Every year in the world the number of pear fruits obtained on dwarf trees is increasing . They are not as common as dwarf apple trees, but every year their popularity is growing. What are the advantages of this method of growing pears and are there any disadvantages?
Benefits of Dwarf Pears
Usually pears are very tall. In the garden they take up a lot of space. Therefore, to place several varieties can be problematic. Begin to bear fruit very late, for 5-7 years. And when the tree grows and there are a lot of fruits, another problem arises: they are difficult to remove from a great height. It turns out, as in a famous riddle: a pear hangs - you can not eat. When processing trees with various preparations, it is difficult to reach the top.
Dwarf pears are devoid of all these shortcomings. Advantages:
- They are small in stature.
- Take up little space.
- Quickly begin to bear fruit, for 2-3 years.
- Harvesting from dwarf pears is easy.
- It’s easier to treat against diseases and pests.
On one hundred square meters of land, you can place 20-30 dwarf pears. While ordinary tall plants fit at best 6 pieces.
But maybe the yield from them will be less than with one big? Perhaps if you add the weight of the fruit that fell from the tree and broke. And if you take those that you pluck from an ordinary pear using a stepladder, then the weight of the fruit from the dwarf trees may be more. From one such pear, 3 to 8 kg of fruits are harvested.
In addition, on a vigorous pear usually fruits of the same variety, and dwarf in this area can be planted several.
disadvantages
Of the minuses include:
- A relatively short life span of about 15 years.
- They require more thorough care: watering, pruning, fertilizing.
How to grow dwarf pears
To get a small pear tree in a vegetative way, special stocks are prepared. For pears use quince type A.
Therefore, the new tree is a pear only half in the upper part. The lower one remains quince with all its inherent properties.
Growing Dwarf Pears
Quince, which serves as the basis for a dwarf pear, does not tolerate severe frosts. Therefore, when landing, the entire lower part, to the place of vaccination, must be hidden under the ground. In this case, she will survive in severe frost in the absence of snow cover.
Irga, cotoneaster are not afraid of frost. Therefore, they are used as a stock for the northern gardening zone. It is only necessary to leave some branches of the plant unvaccinated. They will supply the pear and the whole plant with photosynthesis products. True, in a few years the graft will significantly exceed the stock in diameter.
Using cotoneaster as a rootstock extends the life of pears. They can bear fruit up to 30 years and more, yielding yields of up to 30 kg. But such cases are more likely an exception.
The soil for growing dwarf pears should be fertile. It can be black soil, sandy loam or chestnut loam. Feels good on sod-podzolic lands. Will not grow on salty soils.
The advantage is that the close occurrence of groundwater will not be detrimental to trees.
The roots of the dwarf pear are located in the upper layers. You need to water the trees often. This can be considered a disadvantage of a dwarf pear.
Pear compatibility with stock
You might think that with the beginning of the era of dwarf trees, any sort of pear can be planted on quince and get a low tree. But it is not so. Some varieties do not combine with quince. Dwarf pears are common - varieties Chizhovskaya, Sverdlovchanka.
Pear compatibility with irga is much better than with cotoneaster. Many famous varieties do not take root on it. Therefore, experienced gardeners advise using an intermediate stock compatible with it for growing pears of such varieties on a cotoneaster.
Garden seating
Typically, trees of different heights grow in the garden. When planning their placement, you need to place dwarf pear seedlings and bushes in the southern and eastern parts. Behind them to plant semi-dwarf, and in the northern part - vigorous. If the garden is already formed, you need to see which of the tall trees you can donate. Another option is to let them rejuvenate. Then the garden will become much brighter. And there will be more places.
Dwarf pears are used to plant between rows of tall tree varieties until they grow. For those years, until they reach maximum height, dwarf pears will need to be removed.
Dwarf trees need a lot of sunlight. But sometimes he can turn from a friend of a plant into his enemy. In early spring, tree bark may suffer from sunburn. To prevent this, with the first rays of the spring sun they process the bark of trees with lime. Too high temperatures also harm trees. If the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, the trees feel bad. Fruits can get burned.
