How to plant a pear correctly: in spring, summer, in the Moscow region, in Siberia

Pear is a fruit tree of the Rosaceae family. It is less common in Russian gardens than the apple tree, due to the fact that this southern plant requires more attention and tolerates cold less well. At the same time, the pear is durable, can live and bear fruit for up to 100 years. Valued for the exquisite taste and aroma of fruits that have juicy, tender, granular pulp and thin, delicate skin. A novice gardener needs to know the nuances of growing a crop - from the moment it is placed in the ground to wintering. Proper planting of a pear is necessary for its health and better fruiting. Plant immunity, growth and productivity depend on this.

When to plant a pear

The time for planting pears depends on the region.In the south, it is preferable to do this in the fall: the young tree will not suffer from the heat, soil moisture and temperature conditions contribute to the rapid development of the root system and, accordingly, better survival of the seedling. In cold regions - in Siberia, in the Urals, pears are planted in the spring. Frosts without snow cover often occur there, and during winter planting the tree can freeze completely. From spring to winter, the plant will take root well and it will be easier for it to survive frosts. In the middle zone, the gardener has the opportunity to choose when to plant a pear - in autumn or spring. Both planting options are applicable provided precautions are taken. In the first case, the young tree needs careful shelter from the cold and rodents, in the second - regular soil moisture and protection from sunburn.

Important! When planted in autumn, the tree undergoes hardening over the winter, which is necessary for high frost resistance.

How to plant a pear tree in spring: a step-by-step guide

It is better to purchase planting material in the fall, at which time the choice of varieties and types of pears is wider. In this case, you need to choose seedlings with a closed root system. Before spring planting, pears need to be preserved:

dig in the garden - dig a trench, water abundantly, install seedlings and cover with earth up to the middle of the trunk;
Dip the roots in a clay mash, wrap in plastic and place in the cellar.

Buying seedlings in the fall is also preferable because they are dug up in nurseries during this season. In the spring it is difficult to determine how they were stored all winter.

Where to plant a pear on the site

The pear is extremely demanding of lighting - even in partial shade it will not bloom or bear fruit.The site should be protected from strong winds; for this, trees should be planted around in 2-3 rows. Pears can be planted on gentle slopes - southern, southwestern and western ones are suitable. Lowlands where cold air and water stagnate are unsuitable for pears. The root system of the tree grows deep; it is important that groundwater lies at a distance of 3-4 m from the surface of the earth.

The soil for planting pears requires light, loose and nutritious soil - soddy, soddy-podzolic, light loamy, sandy loam. It’s good if there is a lake or pond nearby, the reservoir creates a microclimate favorable for the pear orchard. You also need to take into account the neighborhood: the pear grows well next to apple and rowan trees, but does not get along well with stone fruit trees, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, walnuts, lilacs, and viburnum.

Preparing the landing site

The area for planting pears should be prepared 1-2 years before planting. The soil is cultivated deeply, moving the top, fertile layer down and the bottom layer up. Add mineral and organic fertilizers. At 1 m² add 100-150 g of superphosphate, 30-40 g of potassium chloride, if the acidity is high, add lime (the required pH level is 5.0-6.5).

From organic matter, manure (6-8 kg) or compost (7-10 kg) should be added. On nutrient-rich chernozems, the amount of these fertilizers should be halved. For better pollination and fruiting, you will need to plant 2-3 pear trees in one area.

Important! You should not start a new pear orchard immediately after uprooting the old one. You need to wait 4-5 years.

Preparing pear seedlings for planting in spring

When purchasing pear seedlings before planting, you should give preference to released varieties grown in local nurseries and sold in specialized retail outlets. Their age should not exceed 3 years. It is believed that in the south it is better to plant annual trees. A young plant no more than 1.5 m high with 3-5 lateral branches or developed buds receives the least trauma to the roots and takes root more easily. It is easier to form a crown.

When choosing a pear seedling, you need to inspect the trunk; there should be no damage or unevenness on it. A healthy plant has roots that are elastic, flexible, without spots, and white at the cut site. Before planting, they should be trimmed, leaving 3-5 large ones 10 cm long, and a sufficient number of small ones. It is also useful to soak the roots for 12 hours in water with the addition of Heteroauxin, Epin or another root formation stimulator. You can prepare a liquid solution of clay and manure and dip the roots in it. If the plant was sold with a lump of earth on the roots, there is no need to remove it. In the spring, you should purchase a pear seedling in a dormant state - with unopened buds. There is no need to shorten the trunk when planting; recent studies indicate that this operation impairs rooting.

