How To Choose A Variety And Grow A Pear Tree That Gives Tasty And Healthy Fruits (part 2)

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

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Ay, yes pear! What a marvel - both blush and beautiful

Pear requirements for growing conditions

For normal vegetation, the pear tree needs light, certain temperature, humidity, nutrition and other factors.

Light mode. Pear belongs to light-loving plants. With a lack of light, a pronounced tiering appears: a high, narrow crown, bare at the base of the branch, dying ringlets are visible. Underdevelopment of flower buds is noted - an incomplete set of flowers in an inflorescence, defects in structure, etc. The leaves of such trees are large, but thin, have an intense green color, the fruits are smaller with a weak color.

The pear makes the greatest demands on light during flowering and fruit formation.

Thermal regimeis essential for the life processes of the pear. Growth, absorption of minerals by roots, metabolism, respiration, assimilation, etc. depend on it. In terms of the degree of frost resistance, the pear is in third place after the apple and cherry (with the exception of the Far Eastern Ussuri pear).

Western European and Baltic pear varieties endure winters with temperatures up to 26 ° C. Temperatures below -30 … -35 ° C are tolerated only by Central Russian varieties.

Young trees are most sensitive to frost in the first 2-3 years. This is due to the weak regenerative ability of the horse system damaged during transplantation. Therefore, try to purchase seedlings in containers.

The frost resistance of various organs and parts of a pear is not the same. To protect it from low critical temperatures during the growing season or dormancy, use garden smoke during flowering, late autumn watering, snow retention, whitewashing of boles and skeletal branches, mulching the soil with peat and other materials.

Water-air regime. The pear is most demanding on moisture at a young age, since its taproot at this time has very few root lobes. As the tree grows and develops, the roots reach great depth. The pear tolerates a lack of moisture better than other garden crops and reacts negatively to its excess in the lower soil horizons. With prolonged soil moisture, the roots die off. To eliminate excess moisture on the site, drain and cultivate the soil.

The soil must be structural and fertile. Loamy and clayey soils have a high absorption capacity. Sandy and sandy loam soils have poor absorption capacity. Nutrients are easily washed out from them. Fertilizers in such soils are best applied in small doses, but often in the form of top dressing. The pear tolerates any soil in which normal root growth is possible. The exception is sandy crushed stone soils.

The consistency of the pulp, taste and aroma of the fruit depend on the properties of the soil. On poor soils, pears are often sour, with dry, bitter flesh. Sandy dry soils impair the taste of the fruit and shorten the fresh storage period. Pear grows best on slightly acidic and neutral, aerated soils. When waterlogged, it is difficult for the roots to absorb iron, and the trees become sick with chlorosis.

Features of the growth and fruiting of pears

There are five main periods in the vegetative development of this tree.

1. Growth period of vegetative parts until the first fruits appear on the young tree. Depending on the biological characteristics of varieties and rootstocks, this period ends with the formation of the crown skeleton for 5-8 years, and for low-growing varieties faster - for 3-4 years.
2. Fruiting growth period from first to regular harvests. An increased tendency for growth appears in the first half of the period, when the crown of an adult tree is formed. Trees form a limited number of flower buds, flowers and fruits.
3. The period of fruiting and growth lasts from the onset of stable fruiting of the tree to obtaining maximum yields. Plants bear fruit regularly, producing fruits of high commercial quality. Some of the old branches die off, self-thinning of the crowns occurs, improving the air-light environment.
4. Fruiting period with maximum yields. Some main branches die off, skeletal branches are exposed, and fruiting moves from the base to the periphery. The productivity of trees decreases, the weaker ones die off.
5. The period of dying fruiting, drying out and growth. Tops appear on the bare parts of the main branches. Further extinction of life processes is characterized by the death of part or all of the tree.

To speed up the fruiting of trees, allow them to grow quickly in the first years after planting.

