Advice needed

josip

What's happening here at the base of this 10 year old pear tree?

Is the soil level too low, those are roots I can see and raising the soil up to bark level will correct the problem?

Or is there a more serious problem?

I've never noticed this before now, definitely didn't look like this last summer.

New Home

1) It looks like either the soil eroded away or the roots are pushing the tree up, somehow.

2) The graft is showing.

josip

How high up should I replace the soil, to the red, green or blue line?

Or not at all? Some sites talk about keeping the root flare exposed.

New Home

I'd say up to the red line.

standardg60

Yep red line, grafts can look a bit weird but looks a bit cankerous to me.

What does the other side of the trunk look like and what is the general health of the tree?

Jim_Hodge

You can up the soil level a bit but the main thing is the canker. I have some trees much worse for many years. It often is more cosmetic than anything else.

josip

Here's the other side of the tree.

It's in good health and a good cropper, on average 60-80 pears a year.

standardg60

Then i wouldn't worry about it, as Jim says they can look like they're suffering terribly and be absolutely fine.

The Continental Op

OP nothing wrong there what you have is two grafts know as double working.

Grafting a pear onto a quince is like any other type of grafting. However, there is a list of those that are compatible and a list of those that are not. For those that are not compatible, the solution is to graft a pear scion (usually Beurre Hardy or Doyene du Comice) in between the quince and the variety grafted. The result is an "interstem" - 20cm of quince rootstock, 3cm of Beurre Hardy and then the pear variety eg. Beurre Bosc. growing on top in to the final tree. So when you look at a dwarfing pear tree, you will often see two grafts. An interstem can also be called "interstock" or "double working".

https://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/articles-learning/160-dwarfing-peartrees.html