How to plant a pear tree in spring

The best time to plant pears in open ground in the spring is the last ten days of April. Work must be carried out in cloudy weather. A hole 1 m wide and 0.7 m deep is prepared for the pear. This must be done at least a week in advance, ideally in the fall (the soil must be given time to settle). They form a drainage from crushed stone, make a cushion of sand, pour in 20 liters of water, and wait until it is completely absorbed.Then pour 2-3 buckets of prepared fertile soil: mix the soil with humus and ash, add 200 g of superphosphate and 150 g of potassium fertilizer. Be sure to drive a stake into the center to secure the tree. The seedling is not buried; the root collar should be flush with the soil surface. When filling the soil, the seedling should be slightly pulled upward - this will help avoid the formation of voids. The pear planting is watered abundantly. After the soil has subsided, the voids are filled and compacted by trampling with the foot around the trunk. Mulching with peat, rotted manure, plant humus, and sawdust is beneficial for retaining moisture in the roots and provides additional nutrition to the plant. It is unacceptable to apply fresh manure, as this will cause burns to the roots. The frequency of watering pears after planting is 3-4 times a week.

Advice! An unusual recipe for adding fertilizer when planting a pear: place 10 raw eggs at the bottom of the hole, sprinkle with soil, install a seedling, cover the roots with soil, lay out a dozen eggs again and cover the hole completely.

At what distance should pears be planted from each other?

Planting density is an important point when growing pears. Their longevity, time of fruiting, harvest quality, and partly winter hardiness depend on proper placement in the garden. The distance between trees when planting depends on the type of pear: vigorous plants should be 3.5-4 m apart in a row and 5-7 m between rows, low-growing plants should be 1.5 m and 4-5 m apart, respectively. Proper placement of trees is essential to ensure adequate nutrition and lighting. Many gardeners prefer to plant columnar varieties of pears due to their compact size. Between such trees, a distance of 1 m will be sufficient.

Transplanting a pear to a new place in the spring

Trees up to 15 years old can be replanted. This should be done as delicately as possible, stress for the plant should be minimal. To remove the pear from the soil, the trunk is dug within a radius of 70 cm and an earthen ball is formed. All roots protruding from the lump are cut off, and the tree is placed in a container with clean water for an hour. The timing and methodology are the same as for spring planting of seedlings. After transplanting, the crown of a tree older than 3 years must be trimmed so that the young pear devotes all its strength to rooting. The plant needs to be watered once every 2 weeks, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers must be applied.

How to plant a pear in summer

Planting pears in summer is not recommended. The tree does not tolerate heat and drought well, immunity decreases, and it becomes more vulnerable to infections and pests. If there is still a need to plant a pear in the summer, it should be a seedling with a closed root system. The lump of earth should be moistened abundantly, then the tree should be planted in the prepared hole. The trunk must be whitened, and the trunk circle must be mulched.

Features of planting in different regions

Differences in the principles of growing pears in different regions are associated with climatic conditions, which determine the choice of variety, planting dates, regularity of watering, harvest time and features of preparation for winter.

How to plant a pear in the Moscow region

The climate of the Moscow region is characterized by hot summers, cold winters and early first frosts. Frost-resistant varieties of early and medium ripening are preferred. It is not advisable to plant winter types of pears here; their fruits freeze before they have time to ripen.The most popular pear varieties for planting in the spring in the Moscow region are Dalikor, Carmen, Lyubimitsa Yakovleva, Medovaya, Tenderness, Severyanka, Bessemyanka, and Rossoshanskaya Beauty. The crop is planted in April-May or September-October.

How to plant a pear in Siberia

As a result of 100 years of breeding work, Soviet and Russian agronomists have developed pear varieties that can grow and bear fruit in the northern regions of the Russian Federation. They are adapted to long winters, severe frosts, short summers and daylight hours. The best varieties for Siberia are Perun, Svarog, Lel, Kupava, Severyanka, Lukashovka, Isetskaya juicy, Skorospelka Sverdlovskaya, Taezhnaya. They are characterized by high yield, early ripening and immunity to a number of diseases. In Siberia, pears are planted in the spring, after the danger of return frosts has passed. Seedlings dug up in the fall are stored in basements and not in a trench. A layer of logs is laid at the bottom of deep planting holes, which protect the roots from deep cold, then a drainage layer, and only then a nutritious soil mixture.

How to care for a pear after planting

Caring for a young pear after planting consists of regular watering, weeding and loosening of tree trunks, and applying fertilizers. There is a practice of pruning a tree immediately after planting in order to facilitate the process of root development. However, there is an opinion, confirmed by research, that the presence of a developed above-ground part contributes to more active root growth, and pruning, on the contrary, slows it down. This is explained by the fact that the rate and quality of pear root formation after planting are determined by the needs of the green mass.

