How to Grow Pears: The Complete Guide (2024)

• Plant pear trees in early spring. Order bare root plants in mid-winter so that they arrive intime.
• You’ll need full sun for the best fruit set, fertile, well-drained soil, and good aircirculation.
• If you live outside of the dry western regions, you should choose fire blight–resistant types androotstocks.
• Plan to plant at least two varieties of pear trees, as they will need to be cross-pollinated to produce fruit. Make sure the varieties are compatible with eachother.
• Space standard-size trees 20 to 25 feet apart. Space dwarf trees 12 to 15 feetapart.
• For container-grown trees, remove the plant from its pot and remove any circling roots by laying the root ball on its side and using shears to cut through theroots.
• For grafted trees, position the inside of the curve of the graft union away from the sun whenplanting.
• Dig a hole that is a few inches deeper and wider than the spread of the roots. Set the tree on top of a small mound of soil in the middle of the hole. Be sure to spread the roots away from the trunk without excessively bending them. Do not add fertilizer or topsoil to thehole.

Check out our video to learn more about how to plant a bare–rooted fruittree.

• Water the young trees well during dry spells to help establish theroots.
• Apply a small amount of fertilizer early in the year. Add 1/8 pound of ammonium nitrate per tree multiplied by the number of years the tree has been set in moderately fertile soil. If you have highly fertile soil, use lessfertilizer.
• If the leaves are pale green or yellowish during the summer, use a little more fertilizer the nextyear.
• If the tree grows more than 12 inches in one season, use less fertilizer the nextyear.
• Be very careful when applying fertilizer! If you give your trees too much nitrogen, they will become more susceptible to fire blight and also may focus too much energyon producing foliageinstead of flowers andfruit.

Pruning PearTrees

• Prune annually to keep the tree healthy. Generally, prune lightly to keep the trees looking their best andproductive.
• For dwarf trees, prune them to a central leadersystem.
• Standard-size trees can be pruned to either a central leader system or a modified leader system, which is easier tomaintain.
• The central leader system features a central trunk with branches that spiral out every 5 to 8 inches, making sure that no branch is directly above another. The training for such a system begins in the early summer of the first year, during which time you should remove any shoots that form within 18 inches of the ground. The end result should resemble a Christmastree.
• Use spreaders to help shape the branches of the trees. These help the branches to spread outward rather than upward. When the branches are small, you can use clothespins to push the branches away from the main trunk. For bigger branches, use wooden slats with a “V” shape notched into eachend.
• Remember to thin the fruit as well, leaving about 6 inches between each cluster of fruit perbranch.
• After your trees are established, water themregularly.

• ‘Bartlett’, which is the standard choice for pear trees. This tree type is average-size and produces medium to large fruits. These pears ripen to a yellow color. However, this variety is very vulnerable to fireblight.
• ‘Kieffer’, which is resistant to fire blight. This type produces medium fruit and can be used incanning.
• ‘Anjou’, which produces light-green fruit with a sweet flavor. This type is a good choice for late-blooming pears. Good for canning and fresh use. This type can store for up to 6 months with little loss inquality.

• Harvest pears when they are mature but still hard. Ripen the pears at room temperature for the best qualityfruits.
• Mature pear trees produce a lot of fruit in a short window of time. Beprepared!
• To store pears, pick them when they are fully grown but still very hard. You can keep them in the refrigerator; they should last for about 1 week. You can also keep them in containers in a cool (about 40°F), dark place; they should keep for 1 to 2months.
• You can also can the pears for longerstorage.

Catherine Boeckmann