Pear

Siting: Pear trees need full sun and grow well in clay, loam, or sandy soils with good drainage, tolerating occasional dryness once established.

Pollination: Because most pear varieties are self-unfruitful, growers plant two or more compatible varieties together to ensure a full fruit set; trees are commonly propagated by grafting onto a dwarfing rootstock to keep them at a manageable size.

Pruning: Pears bear fruit on spurs, short stubby branches that form on older wood, so mature trees need comparatively little routine pruning compared with some other tree fruit.

Diseases: Pear is susceptible to fire blight, bacterial canker, scab, powdery mildew, and anthracnose, along with several rust diseases and fruit rots such as bitter rot, black rot, and brown rot.

Pests: Common insect visitors include pear psylla, codling moth, borers, leafrollers, and thrips, while pear rust mite and pear sawfly also attack the foliage; voles and yellow-bellied sapsuckers can cause additional damage to the tree.

Disorders: Stored and ripening fruit can develop physiological problems including bitter pit, cork spot, core breakdown, and storage scald, and trees may show injury from drought, waterlogging, winter cold, sunburn, or fruit cracking.

European pears typically need about 90 to 210 days from bloom to reach maturity, with harvest generally falling in summer or fall depending on the variety. Once picked, the fruit can be kept in storage for anywhere from 30 to 200 days.

Culinary: Pear fruit is eaten raw, cooked, or dried, and its sweet, fragrant flesh is also canned, pressed into juice, or fermented into perry.

Ornamental: The tree's clusters of white spring flowers draw butterflies, bees, and flies, and its fruit and form attract songbirds, making it a common choice for edible gardens, lawns, and meadow plantings.

Other: Pear wood is valued in the manufacture of woodwind instruments and fine furniture.