Pear

Pyrus communis

The Gardening Year

Best months in UK gardens · full planting calendar →

At a Glance

Overview

Pear (Pyrus communis) is the classic European dessert and culinary fruit, a long-lived deciduous tree grown in British gardens, orchards and walls since at least Roman times. The following quick-care table summarises the essentials for UK growers; the full article below covers each in detail.

Pyrus communis belongs to the family Rosaceae, the same family as apple, quince, medlar, hawthorn and rowan. The species is a deciduous tree with a naturally upright, conical or broadly columnar habit, typically reaching 3 to 12 m in height depending on the rootstock and the training form used. It has been grown in the United Kingdom for many centuries and is closely associated with the traditional English and Welsh orchard, where it can live and crop for well over a hundred years. The tree produces showy white blossom in April and May, followed by the familiar bell-shaped, buttery-fleshed pome fruit that ripens from late July through October depending on cultivar. Pears are grown as standards and half-standards in grass orchards, as bush trees in garden borders, and trained as cordons, fans and espaliers against walls and fences; the dwarfing quince rootstocks have made them a practical choice for smaller gardens across the UK.

Appearance

Pyrus communis is an upright, often narrowly conical tree when young, broadening with age into a rounded or domed crown, and typically reaching 6 to 8 m as a standard on its own roots, or 2.5 to 4 m on the dwarfing Quince C rootstock. The bark is smooth and grey-brown on young wood, becoming darker and finely fissured on older trunks and main branches. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to elliptic, 4 to 9 cm long, dark green and slightly glossy above, paler and finely downy beneath, with a finely serrated margin; in autumn they turn clear yellow to orange before falling.

The flowers appear from mid-April into May, usually with the first young leaves. Each flower is 2 to 4 cm across, with five white or faintly pink-tinged petals, five persistent sepals, and five prominent stamens with red anthers; they are carried in clusters of three to nine on short spurs and on the previous year's wood. The scent is faintly sweet and noticeably musky in warm weather, and the blossom is an important early-season source of nectar and pollen for bees and other insects. The fruit is a pome, typically pyriform (bell- or teardrop-shaped), 5 to 12 cm long, with skin that is green, yellow, flushed red or covered in patches of golden-brown russet depending on cultivar. The flesh is white, fine-textured, juicy and buttery when ripe; the core contains a few small dark brown seeds. In most garden cultivars the fruit is borne on short fruiting spurs that develop on wood two years old or more.

Growing Conditions

Pear performs best in full sun, in moderately fertile, well-drained but moisture-retentive loam with a pH between about 6.0 and 7.5. It is fully hardy across the UK and tolerates the cold winters of northern England and lowland Scotland without protection, although it flowers early enough to be caught by late spring frosts in frost-pocket sites. Pears have a meaningful winter chilling requirement, typically 600 to 1,000 hours below about 7 °C, to break dormancy and ensure even, vigorous flowering in spring; most of the UK comfortably satisfies this, but very mild maritime sites can lead to uneven bud break and a poor crop.

Aspect and shelter matter more than absolute cold hardiness. A south- to west-facing wall or a sheltered, sunny garden corner gives the best fruit quality, the warmest ripening conditions and the most reliable pollination in cool springs. Pears tolerate partial shade but flower and fruit less freely. They dislike waterlogged ground, shallow chalk over solid rock, and highly acidic peat; on thin chalk the trees crop poorly and develop chlorosis, and on cold heavy clay the roots sit wet through winter. The species is reliably hardy in all but the most exposed or northerly UK gardens.

Pollination is the single most important consideration for a successful crop. Most pears are not self-fertile and need a compatible partner flowering at the same time; even the partially self-fertile 'Conference' and 'Concorde' crop more heavily and regularly with a partner. Triploid cultivars such as 'Merton Pride' and 'Jargonelle' are particularly poor pollinators and need two other compatible varieties nearby. The primary pollinators are honey bees and bumble bees; a lack of bees in cold, wet springs is a common cause of a light set of fruit.

In the UK pears are grown on a small number of rootstocks. Quince A is the standard garden choice, producing a tree of about 2.5 to 3.5 m; Quince C is more dwarfing, giving a tree of roughly 3 to 4 m well suited to cordons and small gardens; and Pyrus communis seedling produces a vigorous, long-lived tree of 6 to 12 m suitable for traditional orchards. The choice of rootstock, together with the training form, largely determines the eventual size of the tree.

Planting and Care

Plant bare-root trees from November to March while they are dormant, taking care not to let the roots dry out. Container-grown trees can be planted at almost any time of year, but autumn and spring give the best establishment. Prepare the planting hole at least twice the spread of the roots, loosen the base and sides, and plant at the same depth the tree was grown in the nursery, with the graft union well clear of the soil. Drive a short stake in on the windward side and tie the trunk with a soft tree tie; stake low so the trunk is free to flex above the tie, which encourages a stronger root system.

Watering is most important in the first two seasons and during dry spells from fruit set to harvest. Soak the root area thoroughly once a week in dry weather rather than sprinkling lightly every day, and keep the area under the canopy free of grass and weeds for the first few years by mulching. Feeding is best done as a single annual mulch of well-rotted manure or garden compost in early spring, supplemented with a balanced general fertiliser if growth is poor; high-nitrogen feeds should be avoided, as they produce soft growth that is more susceptible to fireblight and winter damage.

