One of the representatives of the Rosaceae family is the pear. This fruit tree grows wild throughout the entire continent of Eurasia from the southernmost territories to 55–60° north latitude. The ancient Greeks began growing pears as a garden plant in Europe. In Russia, breeding work to improve the taste of fruits and increase the frost resistance of pears was started by the professor of botany and director of the botanical garden of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Joseph Gertner in the 18th century. This article will discuss modern varieties of this fruit tree, which have proven themselves well in central Russia.
- 2 Decorative pears
2.1 Willow pear
2.1.1 Willow pear in the photo
- 3.1 Which pear varieties are not afraid of frost
3.1.1 Table of the main characteristics of winter-hardy pear varieties
- 4.1 Tall varieties
4.1.1 Beautiful Chernenko in the photo
- 4.2.1 Pear Visible in the photo
- 4.3.1 Belorussian late in the photo
- 4.4.1 Pear variety Chizhovskaya in the photo
- 7.1 Pear fruit weight table
- 8.1 Table of pear ripening dates
Decorative pears
Our gardens and garden plots are rarely decorated with ornamental pears, although these trees look very impressive and are successfully used in the landscape design of parks in Central Russia. An example of such ornamental trees is the willow pear.
Willow pear
This decorative tree, up to six meters high, stands out against the background of other greenery with a spherical crown with drooping branches covered with silvery narrow leaves. In April-May she looks especially elegant in her white flowering plumage. Its fruits are small and green. They are not eaten. The tree is unpretentious, can grow even on sandy soil or in urban conditions that are not very favorable for plants, loves a lot of light, easily survives drought, but does not tolerate stagnant water.
Willow pear in the photo
Blooming branch of willow pear
Willow pear tree
Branch with fruits of the willow pear
garden pear
I grow fruit trees of this type in central Russia less often than apple trees. Pears tolerate low temperatures less well, but varieties with increased winter hardiness and early ripening make it possible to obtain a harvest in conditions of short summers and harsh winters.
Which pear varieties are not afraid of frost?
Information about the frost resistance of most pear varieties in their descriptions is expressed in one word - high. Even less information about what kind of frosts a tree can withstand without damage is carried by messages: “at the level of ancient Russian pear varieties” or “at the level of the Bessemnka variety.” Note to gardeners: Pear trees of ancient Russian varieties and Bessemyanka, in particular, can withstand frost down to -38 °C, their flower buds - up to -34 °C, and ovaries - up to -2 °C. When testing pear varieties for inclusion in the state register, it is these indicators that serve as the standard. The list below includes modern pear varieties, which in terms of resistance to frost may well correspond to the standard ones.
Table of main characteristics of winter-hardy pear varieties
| Variety name | Winter hardiness | Crown shape | Mature tree height | Fruit | Ripening period | Peculiarities | ||
| Taste (points) | Weight (g) | Purpose | ||||||
| Belarusian late | high |
| medium height | 4,2 | 110–120 | universal | blue | bears fruit on ringlets.* |
| Banana | high |
| medium height | 4,6 | 80 | universal | summer | can be stored for up to two months. |
| Bere Moscow | high |
| medium height | 4,2 | 120 | universal | early autumn | high resistance to scab and fruit rot. |
| Bryansk beauty | high |
| medium height | 4,8 | 205 | universal | late summer | high resistance to scab and powdery mildew. |
| Veles; | high |
| medium height | 4,6 | 120 | universal | autumn | The ovary is frost-resistant down to -2° C. |
| Prominent | high | narrow pyramidal. | medium height | 4,4 | 120 | universal | summer | stable, high yield. |
| Faithful | high |
| medium height | 4,4 | 100 | universal | late autumn | The ovaries are frost-resistant down to -2° C. |
| Children's | high |
| tall | 4,5 | 80 | universal | early summer |
