Growing pears in the 21st century

Pollination and fruit set

• Importance of having seeded fruit
• Reserves of nutrients and hormones in the tree
• Honey bee pollination

What is parthenocarpy?

Hand thin pears

Rootstocks for pears in Australia

• Pyrus Calleryana
• Winter Nellis
• Quince
• BP1
• BM2000
• Pear trees on their own roots

What are the problems with branches?

Benefits of a branchless tree

What are fruiting units?

Creating fruiting units

Make good use of sunlight — grow pears not wood

The branchless multi-leader tree — a production line

Upright vs angled canopies

How many leaders per tree?

Your orchard starts in the nursery

• Seven steps to ensure that your orchard of branchless multi-leader pear trees gets a good start.

Tree training Open Tatura and upright trellis: first year, two leaders

Tree training: First year, four leaders

 Tree training: Second year, two and four leaders

• Creating fruiting units
• Manage apical dominance
• Notching
• Stubbing new shoots
• From proleptic shoots

Forcing the leaders to make prolectic shoots

Create efficient and productive fruiting canopies

• Keep you eye on the heads of the leaders
• What is apical dominance
• Manage sunlight
• Turn proleptic shoots into fruiting units

How to keep the heads of the leaders calm NEW

Maintain efficient and productive fruiting canopies

• Restrict root growth
• Plant trees closely
• Do most of the pruning in summer and less in winter
• Apply Regulated Deficit Irrigation
• Apply growth retardants

Winter chill for breaking dormancy

• Chilling requirement
• Tree response to chilling
• The South African experience

Hail net NEW

• Net—positives and negatives
• Crop effects
• Bee activity
• Type of net, structure, shape
• Net colour
• Plant first or net first?

Tree nutrition

• Leaf analysis vs soil analysis
• Nitrogen

Can nitrogen fertiliser boost pear size?

What is Pseudomonas syringae? (pear blossom blast)