Watering pears in spring

After planting, a pear seedling needs frequent moderate watering to speed up the establishment process. Drip irrigation of the entire tree through special sprayers is preferable. If there is no such device, grooves 10 cm deep are brought to the tree trunk circle, through which the required amount of water is poured in several stages (at least 2 buckets per plant). The frequency of watering should be proportionate to weather conditions - the pear tree does not tolerate stagnation of moisture in the roots. With its excess, the immunity and winter hardiness of the tree deteriorate, the root system rots, which can lead to the death of the plant.

Loosening and weeding

Regular loosening is necessary to ensure access of oxygen to the roots of the pear after planting. It is recommended to dig up the tree trunk circle on the half-bayonet of a shovel the next day after watering - this will help avoid the formation of a crust on the soil surface. Timely removal of root shoots and weed promotes economical consumption of nutrients contained in the soil.

Top dressing

During the engraftment period after planting, the pear needs to be fed. Intensive growth of shoots and stems is facilitated by the introduction of ammonium, calcium and potassium nitrate, urea, ammonium chloride and sulfate into the soil. Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers strengthen the root system and serve to prevent diseases. Organic and biological fertilizers (EM - effective microorganisms) stimulate the development of soil microflora, increasing soil fertility. Popular drugs are “Baikal-EM-1”, “Shine”, “Gutamat”, “Gumasol”, “Vermisol”. After planting a pear, you can enrich the soil with waste products of domestic animals and birds, plant residues, and other organic waste.Traditionally used:

bird droppings: fresh - diluted in a ratio of 1:20, rotted - 1:3;
manure: rotted - add 2 buckets to each plant, fresh - dilute 1:20;
compost – 2 buckets per 1 m²;
bottom peat – 3-4 kg per 1 m²;
eggshells – 0.2 kg per 1 m²;
ash – 0.7 kg per 1 m²;
yeast - 10g per 10 liters of water.

During the entire growing season, the pear needs to be fed once every 2-3 weeks. Before applying fertilizers, you need to determine its acidity. Urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate are used in calcareous and neutral media, calcium and sodium nitrate - in acidic media. Before adding superphosphates, acidic soil must be limed.

Protection from diseases and pests

Spring treatment of pears from diseases and pests is an important component in pear care. High-quality protection from insects and microorganisms is necessary for tree health, proper development, frost resistance, fruiting and productivity. Spraying with chemical or biological preparations in the first year after planting is carried out in April and May. The entire above-ground part of the plant and the trunk circle are subjected to treatment. Solutions of Bordeaux mixture, copper sulfate, copper oxychloride, and colloidal sulfur are effective against pear fungi. Spraying with insecticides (Karbofos, Actellik, Fufanon) and biological products (Fitoverm, Akarin, Entobacterin, Dentrobacellin) is effective against pests.

Preparing for winter

Young pears are not yet strong enough, have reduced frost resistance, and therefore need special protection. Pre-winter care consists of several operations:

The root zone needs to be dug up and its diameter expanded to 1 m.This is necessary to protect the root system from excessive precipitation pressure if it is heavy.
Whitewashing the trunk - disinfects the trunk, makes it easier to withstand temperature changes, avoid sunburn and the formation of microcracks in the bark. The composition for whitewashing is simple - dilute 2 kg of lime and 1.5 kg of clay in a bucket of water.
Feeding with mineral fertilizers will give the plant strength to endure the winter. Nitrogenous fertilizers are excluded in the fall. Potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied in the amount of 1 tbsp. l per 1 m².
Watering is carried out until frost.
The soil around the trunk is carefully covered with mulch.
The trunk is wrapped in a fine, strong mesh to protect against rodents.
The branches are tied to the trunk so that they do not break under the weight of the snow.
When frost sets in, the tree needs to be covered.

For what year does a pear bear fruit after planting?

The time when pears begin to bear fruit depends on the characteristics of the variety. There are varieties that begin to bear fruit 3-4 years after planting, and there are also those that will have to wait 10-15 years for harvest. When purchasing a seedling from a nursery, you need to ask when to expect the first fruits. The exception is columnar plants - the first harvest from them is harvested in the second year. The timing of fruiting is affected by the quality of the soil, compliance with planting and care rules, and damage caused by pests.

Conclusion

The ability to plant a pear tree correctly is a whole science that requires knowledge of many nuances. Whether the seedling will grow into a strong, consistently fruit-bearing tree largely depends on proper planting. In the first year, the pear is especially vulnerable to diseases and pests, it is difficult to tolerate changes in humidity and temperature, has low frost resistance and therefore needs careful care.If you follow all the rules of agricultural technology, the seedling will take root safely and will delight you with its first harvest in due time.