|
| Dessert luxury | above average |
| tall | 4,5 | up to 200 | dining room | late summer |
|
| Thumbelina | high | rounded | medium height | 4,8 | 70 | dining room | autumn | fruits are capable of winter storage; |
| Cathedral | high | conical | medium height | 4,0 | 110 | universal | summer | The fruits are stored for 10–12 days. |
| Beauty Chernenko | at the level of zoned varieties |
| tall | 4,3 | 150–200 | universal | autumn | With a heavy harvest, the fruits become smaller. |
| Lada | high |
| medium height | 4,4 | 100–120 | universal | early summer | Scab resistant. |
| Lyra | average |
| tall | 4,7 | 140 | universal | winter |
|
| Clapp's favorite; | increased |
| tall | 4,8 | 140–200 | universal | summer |
|
| Yakovlev's favorite | above average |
| tall | 4,9 | 130–190 | dining room | autumn |
|
| Muscovite | above average |
| medium height | 4,0 | 130 | dining room | autumn | the fruits are stored for 25–30 days. |
| Marble | above average |
| medium height | 4,8 | 120–160 | dining room | summer |
|
| Elegant Efimova | average |
| tall | 4,0 | 110–135 | dining room | autumn |
|
| Small | high |
| medium height | 4,3 | 22; maximum - 46 | technical | autumn |
|
| Otradnenskaya | high |
| medium height | 4,3 | 99 | technical | late autumn |
|
| Autumn Susova | above average | broad-pyramidal. | medium height | 4,5–4,8 | 150 – 250 | universal | autumn | no scab damage was noted; The fruits are stored until December in a regular basement. |
| In memory of Yakovlev | above average |
| stunted | 4,4 | 125 | universal | early autumn |
|
| Memory of Zhegalov | above average |
| medium height | 4,2 | 120 | universal | autumn |
|
| Petrovskaya | high |
| medium height | 4,4 | 115 | dining room | summer |
|
| Simply Maria | high |
| medium height | 4,8 | 180 | dining room | autumn |
|
| Same age | high |
| medium height | 4,5 | 85 | universal | late summer |
|
| Rogneda | high |
| medium height | 4,1–4,2 | 125 | universal | late summer |
|
| Firefly | average |
| medium height | 4,3 | 95 | universal | early autumn |
|
| Skorospelka from Michurinsk | average |
| medium height | 4,7 | 70 | technical | early summer |
|
| Chizhovskaya | high |
| dwarf | 4,1–4,2 | 100 -120 | universal | late summer |
|
| Yuryevskaya | high | pyramidal | tall | 4,5 | 100 – 130 | universal | late autumn |
|
** Spear is a branch 8–10 cm long, always straight and sits at a right angle on a large branch. * Spear is a small branch, up to 6 cm long. It has one well-developed bud at the end.
Some frost-resistant pear varieties in the photo
Branch with pear fruits of the Veles variety
Branch with Lada pear fruits
Branch with pear fruits of the Vidnaya variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Vernaya variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Children's variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Lyubimitsa Yakovleva variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Moskvichka variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Naryadnaya Efimova variety
Branch with Nevelichka pear fruits
Branch with pear fruits of the Pamyati Yakovlev variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Pamyat Zhegalov variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Severyanka variety
Branch with pear fruits of the Yuryevskaya variety
When choosing a pear for planting, you need to take into account not only the climate characteristics of the area where the tree will be grown. The characteristics of a particular site may also be important, whether there is enough free space for planting a new tree, what plantings already exist, and so on. After all, pear trees are very different not only in winter hardiness and ripening time. They are very different in:
- height of an adult plant - from dwarf to tall;
- crown type - wide, narrow or columnar;
- type of pollination - one or more trees are needed on the site to produce a crop;
- fruit size - large, medium or small;
- The taste of the fruit is sweet, sweet and sour or tart with bitterness.
The sweetest varieties
Most ripe pears have a sweet taste, but there are varieties that will be no less sweet even when unripe.
