How To Choose A Variety And Grow A Pear Tree That Gives Tasty And Healthy Fruits (part 3)

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

Growing seedlings

The pear is a very picky plant. Either frost damage it, or drought. And in the south - the sun is too hot. Trees grow poorly. And the yields are small.

The pear develops a deep taproot. With such an enviable root, the pear can live carefree in semi-arid climates. And even in arid. However, it does not always survive. And the gardener himself is often to blame for this.

While the pear passes the time of youth, the gardener damages its roots three times. First time when seedlings dive in the nursery. The second is when he puts them in the school. The third time, when transplanted into the garden at a permanent place.

For example, in Ukraine, in order to avoid damage to the roots, pears are grown in a direct way. They bear fruit after four years. With a normal planting, pears give fruit after seven years.

Another major problem with pears is winter varieties. There are few of them, and those that exist leave much to be desired. Some are as small as plums, others are often sick or simply tasteless. All the best pears, melting in your mouth and aromatic, are summer or autumn varieties.

In the northern regions of our country, only the most winter-hardy varieties of pears, grafted onto resistant rootstocks and adapted to local climatic conditions, can grow and bear fruit. The frost resistance of the highest quality pear varieties can be increased by grafting them into the crown of such varieties as Tonkovotka, Limonka and Summer Bergamot.

In our country, there are about 40 species of wild pears. They are extremely valuable for rootstock and breeding purposes. To create a pear with high winter hardiness, gardeners grow rootstocks from their seeds. You can also use local winter-hardy forms of forest pear.

With a stable snow cover, the root system of a pear rarely freezes out, as it can tolerate a decrease in temperature in the root layer to minus -10 … -12 ° C. Autumn mulching and an increase in the layer of snow under the crown of the tree help to save its root system from freezing.

A common disadvantage of seed-grown pear rootstocks is weak branching of roots, vigorous branches, as a result of which trees grow tall and inconvenient for caring for them.

Using rootstocks

Now let's look at crops that can be used as rootstock for pears.

Irga as a weak rootstock for pears can be used in spike and round-leaved form. They are distinguished by high frost resistance, undemanding to the soil, tolerate waterlogging and short-term drought, which allows irga to grow and bear fruit in the most extreme conditions.

When a pear is grafted onto an irga, a significant influx is almost always observed at the grafting site, but it does not weaken the mechanical strength of the combination of the scion with the stock. Since the irga below the grafting site is much thinner than the pear trunk, the grafted plants, like on any other dwarf rootstock, should be tied to a support.

A pear on an irga reaches a height of 2.5 m, that is, it is a typical dwarf plant.

Chokeberry or black chokeberry. A very light-loving plant. The root system can be damaged at temperatures around -12 ° C. Roots from damage can be saved with a snow layer of 15-20 cm. Chokeberry is hygrophilous. A biennial plant is used as a stock. Numerous root growths should be systematically removed and the trunk tied to a support.

Rowan ordinary. It is of interest as a rootstock for a pear. It grows successfully on insufficiently fertile lands. According to K. N. Korshunova, a pear grafted on a mountain ash, at the age of twenty does not exceed 3.5 m, therefore it belongs to medium-sized. The compatibility of most varieties of pears with mountain ash is satisfactory. Fruiting begins in the fourth year. But not for all varieties of pear, rowan is suitable as a rootstock. Pears are poorly vaccinated and grow Tonkovetka, Blankova's daughter, Russian Malgorzhatka, Dula Novgorodskaya. The fruits of a pear grafted on mountain ash ripen 7-10 days later. Winter hardiness is high.

Hawthorn also has a high winter hardiness. As a stock for pears, single-seeded and black-fruited hawthorn is suitable, Siberian hawthorn is not suitable.

It is not always possible to grow standard pear stocks in one season. This is especially true of rootstocks of irgi, black chokeberry, hawthorn and seedlings of wild and cultivated pear. Use the method of sowing seeds directly in greenhouses or in peat pots in greenhouses, which provide optimal conditions for the rapid growth of seedlings.

