Plants With A Purpose
The pear season is over and there are always lessons to come out of it.
36
Tricks to pear success
The last of the pears are picked. The surplus has been stored, packed in preserving jars or given away to friends. This is the time we reflect on what could be done better for next year’s crop. Each year we learn more and Summer 2018 was a challenge.
We live in Oxford, 55km north-west of Christchurch and the continuous, searing, mid-30°c days was a test for our orchard.
The stone fruit succumbed first. High humidity provided the perfect breeding ground for brown rot and most of it never made it to the kitchen. The apples did better.
But the fruit that came out tops was our unassuming and undemanding pear trees. They quietly sized up and ripened, albeit early and rather quickly, but without fuss.
They bore bucket loads of fruit, only mildly blemished. Some were small and could have done with an early summer thinning (next year!).
Even our espalier, only three years in training, managed to produce its first fruit, despite a serious mid-summer haircut.
Here’s what we’ve learned about these golden fruit.
Pear preferences
There are fewer pear varieties than apple, but they are similar (and a little easier) to grow. They all like a deep, free-draining, slightly acidic soil, will tolerate clay (or temporary wet conditions) better than apples, dislike sandy, alkaline or chalk soil, and will give up completely if there is waterlogging.
The oldies are the goodies
Many of the best home garden varieties are heritage varieties from the 19th century. After much discussion, we chose six varieties:
• William’s Bon Chrétien, green and red varieties
• Beurré Bosc
• Taylor’s Gold
• Doyenné du Comice
• Winter Cole
This gave us some gourmet pears, compatible pollinators, and a range of ripening times and uses. See page 40 for more of Jenny’s favourite pears.
Pairing up your pears
All pears should be planted with pollinators, that is other pears which have the same flowering times. Other considerations are spreading harvest time, the intended use of fruit (eg, dessert, preserving) and keeping qualities.
Pears are a good example of when it pays to have a planting plan.
Taming the vigour
Pear trees on their own roots produce very vigorous, large trees, slow to crop and prone to disease.
We are fans of dwarf or semi-dwarf trees, the best option for the home garden.
Dwarf trees are pears grafted onto Quince C rootstock. This restricts them to about 2.4-3.5m high and means you can grow more varieties in a small space. Instead of towering over you, you can walk among them picking fruit rather than finding, dragging and climbing a heavy ladder.
They do need strong stakes and a richer, more fertile soil, but they more than make up for it:
• they fruit earlier
• they are very productive for the space they take up
• you can train them as cordons, espaliers or fans, and trees can be bought pre-pruned
• you can buy trees with two grafts giving you two varieties and a built-in pollinator.
Semi-dwarf trees are grafted onto semi-vigorous Quince A rootstock, and produce stronger trees which grow to 3-6m. These are a better choice for poor soils as they are a little less fussy about soil.