The Bradford pear tree was once one of the most popular trees in American neighborhoods. It grows fast, has a neat shape and covers itself in white blossoms every spring. Today, many arborists and extension services urge homeowners to remove it. Bradford pears split apart as they age, their flowers smell bad, and their offspring have become an invasive species that several states now ban from sale. This guide explains what’s wrong with the Bradford pear tree, how to tell if yours is failing, what removal typically costs and what to plant instead.
What Is a Bradford Pear Tree?
A Bradford pear is a cultivar of the Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), a tree native to East Asia. According to the federal National Invasive Species Information Center, Callery pear was first imported to the U.S. in 1908 to help breed fire-blight-resistant pears, and the ‘Bradford’ cultivar went on sale as a landscape tree in 1961.
You can usually recognize a Bradford pear by:
- Shape: A tight, upright, egg-shaped or teardrop crown with many branches rising from the same point.
- Flowers: Masses of small white blossoms in early spring, before the leaves come out.
- Leaves: Glossy, oval and finely toothed, turning red, orange or purple in fall.
- Fruit: Small, hard, marble-sized fruits that birds eat. It does not produce edible pears.
Other Callery pear cultivars, such as ‘Cleveland Select’, ‘Chanticleer’ and ‘Aristocrat’, look similar. They were bred to have stronger branches, but they are still Callery pears and share the same invasive problem.
Bradford Pear Size, Growth and Lifespan
A mature Bradford pear reaches about 35 feet tall and 25 feet wide, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension. That makes it a small-to-medium tree, and it gets there quickly.
The problem is how long it lasts. The National Invasive Species Information Center notes that Bradford pears may split under their own weight after 15 to 20 years. University of Illinois Extension puts it the same way: the trees often crash at 15 to 20 years old, right when they look their best. Compare that with a sugar maple, which can live well over a century (see our maple tree guide).
If you’re not sure how tall yours is, measure it from the ground with the tree height calculator.
Why Do Bradford Pear Trees Smell?
The smell is one of the most common complaints. Bradford pear blossoms are often described as smelling like rotting fish. Angi attributes the odor to the compounds trimethylamine and dimethylamine, which attract the flies and other insects that pollinate the flowers. The smell lasts only while the tree is in bloom, usually a few weeks in early spring.
Why Do Bradford Pear Trees Split?
Bradford pears split because of how their branches attach to the trunk. University of Illinois Extension explains that the branches are weakly attached, with narrow crotch angles, and that 6 to 8 branches often grow out of the same point on the trunk.
That structure causes two problems as the tree gets bigger:
- Included bark. In a narrow V-shaped union, bark gets trapped between the branch and the trunk instead of strong wood forming. The joint stays weak no matter how thick the branches get.
- Too much weight in one spot. With many heavy limbs leaving the same point, one crack can let a whole section of the crown peel away, often splitting the trunk in half.
The tree doesn’t need a hurricane to fail. Ice, wet snow, a summer thunderstorm or simply its own weight can do it. In one example from Illinois Extension, pears made up only about 5% of the city of Champaign’s trees but nearly 50% of the trees damaged in windstorms that the city responded to.
Pruning to thin the canopy can reduce the risk on a young tree, as Virginia Cooperative Extension notes, but it can’t fix the basic branch structure of an older tree. When a large Bradford pear splits, it usually has to come down, and storm-damaged removals cost more than planned ones. See our guide to emergency tree removal.
Is the Bradford Pear Invasive?
Yes. The Bradford pear itself was sold as a fruitless tree, but it isn’t the whole story. Callery pear cultivars can’t pollinate themselves, so a lone Bradford sets little fruit. Once other cultivars such as ‘Cleveland Select’ and ‘Aristocrat’ were planted nearby, the trees began cross-pollinating and producing large amounts of small fruit. Birds eat that fruit and drop the seeds far from the parent tree, as both Virginia Cooperative Extension and University of Illinois Extension describe.
