Adrian Baggaley surveys his successful year with pears, which he grows as far north as Nottingham.

April this year, when the pear trees were in blossom was not merely warm, but consistently hot. This fantastic spring produced a fantastic fruit-set, making it the most successful year I have ever had with around 25 varieties cropping in my Nottinghamshire orchard. A bush tree of Beurré Bedford had never had so much blossom - it was an absolute mass of flowers. This was no doubt related to the two months of blistering hot weather during June and July last year. Usually fruit-set on Beurré Bedford is poor, considering that it is a self fertile variety, but on the other hand one of its parents is Durondeau, which is a rather light cropper.

Beth, as ever, had a good show of blossom, which normally produces a good  crop, but being a small pear it requires thinning. Espaliers of Louise Bonne of Jersey and Beurré Hardy grown against a fence panel had an excellent fruit-set, although Doyenné du Comice in a similar position achieved only  a moderate set. Pyramid trees of Fertility, Durondeau, Moonglow and Beurré Dumont had their best fruit-set ever.

April’s lack of rain, however, meant that on my strong clay soils this was an ideal time to sow and plant  vegetables and as a result the proposed spraying programme for susceptible pear and apple varieties was continually being put back. I eventually started in May, a month late. Scab goes hand in hand with wet weather, so I was lucky. The last serious scab spray was in 2001.

As June approached no one locally had an idea what was to come - it was rain in torrents and virtually two months of wet weather. My village was flooded four times and sand bags were a permanent feature.  The vegetables stopped growing for about six weeks and most never recovered. Some pear varieties, such as Conference and Black Worcester hated the wet overcast days and neither made any real size. Poor weather conditions can give rise to much russetting, crazing and even cracking on Conference and is often mistaken for scab. Some varieties, like Pitmaston Duchess, Moonglow and Marguerite Marillat produced enormous fruit, due to the wet weather.

Pear leaf blister mite was a problem this year. It burrows into the leaf and is difficult to control and occasionally affects the fruit clusters as well, although a winter-wash last December had cleaned up many of the affected trees. Pear midge was also present. This lays eggs around blossom time which find their way into the embryo pears, which eventually turn black. The trick is to recognise the distorted orb-shaped fruit, pick them off and burn them before they blacken after the larvae have left. Catillac fruitlets are naturally orb-shaped, so unfortunately some pear midge larvae dropped to the ground and pupated.

The pear rust, not seen in my orchard until three years ago, is spreading rapidly through the trees. The scab spray programme wiped it out on those trees that I had included. However, since Beurré Bedford is scab-resistance it was not sprayed, but it proved susceptible to pear rust. The affected leaves were picked off , and for the first time I found rust attacking the fruits.

This year Beth was a week late in cropping, but as usual it was a bumper crop with its season lasting for about two and a half weeks, although this could probably be extended by putting some in a fridge. I think the flavour ‘knocks spots’ off some of the classic varieties and it is one of my ‘must haves’.

The third week in September saw Beurré Hardy and Louise Bonne of Jersey beginning to drop fruit, but it was still two and half weeks to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Autumn Show, when I was hoping to enter   these varieties in the competitions. I lined up duvets  to cushion their fall and hair-nets to catch them, and these were put into action when needed. By early October some samples were already in my newly acquired large fridge, while some were still on the tree. The best of the Louise Bonne of Jersey were red or orange flushed and the most colourful that I have ever grown. Similarly Beurré Bedford and Durondeau were wonderfully coloured. I can only speculate that it was a result of low levels of nutrients, which had been washed out the soil during the continuous rains. 

The orchard had seen much bird damage to the low lying fruit. The worst affected were the enormous Moonglow pears and the culprits were pheasants. Blackbird damage has been minimal this year, but a new pest appeared, a woodpecker, at least that is what the evidence suggests. Some very good Beurré Dumont and Concorde pears had strange lines of adjoining pecks around the fruit which had fallen onto a duvet, as if it had been rotated with the force of the blows. The most annoying thing was that these pears were attacked in their final days having survived all season and potential exhibition quality but that’s gardening for you!

At our Loudham village show and inaugural Apple Day this October I was able to put on display 25 pear varieties. As well as those that I have mentioned, these included also Glou Morçeau, Comte de Lamy and Santa Claus. We even had sufficient supplies to put on sales of pears; the most popular was Beurré Bedford, a juicy, quality pear.  

I would recommend the following varieties : Beth, Beurré Hardy, Conference, Concorde, Beurré Bedford, Glou Morçeau, Fertilia (syns Dewilmar, Invincible) and Beurré Dumont. The latter, Beurré Dumont is very sweet and may only be for the enthusiast since it is a martyr to pear scab, although a warm fence or wall may sort this out. Scab resistant varieties include Concorde, Beurré Bedford, Durondeau, Black Worcester and Catillac; these last two named being cooking pears.