Planting pears in autumn

Pear is a wonderful fruit tree with tasty and healthy fruits with different flavor characteristics. With proper care and creating favorable conditions, a pear will bring rich yields (about 100 kg from one adult tree) for more than a dozen years. In our climate with cold winters and hot summers, this fruit plant feels great.

Popular pear varieties

• Samara Beauty is a frost-resistant variety with sweet and sour fruits.
• "Cathedral" is an unpretentious early ripening cold-resistant variety with a slight acidity in the fruits.
• "Moskvichka" is an early ripening variety with aromatic, sweet and soft fruits.
• "Lada" is a cold-resistant variety, not susceptible to diseases and pests.
• "Tenderness" is a high-yield variety with juicy fragrant fruits.
• "Nectarnaya" is a high-yielding variety with juicy sweet and sour fruits.

Landing time and dates

For planting pears, you must choose warm and not rainy weather. The most favorable time is September-October (before the onset of autumn frosts), although some gardeners plant pears in the spring.

The autumn planting has its positive aspects:

• At this time in nurseries there is a huge selection and a wide variety of seedlings;
• The seedlings purchased from the nursery have already gained strength over the summer and have grown stronger;
• Winter time for young trees will be a period of good hardening and will make them more hardy;
• Spring frosts will no longer be dangerous for such trees.

The pear is considered a capricious tree and for its cultivation certain skills of working with fruit crops and a lot of experience are required.

Site selection and preparation

A place

To plant a pear, you need to immediately choose a permanent place, since the tree does not respond well to transplantation. This should be an open area with good lighting and sufficient heat from the sun. Considering that the tree in the near future will acquire a spreading and lush crown (about 5 m in diameter), care must be taken that there are no other tall stands or buildings next to the young tree.

Neighborhood with other cultures

The pear perfectly coexists with fruit crops, which are the same in care. For example, an apple tree can be planted nearby, but it is better to stay away from a mountain ash, because both of these trees suffer from the same diseases and suffer from the same pests. If one specimen falls ill, then the "neighboring" one may suffer.

The soil

The soil on the site should be loose and light, with sufficient moisture and high-quality (fertile) composition. Excessive clay content in the soil is undesirable and even dangerous for the seedling. When preparing the landing holes, you should pay special attention to this.Replacing the upper clay layer with a high-quality soil mixture (for example, a mixture of peat with complex fertilization) or fertile soil will delay the death of the tree only for 2-3 years, since the root system will grow and at a depth of 40-50 cm it will still come into contact with the clay layer ...

Preparation of planting holes and methods of planting seedlings

If there is a clay layer in the selected area, it is recommended to dig a hole shallow, not reaching the clay bottom. In order for the roots of the seedling to sit well in the ground and not come into contact with the clay, it is necessary to make small grooves of the same depth and length of about 1 m in all four directions from the planting hole.These grooves must be filled with any organic waste (for example, food residues, sawdust, shavings, weeds or needles), which have been pre-soaked in liquid fertilizer. When planting, the roots of the seedling are evenly distributed in different directions, reaching organic matter. In such conditions, the root part of the pear will not grow deeper to the clay layer, but in width, and besides, it will be provided with food for several years in advance.

If the groundwater is close to the site or it is located in a lowland where high humidity persists, and especially during the spring thaw of snow, in areas with heavy soil, you can use another method of planting a seedling. It is recommended to plant a young tree on an earthen mound (from fertile soil) about fifty centimeters high. Every year you need to add soil to the mound, as the needs of the growing tree will increase.

