How to Grow and Harvest Pears: Pear Tree Care Guide

Since pear trees prefer cool weather, it’s best to plant young trees during the fall, in late winter, or in early spring, while they’re dormant.

1. 1. Choose and prepare the spot. Pear trees need full sun to produce sweet fruit, so pick a spot that gets at least six hours a day. For soil, they prefer well-draining soil rich with organic matter, but be careful of nitrogen-rich fertilizers; pear trees with access to too much nitrogen can be extra susceptible to a disease called fire blight. Since very few pear tree varieties are self-pollinating, you’ll need to plant at least two trees for cross-pollination in order to get any fruit at all, so make sure to choose a spot that has enough space for at least two mature trees: standard-size trees need at least twenty feet of space, semi-dwarf varieties need at least twelve feet, and dwarf pear trees need at least eight feet.
2. 2. Prepare the sapling. If you have a pear sapling that’s planted in a container or ball-and-burlap (meaning its roots are wrapped in burlap for safe transport), you don’t need to do anything to prepare the tree. If, however, you’re planting a bare-root pear tree, soak the roots in a bucket of water for up to six hours to give it a good drink.
3. 3. Dig the hole. The planting hole should be four to six inches wider and deeper than the root ball of your pear sapling; you don’t want any of the roots to bend back on themselves when you put the tree in.
4. 4. Place the roots in the hole. The soil line on the trunk should line up with the surface line of the hole. If your sapling is a grafted tree, make sure that the graft union is above the surface. If your sapling is a ball-and-burlap tree, place it in the hole with the burlap still wrapped around it to keep the rootstock secure while you position the tree, then tear the burlap down the sides of the hole and lift the tree to remove all of the wrapping.
5. 5. Spread the roots. In order to encourage the roots to grow out from the tree, gently spread and position them without too much bending.
6. 6. Fill the hole. Fill the hole with soil and compost. As you fill, gently shake the trunk back and forth to help the soil get into the root system. Once the hole is filled, firm the soil in with the toe of your shoe to give the tree a stable foundation without air pockets. Add a top layer of mulch around the tree to retain moisture and deter weeds (but not touching the trunk, since it could cause the wood to rot).
7. 7. Water the sapling. Thoroughly water the pear tree to help it settle into its new home.

Pear trees are a low-maintenance fruit tree, so they don’t require much from you in order to thrive:

• Water. During the first year or two, give your pear tree weekly waterings on a low setting during the growing season; this will get the water deep into the ground and help the tree establish strong, deep roots. Once your tree is mature, it requires little watering, except during prolonged dry periods.
• Prune. Pear trees require less pruning than many other fruit trees; at minimum, simply trim back diseased or overlapping branches. If you have a small gardening space and want to minimize the area your pear tree takes up, consider pruning pear trees more deliberately: fan-training (also called “espalier”) is a popular technique, in which you plant trees close to a wall and splay out their branches against it, pruning growth to “train” the tree to grow tight to the wall. Cordons are another way to grow dwarf trees in a confined space—plant the tree with a tall bamboo stick and prune the branches so that the tree grows in one tall stem (called a central leader) rather than a wide tangle of branches.
• Fertilize. Pear trees grow best when fertilized once per year, early in spring. Since pear trees are disease-prone if given too much nitrogen, be careful of nitrogen-rich fertilizers. If you’re unsure of how much fertilizer to use, use a small amount and let your tree tell you what it needs—if the leaves start looking yellow during the summer, be sure to use more fertilizer the next year.
• Thin. Once your pear tree starts fruiting, it’s best if you thin the fruit to clusters of two to three pears, leaving about six inches between clusters. This will help your tree produce fuller, better fruits.
• Pollinate. Since most pear trees are not self-fertile and require a nearby tree for pollination to produce fruit, it’s especially important to make your garden hospitable to pollinators like bees. Never spray insecticides when your pear trees are flowering.

After your tree has begun to bear fruit, pears are simple to harvest, depending on the different varieties:

1. 1. Harvest once pears begin to lighten. For most pear varieties, the young fruit will be a deep green color and will start to lighten to a yellow once mature, usually in mid-to-late summer. If you’re growing European pears (Pyrus communis, like Bosc, Bartlett, Anjou, moonglow, Kieffer, or comice), you should start harvesting just as the pears begin to yellow but are still hard—they will ripen the rest of the way after harvesting. If you’re growing Asian pears (Pyrus pyrifolia, like hosui or shinseiki), you should harvest them once they taste sweet and ready-to-eat.
2. 2. Pick pears off the tree. Choose hard, large fruits and pull them from the branches. The stem should easily separate from the tree; if the stem resists, give the pear a few more days on the branch. Leave less mature pears to continue to ripen during the season.
3. 3. Asian pears can be eaten off the tree. If you’re growing Asian pears, they’re ready to eat immediately after harvest.
4. 4. Allow European pears to ripen in a cool place. Leave European pears to sit and ripen for several days before eating or cooking with them—they’re ready to eat once they soften. (This is better than leaving European pears on the tree; if you let your pears soften on the tree, the final texture can be grainy.)

Mature pears can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to two months.

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