Jun 21, 2022

Ten-year study on pear growing enters final year

The University of California Extension is wrapping up a 10-year pear tree project at Shadowbrook Farms in Hopland, and will conduct a field viewing to go over the most recent data on the project.

The Shadowbrook Farms field meeting is from 10 a.m. to noon, June 28.

The California trials is one of three started with plantings in 2013, focusing on bartletts; anjous were planted in Hood River, Oregon, and bosc trees were planted in New York, according to a news release. The Oregon trial did not survive.

The trial consists of four training systems, three spacings and three rootstocks, totaling 36 combinations being studied. There are also unpruned trees on two rootstocks and a separate trial comparing spread and unspread trees for the bi-axis training system.