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Missouri residents asked to not plant invasive Bradford pear trees
A stinky but handsome and widely popular landscape tree has become an aggressive invader.
Sometimes referred to as a Bradford Pear, the Callery pear is known for its ornamental appearance, white blooms and pungent smell. However, the invasive tree is known to create thickets that overwhelm native plants and sport nasty four-inch spikes, causing it to be declared invasive.
“The biggest headache is it invades the landscape,” said Jennifer Behnken, community forester of the Southeast Regional Office of the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The Callery pear was brought to the United States to infuse its genes into fruiting pears as a solution to fight fire blight, a problem that is still impacting pear trees. However, the crossbreeding of the plants didn’t have the outcome many expected.
The Bradford pear tree was the first plant produced and proved to be an immediate success with its white flowers, green leaves and red color in the fall along with the inability to produce fruit. But the trees were weak, leaving a soft wood, prone to splitting and being damaged during storms.
Other seedlings grew into 24 more ornamental varieties. All are so pretty, hardy and insect-resistant that they were planted nationwide.
But when they are cut or mowed, new sprouts pop up. Trees sprayed with herbicide regrow leaves. Cutting off the bark in a circle around the trunk kills most trees, but not Callery pears.
Without regular maintenance, fields near seed-producing trees can be covered with sprouts within a couple of years, said James “J.T.” Vogt, a scientist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Southern Research Station in Athens, Georgia.
Bradford and other Callery ornamentals are the third most common trees of 132 species planted along New York City streets.
But New York no longer plants them and South Carolina, Ohio and some cities in Indiana have banned all commercial varieties of the Callery pears.
Missouri is one of 12 states that have reported invasions, but they have not been banned yet.
“We ask people not to plant them,” Behnken said. “There are other species that offer greater benefits.”
Missouri is also asking homeowners and landowners to cut existing ones down and apply herbicide to the stumps.
Recently the Missouri Department of Conservation held a buyback program for the tree. To qualify the property owner was required to have a photo of a cut down pear tree in order to earn a free, less offensive, replacement tree.
Behnken said it was the first year of the program.
“It was a good start,” Behnken said of the program at the Cape Girardeau office, adding they had 50 trees and not all were taken.
She said she hopes it will be even more successful in the future as the word gets out of the issues with the trees.
Behnken said people need to start looking at the end of late March for the white blooms.
“Keep your eyes open and learn what you’re looking at,” Behnken said. “They are pretty but they are having some undesirable consequences. Please don’t plant them and help us find them so we can (eradicate) them.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this article.