When to harvest Pear in the UK
Pear is normally planted as a young grafted tree rather than sown from seed — seedlings do not come true to variety — so the dates below are harvest dates, not sowing dates.
Harvest dates by region
Pear is harvested at much the same time across the whole UK, so every region below reads the same. Planting time does shift by region, and Plot adjusts it from the Midlands and Lowland Wales baseline using Met Office average frost dates.
| Where you are | Harvest |
|---|---|
| South West Coast and Cornwall | late August to late October |
| South Coast and Channel | late August to late October |
| Greater London (Urban Heat Island) | late August to late October |
| South East and Home Counties | late August to late October |
| East Anglia | late August to late October |
| Midlands and Lowland Wales | late August to late October |
| Wales and West Coast | late August to late October |
| Northern England | late August to late October |
| Scotland Lowlands and Central Belt | late August to late October |
| Scotland Highlands and Islands | late August to late October |
| Northern Ireland | late August to late October |
| Channel Islands and Isle of Man | late August to late October |
Growing notes
Pears are always grafted, on Quince C for a small garden or Quince A for a full-sized tree, and take about four years to start cropping. Pick them slightly under-ripe and firm, then ripen indoors: early varieties take a week or so, late ones months.
At a glance
- Spacing
- 350 cm between plants
- Row spacing
- 450 cm
- Plants per m²
- 0.1
- Yield per plant
- 15.0 kg
- Sun
- Full sun
- Frost tender
- No
- Grows in a container
- Yes, 90 litres or more
- Minimum soil depth
- 45 cm
- Balcony rating
- 2 out of 5
What usually goes wrong
- pear scab
- pear rust
- canker
- biennial bearing
- birds and wasps
Related guides
Timings cross-checked against RHS guidance for pear.