[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Hi, our house is an old farmhouse and in the garden is an ancient pear tree - presumably from when the house was still a farm.  The tree is very tall and last year cropped loads and loads of pears.  This year the amount of pears appears to be less (you can tell even at this stage) and quite a lot of the young pears have what look like black spots/blight on them.  Can any one suggest what this may be and additionally, do I need to look at any upkeep of such an old tree (pruning later in the year, etc)?  Thank you for reading 

[Trillium]

Do the black spots look like this?

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/disease_descriptions/omfabrea.html

As for the glut of fruit last year and less this year, this is common with old varieties of fruit trees. One way to overcome this is next year when the glut starts, you'll have to thin the amount of fruit setting which puts less stress on the tree and the following year you'll have a respectable harvest as well. This type of thinning needs to be done on abundant years.
Sounds like your tree could also do with a bit of good pruning and thinning so your fruit is of better quality. Pears don't need a lot of trimming but unless you have experience, it's best to hire someone to do the first trim and you should watch and ask questions for future years. Badly done you can set your tree back a few years.

And with the spot condition, you'll definitely need to do a lime and sulphur spray in the winter, well before any buds form (the oil will basically kill off fruit/flower buds). This will really slow down any pests and diseases the tree likely has.

[compostqueen]

I had a massive old pear tree at my last house and I ignored the tree surgeons advice to get rid of it. He said it had fungus growing at the base. So what I thought    I only kept it for the birds to use as it seemed that I only got such a variety of birds because of this lovely old tree.  It produced pears every two years and they were lush. Bit of a battle to get there before the birds and wasps though 

A huge tree does present management problems and fruit picking issues and if you can't physically cope with it you get a tree surgeon in to renovate it for you.  Once sorted it would be good for years to come

I am very glad I kept my tree as there are so few full sized ones about these days as they've been felled to make way for diddy ones

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Thank you for your replies.  To be honest, I think a cherry picker or a very large ladder (and I'm afraid of heights!) is the only option for spraying the tree or thinning the fruit - this tree is huge! 
The black patches aren't really like those pictured on the link - I had a search around the web last night and couldn't find anything too similar.  I will try and take a picture to post to see if this can help identify it.
I think hiring someone in for trimming is a good idea too - I would hate to get too enthusiastic with the loppers!  It is a lovely tree - so hopefully I can now ensure it stays healthy for years to come.

[gillie]

My pear trees have gone like this too after cropping well last year.  I guess it is just the natural way of things to have a heavy 'June drop' this year.

Some varieties of pear do grow VERY tall and are unprunable, unsprayable and almost unpickable.  I would leave this tree exactly as it is, and enjoy the fruit when it chooses to bear them.

Gillie

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Hi Gillie, thank you.  I might just do that as it does appear to have managed for a long time without too much human intervention.  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.  I wonder if the massively different weather types from last year to this has had something to do with less pears?  Although, conversely, my apple trees have a large crop on already this year compared to last year.... Bizarre but I guess that's nature for you.
As for picking the pears... I used to have to wait for windfalls and chance the wasps until I bought this great gadget from a stall at the Great Yorkshire Show - it's an extending pole with a metal loop on the end with big "teeth" and a muslin bag below so you can snag your pear off the tree and it drops in the bag.  Only problem is, you can only pick them one at a time.  I was at it for ages last year.

[Trillium]

Not necessarily weather affects the yield. Old varieties were known to overbear one year putting a lot of stress on the tree which resulted in almost no yield the following year while it rested, then a bumper crop in the next year. Apple trees did this a lot too.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Right, I see.  I think!  I guess it's the tree's way of balancing things out?  I appreciate there are some things I have no control over and I suspect other than thinning fruit on bumper years (as you suggested earlier) this is one of those things?

[nilsatis1964]

Our house is built on the orchard of the agte house of a big estate and we have an beautiful old pear tree.  It is the height of the house but has a branches into two main growths at about 5 foot.  Harvesting fruit is really poor or rather we haven't found a successful method yet.  It is however a lovely tree which due to its shape my 3 kids can climb and allows the cats some of their best times chasing birds in the upper branches.  Any suggestions baout how to harvest from such a tall tree please provide them.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Hi nilsatis1964 - I mentioned in an earlier post a device I brought from the GYS - it really does allow you to reach pears from the very highest branches (and my tree is the height of the house too).  The only problem with it is you can only pick one fruit at a time and don't use it if it's windy as it gets a bit unwieldy with being so long!  I think they're called fruit pickers so I'm sure they could be found on line as well as at agricultural shows.

[nilsatis1964]

I will keep a look out.  It will have to get past our great big stupid lab who sits under the tree waiting for wind falls.  Strangely enough the more she eats the more clearing up I have to do.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Bless her, I bet she just thinks she's being helpful    I suspect the chickens will be keeping their eyes peeled for windfalls this year so it could be a mad scramble between me, the chooks and the wasps!

[compostqueen]

Ours dropped fruit on everything, you need a tin hat 

We just made our tree safe by getting rid of dead branches and tidied it up as some demented axe man had been at it and it looked daft.  Ours was a very old tree but the woodpecker loved it, oh and the owls. Worth keeping definitely 

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

I'd love it if we got woodpeckers or owls but we're in an urban area (even more reason to keep it) and the only visitor we've had other than the usual garden birds, was a grey squirrel.  Monty our cat was clung to one side of the tree and the squirrel, looking very unimpressed and chattering like mad, was clung to the other.  They just kept circling around and around until I dragged Monty inside so it could make its getaway!

[compostqueen]

I think a woodpecker is a possibility. The trunk on your pear will have loads of gaps in it in which insects lurk and it's that the brings him  (or her  )