Flower buds begin to form when growth processes are mostly completed. Blossoming of flower buds in pears occurs 1-5 days earlier than vegetative ones. Therefore, she is so beautiful, like a bride in a wedding dress, during flowering. The duration of flowering and longevity of the flower is greatly influenced by weather conditions (blooms from 3-5 days to 2 weeks).

The growth of shoots on a tree largely depends on the activity of the root system. The first wave of active growth in the spring, and the second in the fall. Pear seedlings are painful to suffer damage and root pruning.

Features of the root system of the pear tree

The pear has vertical roots that go deep into the subsoil, they branch weakly, and horizontal roots are almost parallel to the soil surface and are highly branching. The branching of the root system depends on the ecological conditions, stock and characteristics of the grafted variety. The depth of the root system of the pear is much higher than that of the apple tree. The bulk of the roots is at a depth of 20-100 cm, and skeletal roots penetrate to a depth of 5 m. That is why, in areas with a close occurrence of groundwater, it is better to plant a pear in a bulk hill.

Reproduction by root cuttings is much more difficult for her than for an apple tree, since the root hairs of a pear are ten times shorter.

The roots of a pear tree begin to grow 15 days earlier than the aboveground part - at a temperature of + 6 … + 7 ° C and sufficient moisture. Their maximum growth occurs at a temperature of + 10 … + 20 ° C. It must be remembered that the root system of pears of Central Russian varieties dies at a temperature in the root layer below -10 ° C.

At the same time, the root system of the pear is more flexible than that of the apple tree, therefore it is better adapted to growing in different soil conditions. At a young age, it is demanding on abundant soil moisture, since it has few root lobes, and the main roots regenerate poorly when planting.

Features of crop formation

In a pear, not all set fruits reach the removable ripeness - 95% of them fall off. There are many reasons for this: deficiencies in the structure of the flower, abnormal conditions of pollination and fertilization (strong wind, drought or rainy weather during the flowering period), damage by pests and diseases, lack of nutrition.

For normal fruit development, the pear tree needs to be given a sufficient amount of nutrients. For example, applying nitrogen fertilizers shortly before flowering increases fruit set.

Timely collection of fruits is also of great importance to preserve the harvest. In pears, removable and consumer maturity is distinguished. Fruits of winter varieties are harvested in late September - early October, while their consumer maturity occurs in December - January. From a biological point of view, the readiness of the fruit is determined by the formation of normally germinating seeds.

Premature harvest of pear fruit results in weight loss, poor coloration, wrinkling, browning of the skin, and subcutaneous spotting during storage. But too late harvesting reduces the overall yield, transportability and keeping quality of fruits, negatively affects the next year's harvest. In some varieties of pears (varieties

Tonkovotka,

Dulia Novgorodskaya), due to non-simultaneous ripening of fruits, they have to be harvested again.

In shape, pear fruits are kubarevidny with a vaguely pronounced neck (Bessemyanka variet

), pear-shaped, in which the neck is clearly visible (Tonkovotka variety

), elongated pear-shaped (

Bere Oktyabrya) and bergamot-like, almost round (

Autumn Bergamot).

According to their size, the fruits are divided into very small (up to 25 g), small (26-50 g), lower average (51-100 g), medium (101-150 g), above average (151-200 g), large (201- 300 g) and very large (over 300 g). The color of pear fruits can also be very different: yellow, yellow-green, green with a blush. The blush is pink, crimson, red, brick red and other shades - solid, washed out, dotted and striped.

Pulpdifferent varieties have different: white with a greenish, light yellow or pink tint. A group of pear varieties called "bere" has an oily, melting pulp.

After the end of leaf fall, the pear tree falls into deep natural rest, then goes into a state of forced dormancy. The dormant period in the branches begins earlier than in the roots. The shortest dormant period has the varieties of the Ussuri pear and varieties bred with its participation. Of the Central Russian varieties, pear varieties Kordonovka and Rubtsova begin the growing season earlier than others

and

of the Baltic varieties -

Bere Lutsa.

To be continued →

Tamara Barkhatova

Photo by Olga Rubtsova