The seedlings grow back toward the wild Callery pear form. They spread along roadsides, fields and woodland edges and can form dense, thorny thickets that crowd out native plants. Virginia Cooperative Extension reports seedlings had been found in at least 26 states by 2005. Clemson Cooperative Extension calls Callery pear one of the worst invasive plants in the Southeast.
States That Ban Bradford and Callery Pear
| State | What’s banned | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio | Selling, growing or planting Callery pear | January 1, 2023 |
| South Carolina | Nursery sales of Callery pear (and pears on Callery rootstock) | October 1, 2024 |
| Pennsylvania | Sale of Callery pear | 2024 |
| Kansas | Selling, moving or distributing Callery pear (quarantine) | January 1, 2027 |
Sources: National Invasive Species Information Center (Ohio, South Carolina), KCUR (Pennsylvania), KSNT (Kansas). Rules change, so check your state’s department of agriculture for the latest.
These rules target nurseries and sellers. Ohio and Kansas both say homeowners don’t have to remove trees they already have, and the other bans cover sales rather than existing trees. But in every one of these states, you can no longer buy a new Callery pear.
Bradford Pear Bounty Programs
Several states run “bounty” programs that give you free native trees for cutting down a Bradford pear:
- South Carolina: Property owners can exchange up to 5 Bradford pears for 5 free native trees at Clemson Extension events. You remove the tree yourself and bring a photo of yourself with the cut tree. Events are listed on the Clemson Bradford Pear Bounty page.
- North Carolina: The NC Bradford Pear Bounty also exchanges up to 5 trees per household. You need before-and-after photos and a photo of the bark (NC State Extension, Clay County).
- Kansas and Missouri: Conservation groups and local governments give free native alternatives, such as redbud and serviceberry, to homeowners who cut down a Callery pear (per KCUR).
These programs replace the tree for free, but you still pay for the removal. That cost is covered below.
Signs Your Bradford Pear Is Failing
Walk around the tree and look up at where the main branches meet the trunk. Watch for:
- Cracks or seams running down from a branch union, especially between two large upright limbs
- A limb that has already split off, leaving a long tear down the trunk
- Dark, oozing or sunken bark at the base of a union, a sign of decay behind included bark
- Branches that sag or move apart after storms
- Blackened, scorched-looking shoot tips in spring, a sign of fire blight
- The tree is 15 years old or more, the age when extension services say Bradford pears commonly fail
One small dead branch is not an emergency. A crack at a main union is: it can split without warning, so keep cars, play areas and people out from under the tree until it’s assessed.
When Should You Remove a Bradford Pear?
Because the problem is built into the tree’s structure, removal is often the better long-term choice. Consider removing it when:
- It has split or has a visible crack at a main branch union.
- It overhangs a house, driveway, fence or power line.
- It’s mature (15 to 20 years old) and has never been structurally pruned.
- Callery pear seedlings are coming up in your yard or nearby fields.
- A local bounty program can replace it with free native trees.
If the tree is young and healthy, you can thin it to buy time, but plan for replacement. Our guide on when tree care isn’t enough walks through the treat-or-remove decision. Check whether you need a permit before cutting, especially for street trees.
How Much Does It Cost to Remove a Bradford Pear Tree?
Most Bradford pears top out around 35 feet, so removal usually falls in the small-to-medium price range: about $285 to $435 for a tree up to 30 feet and $435 to $870 for one between 30 and 60 feet, based on Lawn Love’s 2026 national data. Expect to pay more if the tree has already split, is leaning over the house or sits near power lines, because the crew has to lower it in pieces. Stump removal is usually extra, about $180 to $525. Bradford pear stumps resprout readily, so grinding the stump or treating it right away matters. Get a quick estimate with our tree removal cost calculator.
| Bradford pear size | Typical removal cost (2026) |
|---|---|
| Young tree, up to 30 ft | $285 – $435 |
| Mature tree, 30–60 ft | $435 – $870 |
| Stump removal (added cost) | $180 – $525 |
Source: Lawn Love, How Much Does Tree Removal Cost in 2026? National averages by height; local prices vary.
