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Fruit tree growing guide
Pear seed needs about three months of moist cold before it will germinate, and seedlings do not come true to the parent fruit. Grow them as rootstocks or as an experiment, and graft a named variety for reliable pears.
Use plump, dark seeds from ripe fruit. Take them out of the fruit and wash off all the pulp. In one study, seeds left inside the fruit through the cold period germinated poorly (about 7%), compared with about 85% for extracted seeds.
Not needed. Dormancy is in the embryo, so cold treatment is what wakes the seed. Researchers sometimes peel the seed coat, but home growers do not need to.
Essential. Seeds from fresh fruit have dormant embryos. Mix them with damp sand or wrap them in moist paper in a bag, and keep them at about 4 °C (39 °F) for about 90 days. In a study of Asian pear (P. pyrifolia), germination rose with longer cold and peaked at 100 days. In India, kainth rootstock seed is stratified in moist sand at 2-5 °C for 35-45 days.
Soak the cleaned seed in water for one day before stratification.
After stratification, germinate at about 20 °C (68 °F). Seeds kept warm (25 °C) without any cold treatment did not germinate at all in the P. pyrifolia study.
Cover the seed thinly, with about its own thickness of compost or sand. Seeds that have started to sprout in the stratification bag can be potted individually with the root pointing down.
A free-draining seed compost, or a mix of loam and sand, in deep pots or nursery rows.
Keep the stratification mix damp but not wet, and check it every couple of weeks for mould and early sprouting. After sowing, keep the compost evenly moist.
No light is needed for germination. Move seedlings into good light as soon as they emerge.
Usually 5-30 days at about 20 °C after a full cold period. Seed that has had too little cold germinates slowly and unevenly.
Pot each seedling on before its roots circle the pot. ICRAF gives a planting-out height of about 65-75 cm. Plant out in a sunny, sheltered spot away from frost pockets.
In India, one-year-old kainth (Pyrus pashia) or shiara (P. serotina) seedlings are used as rootstocks for budding or grafting. A pear seedling can be used the same way: graft a named variety onto it for fruit you can rely on.
In India, pears grow from the foothills to the high hills at about 600-2700 m and need roughly 500-1500 chilling hours. The Kisan guide lists Bartlett, Red Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Conference and Clapp's Favourite for high hills, and Patharnakh, Kieffer, Punjab Beauty and Punjab Gold for mid and low hills and valleys.
Most pears need a second compatible variety that flowers at the same time. Self-fertile varieties are the exception.
Pears on their own roots, including seedlings, reach 6 m (20 ft) or more. Grafting onto quince rootstocks gives a 2.5-4.5 m (8-15 ft) tree in temperate gardens.
A lack of water in summer makes extra fruitlets drop. Water deeply during dry weather while the fruit is setting.
Harvest firm fruit when it lifts with a twist. Store it cool and dark, not touching, and check it regularly while it ripens.
Stratify pear seed for about three months, then raise seedlings as rootstocks or as your own pear experiment.
No. Pears cross-pollinate, so each seedling is a new tree with different fruit. Named varieties are grafted.
About 90 days at around 4 °C in a damp medium. For Asian pear, about 100 days worked best in one study.
Yes, in the hills. The Kisan guide gives about 600-2700 m and 500-1500 chilling hours, with lower-chill varieties such as Patharnakh listed for mid and low hills and valleys.
Longer than a grafted tree, which bears in about 2-5 years depending on the rootstock. Grafting a named variety onto the seedling is the faster route.
