Is a pear tree worth it?

[d000hg]

I've always had the impression that growing a pear tree in England is likely to be fairly fruitless (!) - is this true? Compared to apples plums and cherries how do pears compare?

In NE England for what it's worth

[Nicos]

In the uk I had a young pear tree. Conference I think.
Never fruited much, but it also got covered with blisters each year.
Not a great success.
Here I have 3 espalier trees of different varieties-all flowering at slightly different times. One of the always does better than the others....but not necessarily the same one each year. But we usually get enough to get by.
My friend here has 3 cooking ones and they do really well every year. Freeze well too. Again, one always does better than the others....

I think if I were to choose my own again I'd look into when it flowers and how gritty the fruit is first.

[Greenleaves]

We have a huge Conference pear in the garden....I often have to knock fruits off to avoid branches breaking. I think all pears need patience and people expect a good crop from year one.

[4Shoes]

If you are in an exposed site - forget it.

Pears and Wind don't mix

[lottieguy]

Hi Ya, I am fairly exposed and my pear tree though small, produces fruit no problem. Not every year as i believe like apple they have a 2 year cycle. I have nice apples as well. My friend next plot to me has plum trees and so does the person next to them as well as fruit like apples, pears etc and have had to get rid of the plum trees due to infection of plum moth and were advised to get rid. I enjoy picking a pear or apple when down the plot they taste so much better than shop bought and they do say home grown is best. There is a lot of different fruit grown on our site and apart from the plums no one has major problems in fact most years they are giving it away. I would go for a pear. It could be also that there is not another tree nearby to help with pollination, but I still enjoy mine. Good luck

[flynch]

Depends upon location and variety. Pears tend to blossom earlier than most apples so are very vulnerable to late frost. You'd need a late blooming pear for your area I'd imagine. I'm on the south coast and have several pears doing rather well so far but still young. My harvesters queen had set over 90 before I had to thin them out to avoid branches breaking, not bad for a very small tree that's only 3 years old. Most pear varieties also take longer to come into bearing than Apple's mainly due to the fact rootstock is still very limited for pears so you don't tend to get super dwarfing early bearing. My canal red is in it's 4 year and is the first year it's had any fruitbuds so fingers crossed I'll get to try them this year. Some varieties might not come into full bearing until 6 years old, about the same as the average for Apple's on m25. Of course there are always some precious varieties that bear very young in life.

Then of course there's pear midge that can easily wipe out a whole crop very soon after fruit set. Theses factors are probably why people think of pears as being unfruitful.

You'd never know until you gave it a go. For the north I'd choose the latest flowering varieties I could find.

[4Shoes]

If you are in an exposed site - forget it.

Pears and Wind don't mix

Perhaps the last frost does not help - Middle of May for us.

[nickdub]

I'd say pears are lower on the "I'd definitely plant that" list than apples or plums due to regularity and size of crops. Having said that if you have the space I'd definitely say you can get worthwhile crops from them albeit its worth picking varieties that will likely go OK on your site.

I love cherries and find the trees grow well for me, but find it virtually impossible to keep the birds from stripping all the fruit - so planting them completely depends on what sort of anti-bird measures you can put in place.

[mosstrooper]

I find pears do well for me and i'm further north, although coastal. If you're up in the windy, exposed hills they won't do well i don't think.
Last year i pruned off 90% of the young pears and still got around a dozen big fat juicy pears per tree Definitely worth planting some.
Mine are espaliers and cordons btw

[d000hg]

Wind is not an issue, the garden is incredibly sheltered at low heights. Frost might be.

If I've got the space and the place I'm buying is doing 2 for £25 or whatever, I might chance one.

[veggiechicken]

I'd plant a couple of pears in preference to cherries, because the birds always eat the cherries first.

[d000hg]

I hope to net my cherries though we'll see how that goes!

[nickdub]

Wind is not an issue, the garden is incredibly sheltered at low heights. Frost might be.

If I've got the space and the place I'm buying is doing 2 for £25 or whatever, I might chance one.

Be aware that some pears are self-sterile - so either miss those of your possibles list, or check any neighboring trees as a pollen partner.

[d000hg]

Good point. You can generally rely on there being apples somewhere near but I doubt there is another pear close by

[Ananke]

My conference pear tree is around 7yrs old and has only really just started producing. I keep it quite small and last year got about a dozen huge pears. Must have picked them too early or didn't store them right as they didn't soften.