Fire blight asian pear skin#

Firm the soil around the roots and water immediately.įor potted plants, dig a hole the same depth and twice as wide as the root ball. Fill in the hole with the soil removed without amendments. For bare root trees, dig a hole wide enough to easily spread all of the roots out and deep enough to cover the roots, but keeping the graft union 2-3 inches above the final soil line. Trees can be purchased as bare root in the spring, or potted plants through the summer and fall. Trees can be transplanted in the summer months but it is much more stressful to the plant and careful attention to irrigation is critical. Some nurseries offer semi-dwarf rootstocks that are often from the Old Home x Farmingdale series, or OH x F, which are 70-80% of the standard size. Allow 150 square feet of space for a mature pear tree. Pear trees are produced by being grafted onto rootstocks which produce trees that grow about 25 feet tall (Hoover, Tepe, & Foulk, 2015). Incorporate organic matter into the soil the year prior to planting. Control perennial weeds in the area before planting by using tillage or a nonselective herbicide. They should not be planted where water stands for more than 24 hours unless soil drainage can be improved. Pear trees are adapted to many soil types but require well drained soil. Some varieties are selffruitful while others need a pollinator.įigure 2. Some popular varieties include 20th Century, Shinseiki, Hosui, and Shinko. Unlike European pears, Asian pears ripen on the tree and do not require a storage or waiting period before using. The Asian pear fruit is round, crisp, and juicy (Figure 2).

Fire blight asian pear skin#

Bosc has a long, narrow fruit with russetted skin and is good fresh, canned, and is especially fine for cooking.Īsian pears, sometimes nicknamed “apple pears” can be grown in Utah. D’Anjou is selffruitful and is commonly used as a pollinator and stores well. Bartlett is partially self-fruitful but yields will increase with another pear cultivar close by. The most widely grown cultivar is Bartlett which is used for canning and fresh eating (Figure 1). Removing infected wood is the best treatment for reducing the spread of fire blight. Unfortunately, most fire blight in Utah is resistant to antibiotics. Pears are very susceptible to the bacterial disease fire blight and this limits where they can be grown. These pears are shaped like apples and they ripen on the tree. Common pears such as Bartlett, d’An-jou, and Bosc don’t ripen on the tree and require a period of cold storage following harvest before they are ready to eat. Most pears are cold hardy in the temperate parts of Utah. Pears are a delectable treat of late summer and early fall.