Prominent
The variety is productive, early-fruiting, universal, winter-hardy, and scab-resistant. The ovaries are characterized by high frost resistance. The tree is vigorous, the crown is narrow-pyramidal. Greenish-yellow, lightly tanned fruits weighing about 150 g have a wide saucer, a narrow and shallow funnel, and a thick short stalk. Semi-oily, juicy, tender white flesh with a good sweet taste.
The fruit cannot be stored even for several days; it is recommended to can it or immediately consume it fresh.
Buttery sweet
A universal variety to use, suitable for long-term storage, easy to care for, and disease resistant. Pears with a high concentration of sugar are not only consumed fresh, but also made into liqueurs, wine, and preserves.
What does height affect?
Pears, completely different in other characteristics, are grouped into groups according to the height that the tree will reach in its tenth year of life.
Tall varieties
The crown of tall pears begins at a height of 1.5–1.8 m from the ground, and the total height of the tree reaches six meters. Any operations to care for them and harvest are very difficult due to the location of the branches at a considerable height. A representative of tall fruit trees is the pear variety Krasavitsa Chernenko.
Beautiful Chernenko in the photo
Flowering pear variety Krasavitsa Chernenko Pear tree variety Krasavitsa Chernenko
Branch with pear fruits of the Krasavitsa Chernenko variety
In the register of the State Commission of the Russian Federation for testing and protection of breeding achievements, the Krasavitsa Chernenko pear variety is recommended for cultivation in Central Russia. The narrow pyramidal crown of this vigorous tree rises to a height of up to 6 m. It tolerates frosts down to -25 ° C without problems. The productivity of Krasavitsa Chernenko is stable and amounts to 12.7 tons per hectare. The fruits, covered with delicate greenish-yellow skin with a beautiful red blush, weigh up to 200 g each. An important positive quality of the variety is the pear’s resistance to scab.
From the peculiarities of cultivation, I can note that their shoot-forming ability is very poor - to obtain a skeleton, you have to pinch or trim the ends of the branches, and they stubbornly want to look up - to get a better skeleton, you have to bend the branches.
Grandson of Michurin, Michurinsk
https://forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9506
Medium height
In pear trees classified in this group, the distance from the lower branches to the soil is from 60 to 150 cm. Pears of this type are more often found in the summer cottages and personal plots of amateur gardeners. The height of these trees does not exceed 5 m. The Vidnaya pear variety raises the branches of its narrow pyramidal crown to exactly this height.
Pear Visible in the photo
Vidnaya pear tree with fruits
Vidnaya pear flowers
Vidnaya pears on a branch
My taste is extremely sweet without sourness. Even hard and unripe ones have an insipid sweet taste. Another point is that this variety bears fruit on ringlets (which, by the way, is also indicated in the description of VNIISPK) you do not have. Perhaps the rootstock has an effect. Or maybe a different variety.
yri Trubchevsk, Bryansk region.
https://forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9503
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short
The lower branches of such pears are located at a distance of 55–70 cm above the ground, and the tree itself reaches 4–4.5 m in height. The late Belorusskaya pear gives a good idea of low-growing trees that have proven themselves well in the North-Western and Central regions of Russia.
Belarusian late in the photo
Blooming pear variety Belorusskaya late
Branch with pear fruits of the Belorusskaya late variety
Belorusskaya late pear tree
This pear can withstand winter frosts down to -30 °C. The tree grows up to 4 m tall. In its rounded crown, orange-yellow fruits weighing 120 g ripen at the end of September. The taste rating of these pears by tasters is 4.2 points. The yield obtained over several years of testing averaged 12.2 t/ha.
My taste is extremely sweet without sourness. Even hard and unripe ones have a fresh-sweet taste. Another point is that this variety bears fruit on ringlets (which, by the way, is also indicated in the description of VNIISPK) you do not have. Perhaps the rootstock has an effect. Or maybe a different variety.
yri Trubchevsk, Bryansk region.
https://forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=9503
Dwarf
The height of the trunk to the lower branches of such pears is no more than 40 cm. The height of an adult tree is about 3 m. Often, such trees are obtained by grafting pears of some variety onto a dwarf rootstock. But there are also dwarf forms of this plant. The Chizhovskaya pear is actually a rooted tree, that is, grown from a seed or cutting, and not obtained by grafting it onto a dwarf rootstock.