Seedlings during autumn sowing appear 10-15 days earlier. Give the first feeding in the phase of initial growth, when the plant has 5-7 leaves; the second - in the phase of enhanced growth. To increase the winter hardiness of the rootstocks, give a third top dressing - phosphorus-potassium fertilizers before digging them.

Water and loosen the soil after each feeding.

The rootstocks obtained in one way or another can be grafted by budding, cuttings, or winter grafting can be used.

Winter pear grafting is carried out from December to March in room conditions. In this case, improved copulation is mainly used. With different diameters of the rootstock and scion, the grafting is done in stock.

By the end of the year, plant the grafted plants in plastic containers measuring 22x25 cm with a substrate of peat and sand in a ratio of 3: 1. Place containers in sheltered greenhouses until April. When the scion reaches a height of 10 cm, feed the plants every 10-15 days with a solution of ammonium nitrate until they reach a height of 75-100 cm.

Overwintered one-year-olds are pruned to form a crown. Leave 10 internodes above the stem 40-50 cm. In the future, promptly remove shoots on the trunk and competitors with sharp corners at the continuation shoot. Continue crown formation for two-year-olds.

Choosing a place for a pear, planting a seedling

Move the warmest, sheltered from the winds, well-lit area with deep, loose, nutrient-rich and sufficiently moist soil.

Pears grafted on seedlings of winter-hardy cultivars and forest pears grow and bear fruit best on loamy and clayey soils, underlain by light loams. However, they do not cope well with heavy clayey moist and light dry sandy soils.

A pear grafted on dwarf rootstocks imposes increased requirements on the soil due to the more superficial location of the root system. In this case, the root system has a reduced frost resistance. In spring, flowers and young fruit ovaries can be damaged, and in winter at temperatures down to -35 ° C degrees, the tree can die.

Before planting, it is advisable to carry out deep tillage, remove the roots of old trees and shrubs, stones and woody vegetation. Digging up the soil to a depth of 40-45 cm, add manure or peat compost and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. This enriches the root layer with nutrients, reduces the density of the upper soil layers, improves air exchange and water permeability, and normalizes the water and air regime of the root layer.

On medium podzolic soils, deep plowing is not carried out, since mixing the podzolic horizon with the upper soil layer can worsen the conditions for the development of the pear root system.

For pears, as well as for apple trees, grafted on vigorous rootstocks, holes are usually dug quite large: on poor heavy soil - 1-2 m wide, 0.6-0.8 m deep, or even deeper when it is necessary to remove the gley layer. impermeable to water and low permeability to roots. There is no need to make such extensive pits on good black soil, just as for trees grafted on semi-dwarf rootstocks, or on vigorous rootstocks, but with an insert of a low-growing rootstock. For them, pits 1 m in diameter and 0.5-0.6 m deep are sufficient, and for dwarfs - 0.9 m in diameter and 0.4-0.5 m deep. Pears can be planted in autumn and spring. For spring planting, holes are dug in the fall, and for autumn planting - in 3-4 weeks. Subsequent cultivation of the soil in the near-trunk circles is necessary. The earth must be poured so that a mound forms around the stake. At a distance of half a meter from the trunk, rake a small roller, forming a hole for watering.

After planting and compacting the soil, irrespective of the weather and soil moisture, water the soil using 2-3 buckets of water per tree. Wet soil settles vigorously, eliminating voids and making good contact with the root system. Cover the trunk circle with 5-10 cm of mulch. The tie stake should be as high as the first skeletal branch.

If the groundwater is close to the surface of the earth - a meter and a half, then fruit trees should be "raised" and planted on artificially filled hills, rather high. The mounds are made up to 3 m in diameter and up to 0.7-1 m high.

A hole is dug before reaching the aquifer. Arrange a drainage and put fertile soil on it, and on the horizon of the development of the root system - good soil with humus.

Tamara Barkhatova

Photo by Olga Rubtsova