Power in the Flower and an Appreciation for Growing High-Density Pears
April 25, 2023 By popular demand, organizers of the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference included a panel discussion on high-density pear plantings at their annual meeting in February. Four growers from three states detailed the specifics of their systems while explaining what they like and do not like about growing high-density (HD) pears:
Grower: Jason Mattson, Saunders Brothers, Piney River, VA
- HD pear acreage: 11.5 acres (all Asian pears)
- HD pear spacings: 7 x 18 feet, 10 x 22 feet, 10 x 20 feet
- HD pear varieties: ‘Shinseiki’, ‘Hosui’, ‘Yoinashi’, ‘Olympic’, ‘Atago’, ‘Shinko’
- HD pear rootstocks: ‘Betulifolia’
Reasoning behind HD pears: “We like to have a little diversity in the commodities we offer. We were getting into some of the newer varieties at the time. This seemed to work really well with our farm market. We started with a 3-acre planting, and then five years later planted about 4.5 acres, and then another five years later we planted another 5 acres. We’ve kind of let the market dictate the demand. The quality of the fruit is really good, and the trees are really easy to grow.”
HD pear positives: “Pears are relatively easier to grow than apples. Definitely your inputs are a lot less than with apples. The cost of production is less.”
HD pear negatives: “Challenges with Asian pears is pear psylla and getting your timing right and controlling pear psylla. You’ve got a short harvest window. For us, we start picking in the middle of August and we’re finished by the third week of September.”
Grower: Steve Frecon, Frecon Farms, Boyertown, PA
- HD pear acreage: 2 acres
- HD pear spacings: 6 x 14 feet, 3 x 12 feet
- HD pear varieties: ‘Harrow Sweet’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Seckel’, ‘Magness’
- HD pear rootstocks: ‘OHxF 87’, ‘OHxF 97’
Reasoning behind HD pears: “We actually don’t have a really strong retail demand for pears. A lot of it boils down to the consumer who doesn’t know how to ripen the pear. It’s firm, and they think it’s flavorless, and they’re looking at all of the new apple varieties we have. But my wholesale customers were constantly saying how difficult it was to find local pears. So, they were looking for sources, specifically green varieties, not so much ‘Bosc’.”
HD pear positives: “What’s fun about pears and what was exciting right out of the gate was the speed at which they filled their space. We started planting the high-density pear block at the same time we got into high-density apples. As we’re struggling to get some of these apple varieties to grow and get to the top wire, the pears are like, ‘Yup, no problem, going right up there.’”
HD pear negatives: “Pear psylla and specifically Surround to treat it. I hate spraying Surround. Packing pears is tough. Our packing line does not handle pears well. It’s like packing peaches by hand. Storability — I don’t know what it is, but I’ve had a hard time getting pears to stay in storage for very long. We’ve always been trying to figure that one out.”
From left: pear growers Lynn Moore, Steve Frecon, Jason Mattson, and Clair Kauffman, and moderator Don Seifrit, Penn State Extension talk high-density pears.
Photo by Thomas Skernivitz
Grower: Lynn Moore, Larriland Farm, Woodbine, MD
- HD pear acreage: 3 acres (all Asian pears)
- HD pear spacings: 6 x 13 feet
- HD pear varieties: ‘Atago’, ‘Shinko’, ‘Olympic’
- HD pear rootstocks: ‘Betulifolia’
Reasoning behind HD pears: “We’re pick your own, and our goal was to fill all days of the harvest season with something to pick and hopefully several different things to pick. We were also moving into earlier ripening apple varieties, and we had a big gap between ‘Gala’ and the late fall varieties. I had this piece of ground next to the apple orchard that didn’t get good drainage and wasn’t good for much of anything else, so we planted Asian pears there. It’s working really well.”
HD pear positives: “Pears are also very florific. When they bloom, the whole field is white. It’s beautiful. There are 10 blossoms a cluster instead of five. It’s very attractive. And they’re sweet and crunchy on a hot day. And once they start fruiting, they just sit there and fruit. They go about their business. They are very manageable.”
HD pear negatives: “For years I listened to apple growers talk about pear psylla. It was always spoken with fear, and I now totally understand that. It came in on the pollinizers, and it kind of works its way down the row.”
Grower: Clair Kauffman, Kauffman Orchards, Ronks, PA
- HD pear acreage: 2 acres
- HD pear spacings: 5.5 x 14 feet
- HD pear varieties: ‘Blake’s Pride’, ‘Harrow Crisp’, ‘Harrow Sweet’, ‘Harrow Delight’, ‘Magness’, ‘Potomac’, ‘Seckel’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Shenandoah’
- HD pear rootstocks: ‘OHxF 87’, ‘OHxF 97’
Reasoning behind HD pears: “My Dad’s main motivation at that time was just being really sick and tired of managing fire blight in ‘Bartletts’. We wanted to design a block that was fire blight resistant and at the same time thought, ‘Well, why not also make it high density?’ For me personally, I think pears are completely underrated for their flavor. A dead ripe pear is something that I really love.”
HD pear positives: “While it certainly has its challenges, I like working with a tree that wants to grow. We planted them, and the block looked beautiful in three years. That was fun.”
HD pear negatives: “Harvest is more challenging than apples. It would be nice if they’d pack as easily as apples and so forth.”
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