Pear variety Chizhovskaya in the photo
Branch with pear fruits of the Chizhovskaya variety
Blooming pear variety Chizhovskaya Pear tree variety Chizhovskaya
The oval crown of the Chizhovskaya pear rises no higher than 2.5 m. The frost resistance of the variety is high - up to -30 ° C. Yellowish-green fruits weighing 100–120 g with a pleasant sour-sweet taste ripen in late August or early September. According to amateur gardeners, about 50 kg of pears are produced annually from one Chizhovskaya pear plant.
The Chizhovskaya pear began to bear fruit 2 years after the seedling was planted, and bears fruit every year. It tolerates frosts in winter and drought without any visible consequences.
Vyacheslav, Samara
https://forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=4937
The best for the Urals
Ural breeders have created dozens of varieties for each season of consumption: summer, autumn and winter. They were obtained by local research institutes by crossing productive Ussuri pears with Western European ones, which produce beautiful and tasty fruits. Due to the harsh climate and lack of heat, pears produce fruits that are not as large and sweet as in the south. The best category included local varieties registered in the State Register, with fruits weighing more than 100 g and a tasting score of 4.5 points.
Sverdlovchanka is a fast-growing variety that blooms in the 3rd year. For the Sverdlovsk region it is autumn, for the Saratov region it is summer and dessert. It’s the same with winter hardiness - generally high, but insufficient for the north of the region. Here it is grafted onto frost-resistant Ussuri pears. The taste of Sverdlovsk is very good, with an aroma, the fruits can be picked green for storage, they lie and ripen until October.
Sverdlovsk resident
Krasulya is an early summer variety, grafted onto Ussuri pear seedlings. Mature trees (20–25 years old) respond well to anti-aging pruning. The main advantages of pears are their elegant fruits and their very pleasant taste.
Skazochnaya grows fruits of unprecedented size for the Urals - up to 250 g, they are sweet, with spicy notes. The variety has magical winter hardiness. At -48.3 °C, only the thin tops of the branches and the bark are slightly damaged (spots and cracks appear), and in the summer the crown quickly recovers. The owners of the pear have already verified that this is not a fairy tale, but real characteristics. There is also a drawback - a very tall tree.
Larinskaya tolerates winters well, but is not resistant to drought. Its fruits are medium in size and have a very good taste. The harvest ripens in September and is stored until November.
Red-sided produces highly marketable pears with an attractive appearance and pleasant taste with a strong aroma. The tree is frost-resistant, does not get sick, and has moderate growth. Pears are filled in the second half of September, and in particularly successful years they are stored for up to 3 months.
Popular varieties for the middle zone (Lada, Chizhovskaya, Otradnenskaya, etc.) are also grown in the Urals, but with varying degrees of success. You should not listen to critical reviews of local varieties from residents of the south and middle zone. In regions of extreme farming, growing mediocre varieties, in their opinion, is a great joy and success.
Crown shape
The shape of the crown of the future pear can be a decisive factor when choosing a seedling variety. After all, the area that the root system of a tree will occupy completely coincides with the projection of its crown. Gardeners who do not have much space to grow pears are more suitable for trees with a narrow crown - a narrow pyramidal one.
If there is enough free space, then you can plant pears with a spreading crown - oval or round. The crowns of such trees require shaping already in the year of planting so that in the future the branches do not break off under the weight of the fruit.
And the columnar forms of this fruit tree will take up very little space. The crown of such trees does not require shaping. They undergo only sanitary or minimal cosmetic pruning if necessary.