For more detail, see small tree removal cost, compare prices with the tree removal cost by size and type calculator, or price the stump with the stump removal cost calculator.
Stop the Stump From Resprouting
A cut Bradford pear often sends up new shoots from the stump and roots. Clemson Cooperative Extension advises treating the cut stump right away with an herbicide containing glyphosate or triclopyr, following the label, so the stump and large roots don’t resprout. Grinding the stump also works. Read how to kill a tree stump for the options.
What to Plant Instead of a Bradford Pear
If you love the spring blossoms, several trees give you flowers without the splitting or the spread. Angi suggests flowering dogwood, serviceberry, redbud, fringe tree, sweet crabapple, yellowwood and sassafras as alternatives, and Kansas and Missouri bounty programs hand out redbud and serviceberry.
| Replacement tree | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Serviceberry | White spring flowers, berries for birds, red-orange fall color |
| Eastern redbud | Pink-purple blooms on bare branches in early spring |
| Flowering dogwood | White or pink spring flowers on a small, layered tree |
| Fringe tree | Fragrant, feathery white flowers in late spring |
| Sweet crabapple | Pink spring flowers on a small tree |
Don’t replace a Bradford pear with another Callery pear, such as ‘Cleveland Select’, ‘Chanticleer’ or ‘Aristocrat’. They have better branch angles, but they are still Callery pears: they still cross-pollinate and spread, and Kansas’s 2027 quarantine covers them by name.
When you replant, give the new tree enough room. Our guides on how far apart to plant trees and tree distance from a foundation help you pick the spot, and the tree planting cost guide shows what to budget if there’s no bounty program near you.
Bradford Pear Tree FAQs
Why are Bradford pear trees bad?
They have weak, narrow branch unions that split as the tree matures, often at 15 to 20 years old. Their flowers smell unpleasant, and cross-pollination with other Callery pear cultivars has produced an invasive tree that spreads into fields and woods.
Is it illegal to have a Bradford pear tree?
No state requires homeowners to remove an existing tree in the bans covered here. Ohio, South Carolina and Pennsylvania ban selling Callery pear, and Kansas’s quarantine takes effect January 1, 2027.
How long do Bradford pear trees live?
They can live longer, but many fail structurally after 15 to 20 years, when the crown gets heavy enough to split the weak branch unions.
Can you save a split Bradford pear?
Rarely. Once a main union splits, the wound is large and the rest of the tree has the same weak structure. Removal is usually the safer choice.
How do I get free trees for removing a Bradford pear?
Check for a bounty program in your state. South Carolina and North Carolina let you exchange up to 5 cut Bradford pears for free native trees, with photo proof, and groups in Kansas and Missouri offer similar giveaways.
The Bottom Line
A Bradford pear tree looks good for its first 15 years and then becomes a liability. If yours is mature, cracked or close to the house, plan its removal on your schedule rather than after a storm, treat the stump so it doesn’t resprout, and replace it with a native flowering tree. Start with a free estimate from our tree removal cost calculator.
Related guides: Maple tree · Palm tree · Sweetgum tree · Ash tree · Cottonwood tree · Willow tree · Mimosa tree · All tree species guides
Sources
- National Invasive Species Information Center – Callery pear
- University of Illinois Extension – Callery pears becoming extremely invasive
- Virginia Cooperative Extension – Callery pear fact sheet (3010-1464)
- Clemson Cooperative Extension – Bradford Pear Bounty
- NC State Extension, Clay County – Bradford Pear Bounty 2026
- KCUR – Midwestern states ban Bradford pear
- KSNT – Kansas to quarantine Callery pear beginning in 2027
- Angi – Why you shouldn’t plant a Bradford pear
- Lawn Love – How Much Does Tree Removal Cost in 2026?
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