PEARS in the backyard.

To keep your pear tree under control, you might try one of the new OHxF pear rootstocks ( such as 40, 333, 87 or 80) to keep the tree slightly smaller, but count on the tree being 12' tall by 16' wide at maturity. Someday soon there may be semi-dwarf pear rootstocks available, but it will be a while before the home gardener will be able to purchase one. In the mean time, try planting your pear tree on a 45 degree angle, rather than straight up-and-down. This will trick the tree into thinking it is a limb, not a tree, and will bring it into production much sooner, which will, on turn, help keep the tree growth under control. I have a 12 year old mixed variety pear tree planted this way, and have been able to keep the tree in a "wall" shape, 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 10 feet tall. See the Apple tree training section for pictures and descriptions of this useful training method.

Some Varieties:

"Bartlett" is the most practical home garden pear variety6, as it is everybodies' idea of how a pear should taste, does not need cold storage to ripen, and may be canned. However, do you really want the 400 pounds of fruit that a full sized pear tree can produce? Not likely. (Red Bartlett picture)

Remember to pick bartlett when the fruit is juicy, but hard and green. This usually occurs in mid to late August, depending on your climate. Fruit that hangs too long on the tree becomes too mushy when it ripens. Fruit picked too early doesn't ripen with good quality.

"Concorde" (pictured above. left) is an interesting new pear from Europe, as it is a winter pear and stores in a cool garage well, but may be eaten crisp as soon as it is picked. It is very sweet, flavorful, and has a pleasant fruit texture. I'm told they don't can well, as they are "too sweet". The tree bears in its' third season on, unlike most pears, and has a somewhat dwarfing growth "habit". It bears fruit heavily, so will need thinning if you want the best quality fruit. Don't try growing this pear in a hot summer area, such as the southern Columbia Basin of Washington, as the fruit quality will be poor.

There are several common "winter pear" varieties offered by nurseries, but most need about 45-60 days of refrigeration before they will properly ripen, and are of poor quality unless picked and stored properly. Bosc, and Red or Green D'Anjou fall into this group. Buy these at the store, in the Winter.

"Bosc" is a good example of a "winter" pear. (Bosc Picture) It's a great pear, but not very easy to produce good quality in the home garden. If you want to try, you must pick them in Early to Mid September, store them at below 40 degrees for about six to eight weeks, then bring them out to room temperature to ripen. Put them in a brown paper bag for about a week, and check them for ripeness by pressing your thumb agains the neck. If they start to feel slightly soft, they are ready to go back into the refrigorator until you are ready to eat them. Incidently, do this with all the winter pears you purchase at the store, and you will usually be rewarded with a great piece of fruit.

Asian pears (see "20th Century" above, right) come in many varieties, and are fairly easy to grow. If you plant one, you can collect various varieties and bud them onto the main tree. They do require a lot of blossom and fruit thinning to grow good quality fruit, so count on some time spent removing blossoms and young fruit. Unthinned, most asian pears are the size of crabapples and are almost inedible.

APPLES - STONE FRUITS - MELONS - IRRIGATION - HARDY KIWI