Pruning follows the pattern used for apples. In winter, remove dead, diseased, crossing or congested branches and shorten the previous year's leaders by about a third on bush and half-standard trees, taking care not to remove too many fruiting spurs. In August, shorten the current season's side shoots to five or six leaves to encourage spur formation and to let sunshine colour the fruit. Cordons, fans and espaliers are pruned in summer, cutting back the new growth to build up a permanent framework of fruiting spurs. As a rule, pears are best grown as open goblet or pyramid shapes, since dense canopies encourage disease and ripen fruit poorly.

In years of a heavy set, thin the developing fruitlets in June to one per cluster and to roughly 10 to 15 cm apart along the spur; this improves final size and helps to prevent biennial bearing — a heavy crop one year followed by little the next.

Named cultivars are propagated by bud-grafting in summer or by whip-and-tongue grafting in late winter onto the chosen rootstock, usually Quince A or Quince C. Seed-raised pears are extremely variable and rarely come true to type, so seed is used mainly for raising rootstocks rather than fruiting trees.

Pears ripen best off the tree; if left to ripen fully on the branch they tend to turn soft and mealy at the core. Pick the fruit when it is full-sized, the skin has lightened from green towards its ripe colour, and the fruit parts easily from the spur with a gentle twist. Finish ripening indoors at room temperature; a ripe pear yields gently to pressure around the stalk.

Common Problems

Fireblight (Erwinia amylovora) is the most serious disease of pears in the UK. Infected shoots wilt, blacken and bend over into the characteristic "shepherd's crook", and a milky or amber bacterial ooze may be visible on the bark. Suspected outbreaks should be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Prune out affected material at least 30 cm below the visible symptoms in dry weather, and disinfect tools between cuts with household bleach or methylated spirit.

Pear rust (Gymnosporangium sabinae) appears as bright orange rust pustules on the underside of the leaves in summer, often with yellow spots on the upper surface, and causes premature defoliation. The fungus needs a juniper as an alternate host to complete its life cycle, so removing nearby junipers and gathering and destroying fallen leaves in autumn significantly reduces the problem in the following year.

Pear scab (Venturia pirina) causes dark, velvety olive-green spots on leaves and fruit, leading to cracked, misshapen fruit and early leaf fall. Collecting and disposing of fallen leaves in autumn and pruning to open up the canopy for airflow both help; in wet springs a protectant fungicide may be needed.

Insect pests include the codling moth, whose caterpillars tunnel into the developing fruit; the pear midge, whose maggots cause young fruitlets to blacken and drop; and pear sucker, whose honeydew and sooty moulds disfigure leaves. Pheromone traps are useful for monitoring codling moth, and prompt removal of fallen, maggoty fruitlets reduces pear midge populations. Birds, especially starlings and blackbirds, often peck ripening pears in late summer; netting, or paper bags tied over the fruit, is the most reliable protection in small gardens.

Brown rot (Monilinia fructigena) produces sunken, brown, concentrically ringed rots on ripe fruit, both on the tree and in store. Remove mummified fruit left on the tree and any infected fruit in store, and prune out small cankers on the spur systems. Bacterial canker (Pseudomonas syringae) shows as flat, dark cankers on the bark and dieback of spurs and branches, and is worst in wet, cold springs and on heavy, poorly drained soils. Choosing a sheltered site and avoiding overhead watering in winter both help.

Biennial bearing, the tendency to crop heavily one year and lightly the next, is not a disease but a common management issue. Thorough June thinning of the fruitlets and a steady programme of mulching, watering and feeding is the most effective remedy.

Popular Varieties

'Conference' is the most widely grown pear in the UK: long, bell-shaped fruit with smooth yellow-green skin, fine melting flesh, and a useful degree of self-fertility, making it a reliable choice where only one tree can be planted. It crops heavily, stores well, and is a good pollinator for many other varieties. 'Williams' Bon Chrétien' (often sold as 'Williams') is the classic English dessert pear, with large, yellow, richly perfumed fruit in September; it needs a pollination partner. 'Doyenné du Comice' is widely regarded as the finest-flavoured pear, with large, rounded, russeted fruit, but it is slower to come into bearing and needs a warm, sheltered site to crop well. 'Concorde' is a modern, partially self-fertile cross between 'Conference' and 'Comice', combining the reliability of the former with much of the flavour of the latter, and is an excellent garden choice on Quince C. 'Beth' is an early-ripening dessert pear ready in August, with small, sweet, juicy fruit and a compact habit well suited to smaller gardens and cordons. 'Invincible' is a particularly hardy, disease-tolerant dual-purpose pear that crops reliably even in less-than-ideal conditions and is worth considering for colder or more exposed parts of the UK.

Beyond the dessert pears, traditional perry pears such as 'Blakeney Red', 'Hendre Huffcap' and 'Yellow Huffcap' are grown in the West Country and Welsh borders for fermented perry rather than eating fresh, and several ornamental pears, including Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer', are planted as street and garden trees for their spring flower and autumn colour rather than their fruit.

Pests and Diseases

For step-by-step help, read Controlling Aphids Naturally. Or browse the full plant problem solver to diagnose an issue by symptom.

Pear in our guides

• Gardening Jobs for November in the UK
• Codling Moth: How to Protect Apples and Pears