Growing Pear Trees from Seed Naturally

Have you wanted to try growing pear trees from seed and create your own new variety?

Then let's grow some pear trees together!

So why grow pears from seed when there are numerous "good" existing varieties?

Most of the modern pears aren't adapted to my particular climate and also aren't resistant to our local pests and diseases here, especially fireblight, which can quickly kill most pear varieties here.

Growing pear trees from seed creates the possibility to create totally new types of pears that are more vigorous growers in your climate, more resistant to pests, and match your specific taste preferences!

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I planted about 200 pear seeds about two weeks ago, sowing them directly in the ground. It would have been ideal to have done it at least a month earlier, probably more, but too much to do and too little time.

About 20 of them had already started to grow roots, so I tried to plant those gently with the root tip pointing down. These were harder to plant and took more time. It was much easier to plant the ones that hadn't sprouted yet.

I hope the germination rate will be good!

I have two Bartlett seedlings that I plan on grafting asian pears to. So which option is better: grafting low next year as the seedling trees will be about same diameter of the scion wood; or wait for a few more years so the trees get multiple branches for grafting? I haven't never done any grafting before.

That's awesome about your two pear seedlings May!

My current strategy is that if the seedling tree is not a healthy grower, I plan to graft it low at an early age and bury the graft to eventually create an own root pear tree with the grafted variety. This way the seedling is still useful to create a new tree, but since it's a poor grower I don't want to baby it and grow it out to fruit.

On vigorous and healthy growers, I plant to let them get taller and then graft them higher up, allowing the lower branches to fruit, so that the fruit can be evaluated to see if it's any good and worth propagating further.

I've found bench grafting, which is done with the small seedling being dug up, grafted, and then replanted, to be easier than grafting directly onto an existing tree when first starting out grafting. The small seedling (rootstock) can be more easily maneuvered than grafting onto a stationary older tree.

Would love to see some photos of your pear trees if you have any!

Thanks for your suggestions Steve. Here are the two seedlings:
I accidentally scorched the bark of this pear seedling and the scar is about 1ft from ground. That's why I want to graft lower than the injury spot to save the tree.
Another one is tiny but several weeks earlier than others to break dormancy. I probably will let it grow a few more years.

It's been almost three weeks since I planted the pear seeds, and some are starting to sprout!

I might have found a long term project... ridiculously long, but at least phase 1 of gathering seeds from the pears in the back is the easy part. Just have too beat the bears to the pears now :p

This is the best pear seedling growing from the ones I planted this Spring.

It's about 6 inches tall, and despite growing in a very less than ideal area, with lots of competition from more vigorous wild nearby plants, it's still growing very well and seems to be very disease resistant and shade tolerant so far, and is starting to put on some good new growth!

I've been saving pear seeds from the tastiest pears, per your method, Steve. Some sprouted and were growing crazy roots in the fridge. So even though it's maybe not the best time, I stuck then in soil in a big pot a week ago. Here's how they look today. I figure I'll bring them in on the porch for winter and saw how they do. Fun experiment regardless.

They look great Sonja! I always like how they look when they first sprout.

Should I thin these, Steve? They are doing better than I expected so far.

That's great they're doing well so far Sonja!

I personally wouldn't thin them yet. Even the three that are very close will probably do fine since they won't grow very tall this first year, and they seem to be some of the most vigorous and healthy ones so far so it may be worth it to keep their potentially good genetics.

They can be separated this Fall/Winter and planted with a little more space between them for next year. I like to evaluate ones that grow generally well during the first growing season for at least two years before culling them if possible. I've seen plants grow very differently in the first and second year, and have seen both disease issues arise or disease resistance become more clear in the second growing season.

Hope they continue to do well, they look great so far!

Steve

I've grown both apples and Asian pears from seed - started about 5 or 6 years ago. The apples are doing great. They produce smallish, Mac-like apples that will make a good apple sauce or cider once the tree is producing a bit more. They have pest-resistance comparable to my Liberty apple, but that's not saying much. Here in New England, growing organic apples is really, really hard.

The Asian pears grew fast and tall and have yet to produce any fruit - or even a flower. Of course, this is just my own experience - and a completely different sort of pear.

Here's what some of my apples look like:

That's awesome Karl!

I was inspecting my fruit trees recently and saw all three of my pear trees had swollen fruit buds developing. Two are seed grown Bartlett from 2020 and the third one is a grafted Kieffer pear bought in 2021. The trees are not very big compared to the seed grown peach of the same age, only 8-9ft tall with a dozen fruit buds. I will see if they will all get pollinated and set fruit successfully.

I don't have lots of pictures of the pear trees but here are a few.

Finally, one seedling pear (#2 from photo above) is blooming for the first time! It takes 5 years from germination (2020-2025) to maturity. I also bought a 4ft tall grafted Kiefer pear in 2021. Both trees are 10-12 ft tall and received minimal pruning. However, the store bought tree hasn't bloomed yet, so I probably won't get any fruit this year.

The sole pear tree self pollinated and bore two fruits! The tree looks healthy without any pest and disease but the fruits do show bumps and corky bits typical from boron deficiency.  I didn't spray the tree and instead amended the soil for better fruiting next year.

The pears are quite big at 250g or 8.8 oz. Taste is sweet, crunchy and slightly gritty, more like an Asian pear than an European pear. I will let the second one sit for a few months to see if the flavor and texture change over time.