Pear Espaliers - which varieties to choose

[tutti]

Hello everyone,
I'm interested in growing three pear espaliers, but undecided over which three varieties to choose. I think I have the pollination angle covered, as there a few Conferences, an Onward, Invincible and Louise Bon Jersey nearby.

I want them to each fill a space against a fence that is approx. 2.7m wide and 2.5m tall. In effect the espalier will be a bit narrow, but quite tall with 5-6 tiers. The rootstock I'm currently favouring is pyrodwarf, over Quince A, as it is more likely to go to 6 tiers. Most QA trees in nearby gardens look a bit puny.

My shortlist so far consists of Beth, Concorde and Sensation (a red sport of Williams.) What are peoples thoughts and experiences of these? Any other recommendations or better alternatives? I'm interested in peoples thoughts on pears, as I've noticed they don't get much attention on these forums (I am a newcomer to them, so it may just be a quiet period.)

thanks.

[chrisdb]

I planted two free-standing trees on Quince A, Beth and Concorde, and I'm now seriously wishing that I'd gone for Pyrodwarf instead. I think because they're quite compact and start fruiting early in their lifetime (as FB would probably say, because they're modern varieties), they don't seem to be going anywhere fast even though I heavily thin out the fruit so they should still have energy left for growing. It could change, but based on my experience so far I'd go for a more vigorous rootstock for those two at least.

[tutti]

I think so too. Most QA trees I see locally (it seems the default rootstock for a large garden tree), so have similar soil and conditions to mine, look small and thin. Pyrodwarf is meant to be only slightly bigger, so isn't likely to produce one of those "tall as your house" trees. Regarding varieties, Beth and Concorde seem to be regularly recommended as good, safe bets. If such things are possible with pears.

[fishpond]

It depends to a great degree on what the soil type and alkalinity is.
If the soil type and alkalinity is appealing to QA, you will get a 15ftish tree.
You put Pyrodwarf in there, you could end up with a monster.
Conversely, if the soil type is rubble and alkalinity is 7.5 +, QA will not be a good choice of rootstock whereas Pyrodwarf will possibly survive, but somewhat smaller than monster.

[chrisdb]

My understanding is that quince likes moister conditions than most rootstocks. The location of my trees is close to neutral (although the bedrock is limestone) and the soil quality is OK, but it is well drained, possibly too well drained I suppose.

Anyway, at the very least Quince seems a bit more finnicky than other semi-dwarf/semi-vigorous fruit-tree rootstocks. And I'd take a slightly too vigorous tree over one that's struggling any day.

[tutti]

My soil is a bit on the heavy/clay side and has a tremendous amount of moisture in it. The water table is ridiculously high where I am, on account of the council blocking off a local stream that ran behind all the gardens in my road. Now everyone has waterlogged gardens! Scab is the biggest problem I fear. Having said that, all the pear trees I have and that are in neighbouring gardens are a bit on the small and thin side. We have no monsters.....

[chrisdb]

Really? The council blocked off a stream and didn't put in any alternative drainage? Has anyone complained?

[tutti]

They put a drain beneath the garden and garage of a house, though it didn't make much difference as we're upstream from the drain. The main issue is the ditch the stream ran in still gets some water on account of the allotments that back onto all the gardens getting overgrown with weeds and junk. Thy rarely clear the ditch, so it never drains away properly. It's not a major problem, but if you dig a hole over a foot deep and lave it for a day, it'll slowly fill with a few inches of water. Most of it slopes away from the houses so no flooding issues.

[tutti]

Just thought I'd see if anyone has any opinions of, or alternatives to my choice of Beth, Concorde and Sensation (Red sport of Williams)? Will be confirming and paying for order so, so I'm open to any suggestions anyone may have. I'm going with espaliers as my chosen form to train and pyrodwarf as the rootstock.
Thanks