Pyrus communis Pears

Planting position: Full sun. Regions with hot summers and cold winters. Spacing depends on growing style, for instance if it get trained on a fence.
Requires regular watering, never allowing soil to dry out completely Deep well-draining, compost-enriched loamy soil and generous layers of mulching. Prune the same as for apples with light annual pruning. The over producing of fruit can cause smaller fruit crop thus it is essential to thin out clusters during late spring/early summer.
Propagate from budding or grafting, but rather purchase container-grown trees from a reputable nursery.
Fertilising programme: 1st spring - application of 250g LAN; 2nd spring - 750g of 2:3:2 and a mid-summer application of 250g LAN; 3rd spring - 1,5kg application of 2:3:2 and the same again in mid-summer; 4th spring - 1,75kg application of 2:3:2 and the same again in mid-summer; 5th spring - 2kg application of 2:3:2 and the same again for mid-summer (all spring applications should include 500g of magnesium sulphate). Start well away from the stem when spreading the fertiliser over root area.
Harvesting is done before the pears are ripe, but when they twist off easily. Never leave pears for long periods on the tree. Tip: Fold a newspaper sheet length wise until width of 10cm. Repeat on another sheet, so that you have two equally broad folded sheets. Staple them together on one end. Measure the width of an average pear and staple with intervals for the fruit. Store your fruit in these pockets.
Pests, diseases and their cures: Fruit fly and Codling (or false) moth - spray the same as for apricots; Pernicious scale - winter spraying with lime sulphur.

These hardy trees have a long productive life and their requirements are quite similar to apple trees. Pears are appreciated raw, as desserts, canned and in many other forms.