{"id":3694,"date":"2013-02-15T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=3694"},"modified":"2013-01-31T11:19:50","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T16:19:50","slug":"growing-pear-trees-too-challenging-for-southeast-gardeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/02\/15\/growing-pear-trees-too-challenging-for-southeast-gardeners\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Pear Trees Too Challenging For Southeast Gardeners?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Pears To Be Harvested in Two Months<\/p><\/div>\n

For many reasons growing pears in the Southeastern U.S. is very challenging. First, European (Pyrus communis<\/em>) and Asian (P. pyrifera<\/em>) pears are susceptible to fireblight (Erwinia amylovora<\/em>). This bacterial disease is very difficult to manage. Two of the leading European pear varieties, \u2018Bartlett\u2019 and \u2018Bosc\u2019, are\u00a0highly susceptible to fireblight. Varieties found to be fire blight resistant\u00a0include: ‘Warren’, ‘Aires’, and ‘Moonglow’. ‘Shinto’, an Asian pear variety with russet brown fruits,\u00a0exhibits above average fireblight resistance.<\/p>\n

European pear varieties do not ripen on the tree.\u00a0Fruits are harvested on the scheduled date for the variety and ripened indoors.\u00a0Unripened pears should be stored in a closed plastic or paper bag (sack) for 7-10 days at room temperature (60-70 \u00b0F). Fruits may then\u00a0be refrigerated to slow down their ripening.\u00a0As with apples, Asian pears ripen on the tree, and are ready to eat when harvested. Asian pears are picked from late August to early October, depending on the variety grown.<\/p>\n

European pear varieties will not pollinate Asian pears. Asian pears tend to bloom several days later than European varieties. Both European and Asian pears require cross-pollination from two or more different varieties which bloom near the same time.<\/p>\n

Both European and Asian pears are notorious for \u201cbiennial bearing\u201d. A tree may overproduce one year, and yield a small crop the next (the “off\u201d year). Biennial bearing in the \u201con\u201d year often results in limb breakage and smaller fruits. To prevent or break the biennial bearing cycle, remove excess fruit by hand within 30 days after full bloom in the \u201con\u201d year. As a rule, 30-40 leaves support one pear fruit.<\/p>\n

Finally, pruning pear trees can be a chore. Pears have a strong vertical branching form. Trees often grow tall and narrow, not easily within reach without a tall step ladder. Current pear dwarfing rootstocks have not been reliable, although better types may be available a few years away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  For many reasons growing pears in the Southeastern U.S. is very challenging. First, European (Pyrus communis) and Asian (P. pyrifera) pears are susceptible to fireblight (Erwinia amylovora). This bacterial disease is very difficult to manage. Two of the leading European pear varieties, \u2018Bartlett\u2019 and \u2018Bosc\u2019, are\u00a0highly susceptible to fireblight. Varieties found to be fire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,827,650,6,599,917,826,843,828,601,723,630,705],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3694"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4597,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions\/4597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}