Varieties of Dwarf Pears
What is better to grow dwarf pears? Varieties must be selected zoned. They should be frost-resistant, subject to various diseases as little as possible.
All varieties of pears are delicious. But they need to be planted so that the fruits ripen at different times. This will provide an opportunity to extend the period of consumption of these delicious and healthy fruits.
On a small site they place a couple of summer varieties, three autumn varieties. Winter should be twice as much. After all, the period of consumption of harvested fruits is much longer than the time they were on a tree.
In any garden, it is enough to devote up to 10 percent of the area for summer gardens where dwarf pears are planted: varieties Carmen, Decor or G-5 (summer-autumn).
Pear Carmen is distinguished by burgundy fruits, whose weight reaches 300 g. They are very sweet and delicious.
Variety Decor ripens in late August. At this time, the weight of the fruit can reach 260 g. Appreciated for its delicate aroma, reminiscent of a rose, and the sweet and sour taste of the fruit.
Fruits of grade G-5 of yellow color with strong rustiness. Their weight can reach 250 grams. Gardeners note in the reviews the winter hardiness of this pear and resistance to disease.
Autumn refers to Bere Hardy with oval-conical fruits of green color. They can reach 250 g. Filmed in early September. The fruits ripen in early October. The variety is resistant to scab.
More varieties should be late winter, which are well stored. These include dwarf pears of the Carmen variety, Bere Ardanpon. Their fruits can be stored until the end of January.
Pear Bere Ardanpon (Ferdinant) - with yellow fruits with subcutaneous white dots. They taste sweet and sour. The fruits are removed from the tree in late October, and they ripen in early December. They lie in a cool room until mid-January. A disadvantage can be considered low winter hardiness and a tendency to certain diseases.
The Grand Champion also belongs to late winter grades of dwarf pears. Its yellow fruits with rust and sour-sweet harmonious taste are removed from the tree at the end of September. Stored until January. The tree is resistant to scab.
The pears you are about to buy are best to try first. One picture may not be enough.
To get the variety you need, buy seedlings from well-known gardeners with a good reputation.
Description of Dwarf Pears
The dwarf pear is low, up to 2.5 m. The shape of the crown depends on the method of its formation and variety. It can be narrow pyramidal (Sverdlovsk) or in the shape of a bowl.
Growing
Dwarf pears should be planted on a dwarf rootstock after 2.5 m. Between the rows, leave 3 meters.
Planting them in the southern regions is better in the fall. So they will have time to take root before spring. In the northern regions, it is better to plant in the spring so that they do not freeze over during the winter. But you need to hurry and plant trees before buds open. Otherwise, dwarf pears may dry. Reviews of gardeners say that such trees often begin to bloom in the second year after planting. But there is no need to rush with the harvest. It is worth picking most of the flowers so that the plant has the strength to grow skeletal branches, on which the crop will subsequently be held.
Crown formation
Dwarf pears need proper crown formation. If this is not done or carried out incorrectly, then the skeletal branches that grow vertically in a pear will break off under the weight of the fruit. Therefore, you need to shape the tree so that the skeletal branches extend from the trunk at an angle of approximately 45 degrees or a little more. Often such an angle needs to be formed. To do this, the young branches are bent at the desired angle and fixed, tied to a special support, a neighboring tree.
Varieties of dwarf pears for the Moscow region
In the central regions, many varieties of dwarf pears are cultivated. The best summers are Tenderness, Sapphire, Severyanka, Yakovlev's Favorite, Decor, Firefly, Sverdlovchanka, Chizhovskaya, Veles.
Pear Veles (aka Daughter Excellent) is an autumn variety. It has good winter hardiness, resistance to fungal diseases. In adulthood, it reaches 4 m. The crown is widely pyramidal. Fruits of yellow-green color with an orange tint reach 180 g. The flesh is sweet and delicate, cream-colored. Pear Veles needs constant pruning, otherwise her fruits begin to fade. The variety is self-fertile, but other varieties planted nearby increase productivity.