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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Pears
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Was looking into planting a bartlett tree and having the the best pears around. We were the only ones that had a pear tree in the area. We picked them off the tree all summer long and never had a problem with the pears being hard or mealy. In fact, we apparently did everything wrong. But they were the best pears I have ever eaten. Only pears I will ever eat. Have the best flavor. Even the robins came to eat the ones on the very top of the old tree.
I have two European Anjou dwarf pear trees. The first year we got them they gave us a nice crop of pears. The next year no pears. Do they produce every other year or is something not right.
Haven't been able to find anything online so far, but I have been slowly picking Bartlett pears, big as my hand, from a tree usually stripped by groundhogs and other greedy creatures. Tree even had fireblight, and I cut back hard to clean wood, so I'm quite delighted with this crop. But tonight it will probably frost, early, and I was hoping to find out whether to pick em too early or will they be unharmed. Too late for answer this time, but nice to know for future.
Hi, Jeannine: It depends a little bit on the variety and a lot on the depth of the freeze, but in general pears can withstand some cold (a few days of light frost) if you can cover them. Folks often use old bed sheets clothespinned to the branches or even safety pinned to themselves and dropped over/around a small tree like a skirt. But moisture is moisture, and the moisture in a pear is no friend of freezing, by any means. So…. What did you end up doing? What happened? And thanks for asking….
One of my pear trees has 4 new branches growing on it. 2 branches have the same leaves and the other 2 branches have the same leaves of another type of leaf. Neither of these 2 types of new leaves resemble a pear tree leaf. What's the deal with that?
Hi, Trish: Pretty mysterious, but if indeed you have three different types of leaves on the same tree, no doubt this is a reflection of something having to do with your scion’s rootstock and/or some sort of genetic mutation. Another possibility is that the leaves are still too immature to be fully developed and identified, but you sound like you would have recognized this if it were a possibility. Thanks for asking, and keep us posted!
Most pear trees need a 2nd variety of pear to produce fruit. Is it possible to use a different fruit tree such as an apple or peach instead of a 2nd pear tree for this purpose? I have about a third acre so there is plenty of room but I don't think I need 2 pear trees but would like a pear and an apple. Advice?
Sorry, pears will only pollinate pears, apples will only pollinate other apples, and so on. Further, it must be a different variety of the same fruit species within 500 feet of each other. Two trees of the same variety will not pollinate each other. Pears especially need a lot of pollinators (bees) to make sure it all happens!
My Dad has a pear tree in Texas and the fruit is big but is hard as a rock and remains that way even when they fall off, they never get ripe and just stay hard, he has ajoid pears or what ever they call it , it's a French name. anyway the pears stay as hard as a rock and do not ripen, my pears are doing the same thing on my tree but mine have little yellow pears on it and they fall to the ground and are hard as a rock as well, why is this?
Hi Lori,
Most pears, unlike apples, do not ripen on the tree. If they are left on the tree for too long, they become mealy and tough. They should be picked when still slightly immature. They then need to undergo and cooling process (for Anjou, it should take 2 to 6 weeks). Next they should undergo a ripening period at 65 to 70 degrees F for 7 to 10 days. They can then be put into brown paper bags with bananas to speed up the ripening process, which relies on the release of ethylene gas. Pears are ripe when the skins yield to gentle pressure. Hope that helps!