I've cut down the few bradford pear trees around my place. They were all pretty big, about 50 feet tall and probably 18 to 22 inches in diameter. Is this worth keeping, splitting for firewood? How difficult is it to split by hand? I don't know anything about this wood.

It’s pretty wimpy and constantly getting snapped off and branched by even gentle thunderstorms

It should split easily


I would burn it, yes. But my Heatmor burns anything.

That's why I cut it all down. We bought the house a few years ago and the previous owners had planted them. After seeing one snap, I wanted to get the few others that were near the house cut down. I've found working in the summer heat at 60 is not what it use to be at 25, but I don't think they are going anywhere soon.

You might want to let it season a while, but I imagine it would make some pretty good firewood. As easily as the wind splits it, I doubt it would be any match for a good ole splitting hammer.

I’ve smoked with it with good results (seasoned for smoke only; charcoal as the heat source)

Bradford Pear will burn and put out heat, not as good as oak or maple but it's free heat.

^^^^^^^^ They just suck. I planted a ton of them and they all split the first ice storm.

It is now illegal to sell those stinking trees in South Carolina.

Yep .... sure is. They are considered an invasive species that cause a lot of problems for everyone, and every thing, involved.

https://www.wistv.com/2021/07/21/why-sc-foresters-say-banning-sale-bradford-pear-trees/

We cut all of them down on our property some time ago.

I tried to burn some in my wood stove years ago. It smoldered & smoked like crazy. May have still been a little green, I wasn't impressed.

Cut my winter wood in the summer. At 64 this summer it is noticeably harder to cut firewood.

I've been down and out for the past 3 days due to some torn muscles along my rib cage,in the back. I'm about to climb the walls looking at the 2 trees lying in the yard that I have to disassemble.

Nurseries in TN can’t sell em anymore either. Just another Asian plague...

I can't believe a Bradford Pear could make it to 50 feet tall. Sneeze on one and you can blow it down.

I'll take a picture tommorrow

Never seen what we call a Bradford pear have thorns or any fruits

Reread the article again.

Caught it that time.

Back in the 1970’s the Sunday paper ad section up in NY State would have full page photo ads selling those things.

Ain’t seen it down here but we have Chinaberry, which might be worse.

There is a 20 year old 30+ footer 3 houses up from me and it looks great. It must be artificial.

I cut down 7 of them and cut and split for firewood. Very difficult to split by hand. It’s better than nothing, but does not produce much heat. I burned three cords of it over 2 years and wouldn’t waste my time doing it again.

I'm not doubting y'all. It's just that from all I have seen and heard, those trees would be quite unusual, to say the least. They are quite famous for basically self-destructing.

My wife planted 2. They grew fast and were pretty then we.had an Ice storm. They snapped off just above the.ground.

My grandpappy had a unique perspective on trees such as theBradford Pear….

They respond best to aggressive pruning, right at ground level.

If it’s not pine it’s fine.

I measured it with a laser range finder and you were correct it was not 50 feet. I was off by 6 feet, she's 44 feet, maybe say 45 with the stump.

Here's the last one on our place I cut down. Anomaly for sure as the other 7 broke off years ago. Not sure how tall it go, but it took a bit of work with an 18" bar chainsaw to tip it over.

IMG_4536 by .com/photos/150924633@N06/]Tyler Staggs, on [bleep]

I have one huge one I planted 30 years ago. A straight-line windstorm broke off a big chunk some time back, but I trimmed it up and thinned out the crown, and so far it’s not broken again. Knowing what I know now, of course I’d not have planted it, and there are so many in the neighborhood, chopping it won’t do much to stop the plague. Strangely, I’ve never found a seedling in my yard; just mulberries and native black cherries.

Usually, a big flock of cedar waxwings will come in and clean it out.

Better not run over the twigs and limbs with your lawnmower,them things have thorns

I have one, I try to keep the intertwined limbs culled out. Never saw a tree that would run a Limb from one side to the other. They sure don't have much structure.

I think this one is a miracle myself. I have owned dozens of the POS trees and they do self destruct.