Plan for pear perfection this season by accommodating your gardening program to the development cycle of your pear trees. Every year, pear trees, like the rest of the fruit trees, go through a developing cycle. Being in touch with this cycle for a gardener makes it possible to determine the best times to prune, protect and harvest your pear trees.
Dormant Season
The conditions that occur throughout the dormant season ascertain whether your pear trees will produce later in this year. During the dormant season, pear trees require a specific number of chill hours. These are the range of hours once the pear tree experiences temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit but above freezing. If it doesn’t get enough chill hours, then you fruit creation suffers. The only way to ensure you get enough chill hours is to choose a pear tree that matches the normal chill hours to your area. Most pear trees require 600 to 900 chill hours. The winter dormant season is the ideal time to prune your pear trees. To open the canopy, prune 20 percent of this tree’s growth.
Flowering Season
Through the spring, you must see flower blossoms appear on your pear tree. In case you have an Asian pear tree, then you want to thin the blossoms once they seem to make sure that it fruits each year. The flowering season is the time to add fertilizer. The amount you use depends on whether you have a young or older tree. The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources recommends with between 4 and 8 ounces of ammonium sulfate on young trees in May and July. Older trees need 4 pounds of the exact same fertilizer within the active growing season. The initial fertilizer program has to be performed before irrigating for the first time at the spring. Spring is also the time to make sure your pear trees are adequately pollinated. Most pear trees need a second variety for a cross-pollinator.
Fruiting Season
Throughout the summer, your pear tree will begin to flip the blossoms into fruit. You want to protect the trees from excessive water loss during the dry summer months by drip irrigating them every day or using sprinklers to water every two to three weeks. The water should reach a depth of 18 to 24 inches into the soil.
Harvest Season
The crop season occurs in the fall, but the specific time you crop depends on the sort of pears you are growing. Asian pears must ripen on the tree. In case you have a European pear, such as “Bartlett,” pick the pears while they are still green and let them ripen in the dark at a cool site. When you harvest all of the pears from your trees, water and shake them as you did at the spring. Eliminate any leaves or fruit that dropped to the ground to protect against the spread of diseases or insects.