Pear

Pyrus communis

Family Rosaceae

TreeZones 4-8

Botanical illustration of Pear

A proper pear is an event you schedule: picked firm in late summer or fall, finished indoors, then eaten in the brief window it holds perfect — buttery, fragrant, dripping. Pears never manage that in a shipping crate, which is why homegrown ones feel like a different fruit.

The tree is long-lived and handsome, 15-20 feet as a standard, white with bloom in spring and busy with bees, butterflies, and birds. Pears need a pollination partner, so plant a pair — one for fresh eating and canning, one to argue for making perry.

Where to buy pear — 10 nurseries compared

  • Full Sun
  • Moderate water
  • Moderate growth
  • Excellent edible
  • Attracts bees
  • Attracts butterflies
  • 600-900 winter chill
  • Needs a pollination partner
  • Juglone-sensitive
Pear — a print from the Plant Library collection

From the print shop

Growing pear? Hang it.

Our Plant Library collection carries pear — Pyrus communis, print Nº 355, “Pear.”

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Will it fruit where you are?

Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what pear actually needs.

Hardy inZones 4-8
Winter chill600-900
PollinationPartner needed

Pear · Common problems

Common pear problems

Pests, diseases and weather to keep an eye on.

Pests

9 problems on file

Diseases

6 problems on file

Pollination

Poor pollination → low fruit set (plant a partner)

Pear · Growing & propagation

Growing pear

Light, water, soil, propagation and the season’s jobs.
What it needsThe details
Light
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Tolerates heavier clay than other fruits, prefers Loam · pH 6.0 - 7.0
Fertilizer
Light feeder

Avoid excess Nitrogen (causes Fireblight).

Pruning
Late Winter

Central Leader or Modified Central Leader

Spacing
15-20 ft

How to plant & propagate pear

Propagate
Grafted, or from cuttings/layering

Seed won't come true

Pear · Harvest & keeping

What you get from pear

How long before it bears, how much it gives, how you know it is ready, and how long it keeps once picked.
Botanical illustration of Pear
Years to first harvest
3 to 6 years
Typical yield
40–100 lbs
What you eat
Fruit
How to tell it is ready
Pick firm-mature

European pears ripen off the tree

How long it keeps
2-4 weeks cold then ripen

Pear · Seasonal care & spray guidance

The pear growing playbook

Field-tested instructions for every job pear asks of you, compiled from university extension guidance — in the order the season brings them.

When to spray pear

Dormant season. Dormant Oil (Psylla/Scale): Apply in late winter before bud break. Copper: Reduce Fireblight inoculum.

Growing season. Bloom: Streptomycin ONLY if conditions are warm (>65°F) and wet (Fireblight risk). Petal Fall: Insecticide.

While it is dormant

winter, before growth starts

2 jobs
PruningIn February and March

Dormant pruning: train a central leader before growth starts

Prune while the tree is fully dormant, before active growth begins in spring. Keep one central trunk with tiers of wide-angled scaffolds and let the canopy taper narrower at the top, so light reaches the lower limbs. Pear limbs grow narrow and upright on their own, so spread young branches with weights, ties, or spacer sticks. Avoid heavy fall pruning. Pears bear on long-lived spurs that need direct light to stay fruitful, so an open, tapered canopy is what keeps spurs producing throughout the tree instead of only in the top tier.

PruningIn January and February

Cut out fire blight cankers while the tree is dormant

Before growth starts, go over the tree and find last season's fire blight: sunken dark cankers on limbs and blackened shoots hooked over like a shepherd's crook. Cut each one a minimum of 8 to 12 inches below any sign of infected tissue. Take out the suckers at the base of the tree at the same time, and destroy everything you remove rather than leaving it in the row. The fire blight bacterium overwinters alive at the margins of those cankers, and in spring they ooze the inoculum that infects the opening blossoms; cutting them out in dormancy removes the season's first source of the disease from the tree.

As growth begins

early spring

3 jobs
FeedingIn spring

Fertilize by last year's shoot growth, not by the calendar

In spring, measure last season's terminal shoot growth before you fertilize anything. A pear that grew less than 6 inches gets about 1 pound of calcium nitrate. A pear older than 3 years that grew more than 12 inches gets no nitrogen at all - only sul-po-mag, and only if a soil or tissue test calls for potassium or magnesium. Test the soil every three years. Nitrogen on an already-vigorous pear buys succulent shoots, and succulent shoot tissue is exactly what fire blight infects and races through - so on this crop the shoot ruler decides the fertilizer, not the season.

SprayingAt green tip

Dormant horticultural oil for pear psylla, before the buds swell

Watch the buds, not the calendar - the date this comes due moves by weeks between regions. Any time from full dormancy until the buds swell, cover the whole tree with horticultural oil, and include oil again in the delayed dormant spray as the buds break. Green tip is the outside limit: the oil has to be on the tree before the overwintering females mature their eggs, and egg laying runs from then through white bud. Pear psylla adults overwinter on the tree and become active any time the temperature is above 40 F, laying eggs from late winter through white bud. Oil works less as a poison than as exclusion, and an early oil has been shown to delay egg laying by over 95 percent for about five weeks.

SprayingAt green tip

Fire blight: delayed-dormant copper between bud swell and green tip

Between bud swell (silver tip) and green tip, when leaves are just starting to emerge, apply a fixed copper spray. Put it on as a high-volume application that thoroughly wets every exposed surface - twigs, spurs, and old canker faces. Copper knocks down the bacterial populations that overwintered on the bark and in canker margins before rain can wash them into the opening blossoms, which is where fire blight actually enters the tree.