On a standard plot of land with everything you need (food, moisture, heat and light) for planting and growing young pears, the usual method is used. Planting holes begin to be prepared in early autumn, approximately 15-20 days before planting. First, the land is freed from weeds and dug up. Then the holes are deepened by 45-50 cm, sorting the soil - the top layer of soil is folded in one direction, and the lower one in the other. The diameter of each hole is about 1 m. The bottom of the holes must be loosened thoroughly. The top layer of soil dug from the planting pit must be mixed with several components - coarse river sand, peat, superphosphate, rotted manure and complex fertilizer containing phosphorus and potassium. For soil with a high level of acidity, it is recommended to add lime (in the form of crumbs) and chalk (in the form of powder), but fresh manure cannot be used. He is able to cause severe burns to the root system, which will lead to the death of the plant.

Planting and caring for a pear

Selection and preparation of seedlings

Experienced gardeners advise purchasing seedlings at the age of one or two years. When buying, you need to carefully examine the root and aerial parts of the tree. It should be free of any damage, drying or withering parts, signs of diseases and pests. The trunk should be strong, elastic, and free from various spots or signs of rot.

If individual roots or twigs are damaged during transportation, then they must be cut off. A day before planting a tree, it must be dipped in a water-honey solution or in a mullein infusion.

The process of planting seedlings

The seedling must be planted on a prepared earthen mound, carefully straightening the root part. In the center of the knoll at the bottom of the hole is a hammered wooden peg, which will protect the bark of the seedling from damage.

A young pear should sit tightly and firmly in the ground, and there should be no air voids in the root part. It is very important that the root collar is at least 1-2 cm above the ground level. The soil near the tree trunk is well compacted, leaving a hole to hold the irrigation water. Watering is carried out immediately in the amount of 2-3 buckets for each seedling. The deepening near the trunk of the fruit tree will facilitate the gradual subsidence of the earth in the hole near the root part.Each tree is tied to a wooden support, and the soil near the trunk is covered with a mulch layer (for example, fallen leaves or peat).

Soil care

Weeding and loosening of the soil in the root zone is carried out regularly 3-4 times a month, watering - once a week.

When the earth settles around the pear after precipitation in the form of rain or melting snow, it is necessary to add fertile soil in time. Do not allow the plant to be exposed, as this will lead to drying out of the root system and death of the tree. The surplus of land will also negatively affect the development of culture. This can create conditions for the emergence of some diseases.

Watering rules for young and adult trees

A 3-5 year old pear is watered regularly once a week. Older fruit trees can get by with the moisture of natural precipitation. The only exceptions are certain periods required for additional watering - this is immediately after the end of flowering, after harvesting the fruits, at the beginning of dropping the leaves. After each application of irrigation water, the soil near the tree trunk is covered with mulch.

Pruning and shaping the crown

The first pruning of trees is recommended already in the second year of the pear's life, but always before the start of frost. All branches, except for skeletal ones, are subject to such a "haircut". Places of cuts on the branches must be treated with garden varnish.

Covering for the winter

It is recommended to wrap only young trees, as they can still poorly endure the winter cold. Burlap is used to cover the crown, and spruce branches or any synthetic material is used for the trunk.

Fertilization

The pear begins to bear fruit only in the third year of life, and it is during this period that it will need additional feeding. Until this age is reached, the pear does not need fertilizers, especially when they are introduced into the planting holes.

In the spring, nitrogen-containing fertilizers are applied, and in the summer and autumn, top dressing, which contains potassium and phosphorus. It is enough to introduce organic matter into the soil once every 3 years.

Pest Control - Preventive Measures

Preventive measures help protect fruit crops from the invasion of pests and the appearance of various diseases. Experienced gardeners recommend carrying out special spraying once a year (in the first weeks of spring or in the autumn period - in October-November), whitewashing the trunks and wrapping them.

The spray solution is prepared from ten liters of water and about 700 ml of urea.

For whitewashing, a solution is prepared from water, copper sulfate (1%) and slaked lime.

The wraps are carried out with a cloth soaked in a solution from rodents.

A bountiful harvest of juicy and sweet, aromatic and tasty pears can be obtained only with a strong desire, hard work, attention and perseverance.

How to plant a pear correctly (video)