We have planted both pears and apples, and have had zero luck with pears. I don’t know what it is, but they hate our heavy clay soils. The apples and crabapples thrive.
When I hog the fields, I will notice apple trees sprouting, and I let them grow due to the benefits they can provide while remaining smaller. Now we’re have around 20 “volunteer” crabapples and apples that are large enough to bloom and bear fruit. I knew there was a lot of natural variety in them, but I am blown away by the variety. They all taste different, bloom differently, vary from red to yellow to green, sizes of fruits, and growth style. The animals love some, and eat the apples as soon as they are ripe, and others remain untouched well into winter.
By comparison, I planted cultivars along the driveway from Home Depot. The were cheap at the time, but I didn’t realize how poor they were. Bad root growth so some wound up leaning, little bitty apples that nothing likes, and even the so called purple flowers are not all that great. I have much prettier wild varieties. I have thought about ripping them out and replacing them, but it took forever to get them up to size. The soil along the driveway is poor.
You might try grafting those apples that nothing likes to varities you know are good.
I'm in SC Kansas. Pears excel here unless they are susceptible to fireblight. Apples and crabs will grow and do well with some help, but they do not sprout up wild at all. Just not a good enough fit for them.
