY

 We posted the other day about the local power company doing their periodic brush/tree easement clearing last week.  We thought all was good.  Then yesterday I got a call.  My phone said it was possible SPAM so I declined it.  About 15 minutes later, 2nd Family called and said "the power company called me and they are trying to reach you about your pear tree?"  

Oops.

This is the tree in question.  You can see the lines above it.  It looks close but it's about 10 feet under.  However, that's still a problem.  I got in touch and this is what the guy from the power company texted me:

"Yes, that pear tree behind your outbuildings needs to be cut at about 6 feet from the ground to be able to stay in the utility Easement. We only allow shrubs and hedges that are maintained at 6 feet annually."

Well crap.

Now this is in no way connected to our orchard area, those are all far away from any power lines (that's why we located them in their spot behind the house).  This one is the "wild pear tree" that we posted about last year.  It's been ignored for a long time and is doing great on its own.  When it was planted, it was only about 3 feet tall.  Now it's about 10 or 11 feet tall. 

In fact, it produced a LOT of pears for us last year (still put up in our freezer), but I guess now we'll cut it back to six feet.  We're not sure how it will react to such a dramatic pruning, but it has proven resilient all these years, we hope it makes it through this event.


Never fear, we still have two pear trees in the orchard area so we won't ever go without pears!  Besides, we have a guard out there...

#farmshark

16 comments:

  1. 🦈 or no 🦈 ... Once you prune that pear 🍐 tree back, you may find it kind of "bushes" out and, actually produces even more fruit!

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    1. Well that's good to know and makes me think I should prune the other two pear trees this Fall of course.

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  2. That not good.
    Now this will cost you $$$, but I would call a Tree relocation service in your area and have them dig a hole for you on where you want it and they will Pull the tree up and transplant it (placing it in the hole) for you.
    (get estimates) I would have it done in early Fall. Just too hot to plant anything in this heat.
    Yes it will probably go into shock somewhat but it should come back by using good soil, watered well, etc.

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    1. We thought about that but it's not an important tree, I mean we'd hate to lose it but we still have two more in a safe area that are starting to produce fruit. I'll do the pruning this weekend and we'll see how it reacts. :-)

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  3. Two years ago we did a brutal pruning on one of our pear trees. The following year we had zero pears, but this year it is loaded. Hope you have similar results.

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  4. I maintain a peach tree at about six feet from the ground, it just started producing full size peaches this year. I got half a laundry basket from one little tree. I imagine your wild pear will be fine, but it might take a few years to recover from such a harsh prune

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    1. Thanks for this, I was thinking while our other trees are slowly producing but still smaller amounts, maybe it's time to keep them at a certain height. Funny mentioned peaches, last year a coworker gave us peaches from a family's peach tree mini orchard and the trees are maybe 7 feet tall and are just LOADED with peaches every year. We would be ok with that, ha.

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  5. Just prune in the fall so it is less stressed. Maybe you could sic the shark on the deer out and about.

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    1. Oh I'd wait until Fall if I could but we have to send them pics after it's done or they'll come back out and do it themselves. I"d rather be the one to choose what to prune instead of them, ha. So this weekend it is. Tune in next week.

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  6. As the others said, I think your pear tree will adapt and still produce fruit after it is pruned. Hopefully the power company will let you wait until Fall to prune it. After a plant/tree is pruned, it can spur it into growth - with this heat, that would not be good.

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    1. I asked but they said they needed proof soon so they could clear their record. Kinda crappy but I guess I have to respect their rules. Again, not an important tree, we'd miss it if we didn't have it but we'll see how it does. It's survived two droughts and two record shattering freezes, we'll see how it does with this.

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  7. the pear tree should be fine and maybe even produce more fruit eventually. my god with everything going on in this world they zero in on your little pear tree!!!

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    1. Right? Oh well, we shall play by the rules and maybe in the end, we'd get more pears, ha. Stay tuned for an update after this weekend.

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  8. You could try to make pear butter or a combination of apple & pear sauce.

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    1. You know, my grandmother used to make the best apple butter I loved that stuff. I never thought about using pears to make pear butter. Thanks for that suggestion.

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