Question
I planted 4 bradford pear trees in early spring and a late freeze turned most of the leaves brown and then a few weeks later the rest of the leaves turned brown.  Now there are small shoots growing in abundance from around the base of the tree.  Will the main tree survive and can I cut the small shoots off?

Answer
Give it time the late freeze set it back and it should leaf out. Check a couple of upper branch for life--scrape a small bit of bark off near the end of the branch and if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive if the color is brown then the branch is dead at this point on the branch, continue down the branch until you find green. If the color is green then it should leaf out. After it leaf out prune the dead branches off. I would cut the sprouts off.