Pears will stay small if there are too many fruits per tree, so thinning your fruit so that there is 6 to 8 inches of space between each baby pear should help. Another reason for small fruit is not enough water or nutrients. Pear trees must have at least one inch of water a week, especially during warm weather. Spreading a mulch of wood chips or other organic mulch that is two inches deep on top of the roots zone of the pear tree will help to seal in soil moisture. Spread the mulch after heavy spring rains but before the summer sun dries the soil. At the same time you apply the late spring mulch, use Osmocote around the base of your pear tree. A slow-release plant food like Osmocote will release nitrogen slowly to the pear tree. A slow-release plant food is important, as too much nitrogen can cause a flush of green leaves that makes your pear tree susceptible to fire blight. If water, mulch and fertilizer does not give you a happy harvest, you may want to use the shovel solution. Dig up the tree and plant something else. Life is too short to put up with disappointing fruit trees. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti