A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Fruit Forum Gardening Newbie (Pear Tree)

Hey everyone, my name is Tony Coiro and I've got a couple questions regarding my recently acquired pear tree sapling. A little background, my entry into gardening was for slightly less than noble reasons, a friend of mine told me to grow a pair, so being an incurable troublemaker, I decided to take him up on his advice. Bought the sapling on ebay, soil and a "planting urn" from walmart all for like $34. The friend that told me to grow one in the first place has now bet me $35 that I can't actually grow a pear. So, being that I am standing to make a dollar in about 5 years, I'm taking good care of the tree.....I think. I've picked up a few gardening books and am starting to read them. It's all actually very interesting stuff. Anyway, I noticed today that several leaves were turning brown and 2 had fallen off. Is that a sign of under-watering? Too much sunlight? Parasites? Chuck Norris? Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance.
Tony Coiro

Hello, Tony.
Welcome to the forum.
I'm not sure what zone you are in. I don't know if you are growing your pear indoors or out. But I do know that pear trees are deciduous so they lose their leaves normally at this time of year in the northern hemisphere.

Good luck winning your bet!

Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that. Yes, it is being grown indoors. Also, since I am beginning to become intrigued by gardening, is there anything I can plant/start on now? I am in college at Purdue (relatively central Indiana) and I am pretty restricted to what I can plant indoors.

What you can plant depends on how much light you have available. As we are in the fruit growers forum, I'm thinking strawberries. You could grow them in a window that gets decent light. You probably wouldn't get enough to feed a whole dorm but they can be fun to watch develop.

You can also buy patio bluberry bushes that put out a ton of blueberries and can be grown indoors if you have enough light. They taste just like outside blueberries.