Pear Essentials

Food Gardening Guide → Fruit Gardening Guide for Pears

By National Gardening Association Editors

Planning

• Choose fire blight-resistant varieties and rootstocks, especially in areas outside dry western regions.
• Most varieties will start to bear significant harvests after 5 to 6 years.
• Plant at least two different varieties for cross-pollination.

Preparation

• Choose a site with full sun, moderate fertility, and good air circulation and water drainage.
• Pears will do well in a wide range of soil types.

Planting

• Space standard-size trees 20 to 25 feet apart; space dwarf trees 12 to 15 feet apart.

Care

• Pears do best with a small amount of fertilizer early in the year. Heavy doses of nitrogen will make the tree more vulnerable to fire blight.
• Use spreaders to encourage horizontal branching and earlier fruiting spurs.
• See our article Fruit Pests and Diseases for controls of common pear pests such as pear psylla, codling moth, plum curculios, and fire blight.

Harvesting

• Don't let pears ripen on the tree. Harvest them when they reach a mature size but are still hard.
• Early pears will ripen at room temperature in a few days to a week. Storage varieties will keep 1 to 2 months or more in a cool (40° F), dark place.

Other articles in this series:

1. Meet the Asian Pears

2. Pear Essentials ← you're on this article right now

3. Pear Varieties

4. Pear Care

5. Fireblight Disease on Pears

6. Codling Moth on Pears

7. Harvesting Pears

Other articles in this series:

1. Meet the Asian Pears

2. Pear Essentials ← you're on this article right now

3. Pear Varieties

4. Pear Care

5. Fireblight Disease on Pears

6. Codling Moth on Pears

7. Harvesting Pears