While it flowers

at bloom

1 job
SprayingAt bloom

Fire blight: streptomycin on open blossoms during warm, wet bloom

When wet weather lands during bloom and temperatures run about 60 to 75 F, spray streptomycin as soon as the flowers open and repeat at 3 to 4 day intervals as long as blossoms are present. A minimum of two applications is needed for control. The open flower is where Erwinia amylovora multiplies; in warm weather the population on a single blossom can explode within a day or two, and rain then carries the bacteria down into the nectary where they infect.

Just after bloom

as the fruit sets

2 jobs
ThinningAfter fruit set

Thin to one pear per cluster as soon as the fruitlets set

Once the fruitlets have set, thin to one fruit per cluster and space the remaining clusters about 6 inches apart along the limb. Do it as early as you can get to it. Next year's flower buds are initiated over the four to six week period following full bloom, so aim to have thinning finished before that window is out - the earlier the job is done, the more it accomplishes, and thinning at the tail end of it is largely too late to buy you a crop next year. The tree is setting next year's flower buds during those same weeks after bloom, so a heavy crop left on spends the tree's reserves on seed and shuts down next season's flowers - thinning early buys both fruit size this year and a crop next year.

SprayingAt petal fall

Codling moth: first spray after the petals are off

Wait until petal fall, then begin codling moth sprays about three weeks after full bloom, when the first eggs are hatching. Spinosad and codling moth granulovirus are both effective; repeat at the interval on the label, generally every 7 to 10 days while moths are flying. Rake up and destroy dropped fruit as it falls to break the cycle. Newly hatched codling moth larvae bore into the fruit almost immediately, and once inside the fruit no spray can reach them - the only opening is the short span between egg hatch and entry.

Harvest time

as it ripens, and picking

1 job
HarvestingAt harvest

Pick pears hard and green, then chill them before ripening

Pick European pears when they are full sized for the variety but still green and firm, not soft on the tree. Then give them their cold period: Bartlett needs only 1 to 2 days of refrigeration, while Bosc, Comice, and D'Anjou need 2 to 6 weeks. After chilling, ripen at 65 to 75 F in high humidity - roughly 5 days for Bartlett, 7 for Bosc and Comice, 9 for D'Anjou. They are ready when the flesh just below the stem yields slightly to gentle pressure. European pears resist ripening straight off the tree, and without that postharvest chilling a mature fruit will simply shrivel and decompose instead of ripening. Store-bought pears have already had their cold period, which is why home-grown fruit seems to fail.

Pear · Calculators & field guides

A little help in the garden.

Calculators for the figures. Field guides for the hands-on work.

Pear · Yearly calendar

The pear year, month by month

What pear asks for, month by month.

Jan

No calendar activity is listed for this month.

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bloom
Prune
Harvest

BloomApril

PruneFebruary to March

HarvestAugust to October

What each band means

  • Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
  • Prune — shape it now — cuts heal cleanly and structure is visible.
  • Harvest — picking time — check ripeness every few days.

These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.

Pear · Ecology & uses

Ecology & uses

What it does for the garden, and what it is grown for.
Botanical illustration of Pear

Pyrus communis

Pear in the garden system

  • Understory layer tree
Attracts
Bees, Birds, Butterflies
Moisture
Facultative / average
Deer
Browsed

Protect young plants

Origin
Introduced
Juglone
Pear is sensitive to juglone

The toxin exuded by black walnut, butternut, and their relatives. Keep it 50+ ft from any walnut or hickory, or its leaves will yellow, wilt, and die back for no obvious reason.

What pear is grown for

✓ Commonly eaten

Use
Fresh
Use
Canning
Use
Perry (Cider)
Edible value
4/5

Harvesting & storing pear

August - October.

Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.

Pear · Varieties & cultivars

Best pear varieties & cultivars

There are far more than these — the ones below are the named varieties of pear people actually plant.

Named varieties of pear differ in winter-chill needs, ripening time, hardiness, and whether they set fruit on their own — pick one that fits your climate.

21 varieties

Sources & plant identity

Know what you’re growing.
See where the knowledge comes from.

Botanical illustration of Pear

Pear

Pyrus communis

The plant, at a glance.

Botanical name
Pyrus communis
Plant family
Rosaceae
Growth habit
Tree · Perennial
Origin
Introduced
USDA plant symbol
PYCO
Invasive risk
Low
Every garden is different.

Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.

Rooted in research.

University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.

Explore Pear’s sources16 reference links
for Pear

Research from these sources

Clemson UniversityConnecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 1061 (Brassica Trials 2004-2012)NC State ExtensionPenn StatePurdue UniversityUniversity of FloridaUtah State UniversityWashington State Universitytxmg.org

Publisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.

Questions

Pear questions, answered straight.

Why isn't my pear fruiting?

Most often: it has no genetically distinct partner nearby. Pear can't pollinate itself — cross-pollination required (need 2 varieties). Plant a second, unrelated one nearby; two different cultivars, or a cultivar plus a seedling, is the classic pairing.

Will pear fruit in a warm-winter climate?

Pear needs roughly 600-900 hours of winter chill (hours between 32–45°F) to break dormancy and set fruit. Mild-winter growers should count their chill hours before planting.

Is pear safe for kids and pets?

Pear is commonly eaten and isn't considered toxic, but "commonly eaten" isn't a guarantee for any particular person or animal — allergies, quantity, and which part you eat all matter. Never eat a plant you haven't positively identified, and check with a vet before letting pets or livestock graze anything new.

When do you harvest pear?

August - October.

Elsewhere

Where pear sits in the library.

Where pear sits in the library

Self-fertile pears15Fireblight-resistant pears13Cold-hardy pears14Disease-resistant pears13Fruit trees31Fruit trees for zone 49Fruit trees for zone 515Fruit trees for zone 617Fruit trees for zone 718Fruit trees for zone 822All collections

Grows in the same world

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