The first year's harvest: Pyrus communis 'Bartlett'

We bought a semi-dwarf Bartlett Pear tree from Los Altos Nursery last year and planted it in the backyard. It had tiny pears on it at the end of April and 5 of those made it all the way to harvest.


Bartlett Pear harvest 2012

There are only 4 in the photo because we picked one a couple weeks ago and let it ripen in the house in a paper bag. We ate that one last night and it was so good, we were motivated to pick the rest today.

This is the first year for fruit on this tree and having large pears hanging off of it put a lot of weight on the young branches. But the bird netting we put around the fruit to protect it from the squirrels created a supportive cage, and I used nursery tape to tie the fruit laden branches closer to the trunk. I'm happy to say we didn't lose any branches. I'm looking forward to next year!