Bradford Pear Removal in Greer, SC
Why They Split, What the State Ban Means and How to Stop Them Sprouting Back
A Bradford pear is usually worth removing before it breaks. Clemson Extension warns that the narrow forks give way and the trees break in two, with ice and storms the usual trigger, and that trees past about 15 years old fare worst. Keeping one in your yard is legal in South Carolina. When it does come down, the stump needs dealing with straight away, either treated with herbicide as Clemson advises or ground out and watched, or it and the roots send up new shoots.
Backcountry Tree Service Greer takes down Bradford pears near houses, drives and fences across Greer, Taylors, Duncan, Lyman and Wellford, and hauls the wood away when the job is done. This page covers the reasons to act, the state rules and the free replacement-tree program. For how a removal runs from start to finish, see our page on tree removal in Greer.
Signs Your Bradford Pear Is Ready to Come Down
- A crack where the trunk forks. The main limbs grow up from almost the same point at a tight angle, and a crack there is how the tree starts to come apart.
- It's 15 years old or more. Clemson notes the splitting gets severe in trees past 15, and gives the species a life span of only 15 to 25 years.
- Limbs lost in the last ice storm. Big branches torn off by ice show the weak forks that lead to bigger breaks.
- Half the crown leans away. When one side of a split tree pulls outward, the remaining half may be carrying weight it was never balanced for.
- It hangs over the roof, the drive or a line. At 30 to 50 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet across, a mature pear reaches a lot of what's around it.
- Thorny seedlings at the edge of the yard. Wild Callery pears coming up along a fence line are a sign that pears nearby are seeding.
Why Bradford Pears Break Apart
The Bradford pear grows quickly and puts out showy white flowers before its leaves each spring, which is why so many were planted. The trouble is in the frame. Clemson's fact sheet describes the narrow branch angles that make the trees split in half, a problem it calls severe in older trees, and it gives the species a life span of only 15 to 25 years. A tree planted when a subdivision was new can be reaching that age just as its crown is at its heaviest.
Weather in the Upstate finds that weakness. When ice coated much of the region in January 2026, from a quarter inch to half an inch thick, the added weight landed on exactly the kind of tight forks a pear is built from. Summer thunderstorms do the same job with wind. One half of the tree drops, sometimes onto a roof, a car or a fence, and the half left standing is lopsided and still dangerous.
Greenville learned this on Main Street. The streetscape planted there in the late 1970s included hundreds of trees, Bradford pears among them, and the Cultural Landscape Foundation records that the city has since added black gum and bosque elm trees after the Bradford pears, and the original irrigation system, failed.
Is a Bradford Pear Illegal in South Carolina?
No, not to own. Since October 1, 2024, it has been illegal to sell Bradford pear and every other Callery pear variety in South Carolina, after Pyrus calleryana was added to South Carolina's State Plant Pest List, which Clemson's Department of Plant Industry administers. Clemson is clear that the rule doesn't affect trees already growing in your yard, and nobody is required to cut one down.
The ban also covers trees grown on Callery pear rootstock, so a nursery can't sell any pear tree grafted onto it either. Three related shrubs were banned from sale at the same time: autumn olive, Russian olive and thorny olive, all species of Elaeagnus.
Clemson and the South Carolina Forestry Commission still encourage owners to take their pears out, and both point to the same reasons: the tree's weak build and the way its offspring spread into fields and woods.
The Thorny Pears Taking Over Upstate Roadsides
A Bradford pear on its own can't produce viable seed. Plant one near a different Callery pear, though, and the two cross-pollinate. Birds eat the marble-sized fruit and spread the seed across fields and fence rows, and what comes up is wild Callery pear, a far scrappier tree than the one in your front yard.
Clemson describes these wild pears taking over roadsides, old fields, pastures, vacant lots and the understory of woods, and spreading from root sprouts as well as seed. Their thorns can reach three inches. Clemson has reported that the thorns have been known to shred tractor tires, and Dave Coyle, Clemson's associate professor of forest health and invasive species, told the Greenville News that once the stems are about a year old, a bush hog or a big mower no longer cuts them down. Many of the white-flowering trees lining roadsides in early spring are these wild pears.
A thicket that's taken over the back of a lot is a bigger job than a single tree. Our land clearing crews take out wild pear stands along with the rest of the undergrowth.
How We Remove a Bradford Pear So It Doesn't Come Back
Most Bradford pears in town sit close to something worth protecting, so the tree is taken apart from the top rather than dropped in one piece. Limbs are cut and lowered on ropes, the trunk comes down in short sections, and the brush goes through the chipper, so no cut branches are left lying in the yard.