How to save the harvest
First, the harvested crop is placed in a dry, well-ventilated room for a month. During this period, the pears should not be touched - they must ripen completely, gain juiciness and sweetness. And only after that they can be lowered into a suitable storage facility for long-term storage.
To store winter fruit pears for as long as possible, appropriate conditions should be created for them: room humidity of at least 85% and air temperature of at least 1-2 ºС. Fruits should be placed in containers made from natural materials. A layer of wood shavings is poured onto the bottom or paper is placed. Fruits are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
Paper is placed on the bottom, fruits are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
How long do winter pears last?
Winter pear varieties can be stored for two to four months, depending on storage conditions
Where to store
For the first 25-30 days, the harvest, which is not fully ripe, is stored in an insulated, well-ventilated attic. In such conditions, the pears should ripen completely. And only then are they lowered into the basement or cellar. You can also keep late pears in the vegetable store in the future.
Temperature
During the first month after picking, pears are stored at a temperature not lower than +10 ºС. But in the basement or cellar the temperature should be maintained at about 1 ºС, only this way the collected fruits will not spoil quickly, and their taste will not deteriorate.
The largest pear
Pear fruits can be large, medium or small in size and, accordingly, in weight. Small pear fruits are considered technical. They can be eaten fresh, but more often such pears are used for processing. Large and medium-sized fruits are intended for table (fresh consumption) or universal (for eating and canning) use.
Large and medium-sized pears are classified as table pears, that is, intended for fresh consumption, or universal, that is, suitable for consumption in fresh and processed form - jam, marmalade, jam, home canning, etc. The table shows the most common varieties of pears. They are arranged in descending order of fruit weight.
Pear fruit weight table
| Variety name | Average fruit weight (g) |
| Varieties of pears with large fruits | |
| Bryansk beauty | 205 |
| Dessert luxury | up to 200 |
| Clapp's Favorite | 140–200 |
| Yakovlev's favorite | 130–190 |
| Varieties of pears with medium-sized fruits | |
| Muscovite | 130 |
| Elegant Efimova | 110–135 |
| Yuryevskaya | 100 maximum - 130 g |
| In memory of Yakovlev | 125 |
| Prominent | 120 |
| Memory of Zhegalov | 120 |
| Chizhovskaya | 100–120 |
| Lada | 100–120 |
| Faithful | 100 |
| Varieties of pears with small fruits | |
| Children's | 80 |
| Thumbelina | 70 |
| Small | 22, maximum - 46 g |
When is the pear ripe?
In the description of the characteristics of pear varieties in the state register, the ripening period is indicated from early summer to late autumn. Specific dates cannot be given because they depend on weather conditions in the current year and the area where pears are grown. But gardeners have practically established the correspondence of these periods with more specific calendar dates.
Table of pear ripening dates
| State Register | Gardeners' experience |
| early summer | end of July |
| summer | early August |
| late | end of August - beginning of September |
| autumn | mid-September - early October |
| late autumn (winter) | second half of October |
Getting a harvest of delicious, juicy pear fruits in central Russia is within the capabilities of even novice gardeners. Frost-resistant varieties of this fruit tree do not require special care. If you choose the right variety and follow the growing rules, pears produce a stable annual harvest.
- Author: Tatyana Yavorskaya
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Forest beauty.
variety "Forest Beauty"
The dessert variety “Forest Beauty” is an absolute record holder for resistance to frost and return spring frosts. Withstands even 50 degree frosts. The tree is medium-sized, rarely reaching 5 meters. The wide pyramidal crown becomes spreading with age. Flowering begins in mid-April. The variety can only conditionally be called winter, as it grows in different climatic zones. For southerners, it will definitely be an autumn season, with ripening in early September.
It bears fruit annually from the age of 7 years. High yields alternate with low ones. The crop ripens in a short time and then falls off. The fruits weigh from 120 to 160 grams, in the southern regions they can reach 250 grams. The pulp is light cream in color, juicy and sweet, with a pronounced aroma. Shelf life 3 months.
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