Unlike most fruit crops, a pear is quite an independent and flexible tree. Experienced gardeners experiment with it, turning it into shrubs, and novice lovers enjoy the annual harvest of fruits. For comparison, the apple tree bears fruit at best once every two years. However, it depends on the variety. One way or another, to enjoy the delicious and aromatic pears, appropriate care is necessary. The main activities include feeding pears in the spring, but for the full content it is necessary to provide for a number of other procedures that will provide the proper level of care for the tree and its future fruits.
First feeding
To ensure the normal growth and development of the pear, the necessary additives should be added to the soil already when planting. The soil layer must be mixed with peat, manure and compost. At the bottom of the recess, in which it is planned to plant a pear, should be phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. It should be borne in mind that the feeding of a young pear in the spring in the form of mineral deposits should not directly contact the roots. Six months later, the trunk circumference of the tree is dug up and also mixed with manure and peat. These components have a beneficial effect on the structure of the soil system, providing its protection for the winter. Next spring, meltwater will permeate the earth, and the roots will receive beneficial trace elements.
Regular spring dressing
In the future, spring fertilizers should include nitrogen supplements, which during the growing season strengthen the tissue of the tree. Ammonium nitrogen compounds are most effective because they have a minimal coefficient of leaching from the soil. Feeding pears with urea in spring, which is a mineral supplement, is also beneficial. To prepare the solution, you need 10 liters of water, in which you need to dissolve 50 grams of urea. In some cases, you can use a spray of leaves, but in a small concentration to exclude the possibility of burns. As a component that promotes the assimilation of nutrition, potassium sulfate can be used. Phosphorus, which accelerates the maturation of young shoots, will also be a good addition.
What to do with acid soil?
On this soil, a pear can fully develop and bear fruit only if there is a sufficient supply of calcium. To do this, the earth under the tree must be lime. In addition, calcium deficiency is compensated by ash, which also contains phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. Moreover, such top dressing of apple trees and pears in spring has an important advantage - the substances arrive in an assimilable form and in optimal proportions.
A sufficient amount of ash for the pear is 4 cups per 1 m 2 . The composition is scattered on a moist surface of the earth, but it is also possible to use it on dry soil if watering is carried out immediately after top dressing. It is also important to consider that excessive feeding of pears in spring with calcium can negatively affect the absorption of potassium and magnesium. This is another confirmation of the need for moderate dosing of fertilizers and minerals included in them.
How to feed?
The peculiarity of the pear lies in the deep position of the root system. This is the main difference, on the basis of which top dressing of apple and pear is performed in spring and autumn. To fertilizer penetrated to the level of the roots of the pear, it is necessary to make small wells in the trunk circle at a depth of about 30 cm. To do this, you can use a regular stake, rotor or drill. The distance between the wells should be from 50 to 100 cm, depending on the age of the pear tree. They are filled with a mixture or solution with top dressing.
Many summer residents and gardeners act differently. Even during planting, they introduce narrow sections of pipes into the hole with the seedling, leaving their upper ends above the ground. In the future, these tubes are used for pouring liquid mixtures and solutions. However, feeding pears in the spring in this way is not always effective - for example, if you need to use the same ash or a dry preparation. In addition, the pipes can become clogged - and then this way of feeding the roots becomes completely useless.
Non-root top dressing
Non-root top dressing is also used for pears. But they should be resorted to only in cases where there is confidence in the lack of certain nutritional components. In addition, it is important to strictly observe the dose of fertilizer. For example, to strengthen the supply of nitrogen to the tree through foliar nutrition, the same urea solution can be made. The first time spraying should be performed one week after the completion of flowering, and then after 3-4 weeks. Foliar feeding of pears with boron in spring is also performed after flowering and during the ripening period. The composition for the solution of this microfertilizer includes 15 g of boron diluted in 10 l of water.
Spring cleaning
In addition to top dressing, the gardener must provide thorough care for the pear in other directions. For example, an important event in relation to adult trees (10-15 years) is spring cleaning. It is necessary to regularly clean the surface of the old bark, as pests gather in its cracks, fungal tinder fungi, moss, etc. are formed. Getting rid of harmful insects and diseases can be considered as the primary care for the pear in the spring. Top dressing also contributes to the prevention and overall strengthening of the tree, but this is not enough.
Using metal scrapers and brushes will help make the bark smooth and clean. At the same time, all hollows, wounds and places with bites must be cleaned and disinfected. This is done with copper sulfate, which is diluted in a ratio of 50 g per 5 liters of water.
Pear pruning
Seedlings and young pear trees do not need this operation. But for adult specimens, pruning is mandatory, and it should be performed before the foliage blooms and sap flow. Upon reaching the age of two, the pear is trimmed at a distance of 0.5 m from the surface of the earth, which will contribute to the formation of shoots on the lower kidneys. By the way, regular feeding of pears in spring with nitrogen fertilizers begins from the same period . Moreover, this is a necessary condition both for the formation of the crown and for supporting the development as a whole.
The main trunk can be shortened by a quarter of its length, while adjacent branches are cut under the ring. To preserve the basis for the central trunk, branches on the sides should be left, but no more than four. They should branch and move away from the stem at a 45-degree angle. The ovaries with shoots bend down, after which they can be left in a horizontal position. The remaining branches of the pear must be bent and tied with rods. This operation is repeated after a year. In the process of its implementation, two rules should be considered. First, second-order processes should not interfere with the growth of the main branches. Secondly, the space inside the crown should not be excessively thick.