The pear I planted last year had maybe 25 or 30 leaves. It also looked like half the buds were dead, as they looked brown or black.

To my surprise, this year every single bud poped, and there are about 10 flower buds! It may have something to do with the root:leaf ratio. If the tree has more top growth, then it does root mass, the top growth will slow as the roots catch up. I take a look at the roots before planting and decide how much to prune the top then.

This is also what happened to my pear (as well as a super, super wet spring). The root mass was maybe a foot wide, and under a foot long, where as the tree was over 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide. It seems to have caught up now, after an initial pruning, and proper shaping this year!

Brittney:

If it is deer the trees will likely push new leaves. Which the deer will likely eat. Do you see a pattern developing? You can't grow fruit trees without deer protection. It's a waste of time and money.

An 8ft deer fence around the orchard or a fence ring at least 5ft tall around each tree are the most effective.

I do plan to get a fence up this year, just not exactly sure when. If we don't end up with fruit, there will be plenty of deer meat in the freezer...

My cousin destroyed my fruiting pineapple. I threw the baby pineapple in the under a water spout and a year later there is a plant/tree I see a baby pineapple but I'm worried that the pineapple is radioactive or something. It appears to have multiple baby pineapples growing I don't know if I should trim the tree and let them grow (I fear there will be too much weight and it will snap the plant) or remove the baby pineapple (if so how do I do it without killing the plant) I will try to upload some pictures please let me know what I should do