Pears

The best pears are home grown and they are one of the most delectable of tree fruits. Popular commercial pears are tough skinned to avoid bruising during travel to the shop, but as gardeners producing our own dessert fruits, we have the real luxury of picking fully ripe, sweet, juicy, succulent fleshed fruits still warm from the sun. A real treat.

ROOTSTOCKS

Pears are grafted onto Quince rootstocks which are suitable for garden culture, making small to medium sized trees. Pears that are not grafted onto these Quince stocks make very large trees, not at all suitable for the normal garden. All of our Quince rootstocks are from virus free E.M.L.A. material and all are Ministry certified as free from virus and disease.

QUINCE C

Rootstock. Moderately vigorous. Quince C is the most dwarfing of all pear rootstocks and trees will normally fruit in approximately 2-4 years from planting, depending on variety. Trees grow from 8-16', depending on variety and location. Quince C is the best rootstock for reasonably fertile soil and the more vigorous varieties. Suitable for training as bush, cordon, dwarf pyramid, fans and espalier.

QUINCE A

Rootstock: Medium vigour, very slightly more vigorous than Quince C. Other characteristics are exactly the same, but this rootstock is the best choice where soil is very poor such as dry, sandy soils in low rainfall areas. Suitable for all forms.

QUINCE BA 29 Rootstock

Makes a more vigorous tree and is now often used in preference for 1/2 standards. B.A. 29 is also a good choice if you require one of the more compact varieties to grow into a large bush. Conference and Concorde make fine specimens on this rootstock.

POLLINATION

The same general rules apply as for apples. Exceptions are Onward is not a good pollinator for Doyenne and vice versa. Williams will not pollinate Louise Bonne or Seckle and vice versa. Triploid varieties should not be relied on for pollinating other varieties. Please remember, however, all orders are checked by our expert staff and if there seems to have been an error made by the customer regarding pollination, we will always advise.

GENERAL CULTURE

Pear trees are somewhat slower than apples in coming into crop and hard pruning tends to delay cropping even further. The earliest crops will be obtained with just light tipping of leaders and leaving as many leaders as possible. Both of the Quince stocks induce early fruiting and no longer do you plant 'pears for your heirs'. A pear tree is very long lived, with a life of 60-200 years. You only plant once in a lifetime, so do not plant second best. A bush tree will often yield 601b+ of fruit, a dwarf pyramid about 151b and an espalier 251b, all depending on location and variety. Pears will grow best in the south if they are to be grown in the open, but are successful in the colder northern regions if given the protection of a wall etc., preferably south facing. Plant 8-10'apart.