Pears

First, fire blight is an issue with pears. If you’re growing in Central Texas you can get away with less fire blight tolerance and higher fruit quality. Ayers, Warren and Le Conte are probably higher quality and you don’t need to worry as much about fire blight.

Now if you’re growing in the eastern part of the state, over near Beaumont where you get high rain fall, the fire blight tolerance is going to be absolutely essential. In the eastern part of the state, varieties like Keiffer, Maxine, and Moonglow are probably the ideal varieties.

Do you need another pear for pollination? Yes, you do, and it must be a different variety.

Two different varieties of pears that bloom at the same time are ideal for fruit set.

How many chilling hours do we need?  This is the number of hours below 45° for dormant trees to flower and set fruit. Most pears adapted to the Southern part of the United States are relatively low chilling. 450 to 500 hours is plenty. So we get plenty of chilling in most of our areas. And, because they are a little slow to bloom, we rarely get problems with spring frost.

Find out more on Texas A&M University Fruit and Nut Resources.