The stump is the part that decides whether the pear is really gone. Cut a Callery pear and leave the stump, and it sends up a crowd of new shoots, along with sprouts from its large roots. You have two ways to stop that:
- Grind it out. A grinder takes the stump below ground level along with its root flare, and the grindings fill the hole. Watch the area for a season and pull or cut any sprout that appears from an outlying root. See our page on stump grinding for how it's done.
- Treat the cut surface. Clemson's advice is to treat a freshly cut stump with herbicide straight away, naming glyphosate and triclopyr as effective. Follow the product label, and treat it the same day the tree comes down.
Fire doesn't work either. Clemson's figure is four new stems sprouting for each one a fire kills, so burning a pear thicket can leave you with more pears than before.
Cutting One Down Yourself
A small, young pear in an open yard is a manageable homeowner job. A mature one is different, because a tree that has already started to split can hold a lot of tension in the trunk and the remaining limbs, and it may not fall the way the cuts suggest.
When to call a pro. Clemson's Bradford Pear Bounty page says property owners are responsible for removing their own trees, and highly recommends using a licensed tree professional. If any part of the tree is near a wire, leave it alone and contact the utility that serves your home first, whether that's Duke Energy, Greer CPW or an electric co-op.
Thorns are the other hazard. The spines on wild Callery pears along a fence line can be inches long, so clearing them calls for heavy gloves, eye protection and machinery with tires that can take them.
Trade Your Pear for a Free Native Tree
Clemson Extension and the South Carolina Forestry Commission run the Bradford Pear Bounty, which lets property owners swap up to five Bradford pears for the same number of free, young native trees. Any South Carolina resident can take part. You register ahead of time, cut the tree down, and bring a photo of yourself with the cut tree to a pickup event. Trees go out first come, first served, and you can't reserve a particular species.
The 2026 Upstate pickup was at Conestee Park in Greenville on March 28. The 2027 dates already posted are Bennettsville on March 6, Columbia on March 13, Fort Mill on March 20 and Clemson on April 17, and Clemson is the closest of those to Greer. Taking a pear down over the winter leaves plenty of time for the photo, and we're happy to pause while you take it.
What to Plant Where the Pear Stood
If it was the spring flowers you liked, there are native trees that bloom white without splitting apart. Clemson suggests flowering dogwood, serviceberry, white redbud, white fringetree and Carolina silverbell, and its Bradford pear pages also name blackgum.
The bounty hands out a wider mix. Trees on offer at the 2026 Greenville pickup included red maple, blackgum, fringetree, scarlet oak, pawpaw and red buckeye, so a swapped pear can come back as a shade tree rather than another flowering one.
Leaving the wood at the curb in Greer: inside city limits, the city collects limbs no longer than six feet or wider than six inches, about a truckload (roughly eight cubic yards) each week. The city says anything beyond those limits should go to the county landfill or be handled by a hired contractor, so a whole pear won't go at the curb.
On our jobs, the wood leaves with the crew. The brush is chipped, the trunk sections are hauled off unless you want them, and the yard is raked before we go.
Bradford Pear Removal FAQs
Short answers to what Greer homeowners ask most about Bradford pears.
Are Bradford pear trees illegal in South Carolina?
Selling them is. Since October 1, 2024, Bradford and other Callery pears can't legally be sold in the state. Owning one is still legal, and you aren't required to remove a tree that's already in your yard.
Should I remove my Bradford pear?
If it's older than about 15 years, has a crack at the fork or hangs over the house, yes. Clemson Extension says their tight forks make them break apart under ice and storm loads, and it no longer recommends planting any Callery pear.
Will a Bradford pear grow back from a stump?
Yes, if the stump is left untreated. Callery pears resprout from the stump and from large roots. Treating the fresh cut with herbicide right away, as Clemson advises, or grinding the stump and watching for sprouts, stops most of that regrowth.
What herbicide kills Bradford pear trees?
Clemson names glyphosate and triclopyr as effective on Callery pear. Apply it to the freshly cut stump straight away, and follow the label.
Can I get a free tree for cutting one down?
Yes, through the Bradford Pear Bounty run by Clemson Extension and the SC Forestry Commission. Register first, remove the tree, take a photo of yourself with it, and swap up to five pears for native trees at a pickup event.
How much does it cost to remove a Bradford pear?
Most Bradford pears grow 30 to 50 feet tall. National cost guides put trees in that size band at about $450 to $1,500 in 2026, and Greenville-area figures start a little lower, around $330. That's a typical range, not a quote: access, what's underneath and the stump all change it. Our tree removal cost in Greer page breaks it down, and the estimate is free.
Why do Bradford pears smell bad in spring?
The white flowers that open in early spring have an unpleasant odor, which Clemson notes in its fact sheet. The bloom can last up to about two weeks, less if a frost hits it.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Whichever crew comes out to your pear is licensed and insured, and proof of insurance is yours to see on request before the saws start.