How good is fruitless pear as nectar/pollen source

[Dallasbeek]

Bradford pears (worthless but pretty trash trees) are blooming in my area.  How good are they as a source of nectar/pollen for bees?  All I know is they clog the skimmer of my pool and the limbs break easily.

[iddee]

Worthless to the bees. They get less than the energy it takes to collect it

[Dallasbeek]

Just trash trees.  Builders plant them because they are cheap, grow fast, have pretty blooms, but take up space a good tree could tree could occupy.  The only good thing about them is that their branch structure is weak, so limbs split down the trunk and they die early.  I had hoped they could at least feed some bees.  Thanks, Wally.

[bwallace23350]

Odd I would have assumed they would have been decent as I do believe regular pear trees are

[MikeyN.C.]

I think it's a callery pear from china. Year's ago a friend (landscaper)  showed me how they were grafted to native pear root balls , so the tree could grow ( showed me graf lines)

[SoManyCats]

The wife's family has a large plot of land.  We walked it this week.  it has a large number of wild bradford pears.  (They say they are infertile.  Not so much.)  It also has a number of wild plums.  We noticed consistently there would be a 4 ft tall plum tree that is covered with bees right next to a 30 ft tall bradford pear with not a bee on it.

[The15thMember]

Hm, this is strange to me.  At my old house I had a big flowering tree that I thought was a Bradford pear, and it was always covered in bees.  Maybe it was a different variety or something. 

[BeeMaster2]

#15,
Bees pick the flowers with the best nectar and pollen.
If the pear is the only source available they will use it.
Jim