Planting Pear Trees

If you are thinking of adding a tree to your gardening endeavors, then why not make it a pear tree? After all, this wonderful fruit tree will not only allow you to create some much needed windbreaks and shade for your garden, but also allow you the chance of some extra fruit. However, before you out and purchase one, you really should understand the basics of planting pear trees. As with any other kind of plant, these basics can be summarized in four areas: cultivation, pollination, pruning, and diseases or pests.

• Cultivation. Surprisingly, pears can grow quite easily in a wide variety of soil textures, and are usually a fairly tolerant tree. This means that pears can grow in soil that ranges from sandy to clay, as long as the soil isn't excessively light or dry. In addition, pears are even fairly tolerant of drought when compared to other kinds of fruit trees. Pears will need more nitrogen rich soil than other kinds of fruit (apples for example), so be prepared to apply a little bit of sulphate of ammonia to the soil, and a superphosphate every three years after planting.
• Pollination. Pears unlike other kinds of fruits, does need a little help in pollination. This means that you will have to add a few pollinators to help the process. For example, if you are thinking of planting a Bartlett pear tree, then you should also plant an Anjou pear tree. These two types of pear trees can pollinate with one another, and help produce fruit for one another.
• Pruning. Pear trees can be pruned either during the summer, or during the dormant season. When pruning a pear tree, try to stick to only removing dead or diseased tree limbs. This will help promote the overall health of the pear tree, and allow better fruit to grow on the remaining limbs. However, pear trees can be a bit vigorous at times, so you may need to do a bit of pruning simply to keep the plant in check.
• Diseases and pests. The most common types of pests that can afflict a pear tree are usually birds and wasps. That being said, there are a few other kinds of pests that could harm your pear tree, and those are things like aphids, pear leaf blister mites, and the pear midge. Some of the more common diseases that you can find your pear tree faced with are things like fire blight, canker, brown rot, honey fungus, and even scab.