Ussurian pear

Photo: Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Pyrus ussuriensis, the Ussurian or Harbin pear, is valued far more as an extremely cold-hardy breeding parent and rootstock than for its own fruit, which is typically small, hard and only modestly palatable. It is a direct ancestor of cultivated Asian pears and remains the standard source of hardiness genes for pear breeding in cold-winter regions.

Hardiness

Zone 3–7

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Tree 10–15 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Boreal

Native range

Native to northeastern China, Korea and the Ussuri River region of the Russian Far East, growing wild in forests and river valleys of the lower mountain zones; introduced into Western cultivation in the mid-1860s.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Fast-growing and ultimately large — trees on their own roots, or used as rootstock understock, are noted as invariably vigorous, reaching roughly 12–15 m (40–50 ft) at maturity.

Spacing

600 cm (236 in) apart — about 36 m² (388 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Broadly ovate to obovate-oblong leaves, roughly 5–10 cm long, with a rounded to slightly cordate base, an apex abruptly narrowed to a short point, and finely bristle-toothed (setose-serrate) margins; the leaf surface is smooth and somewhat leathery.

Root system

Deep-rooting from seed, with a strong early taproot — which is exactly why wild pears are grown as rootstocks. On a bought tree the roots are the stock's, not the species': pear seedling gives a large, deep, drought-tough tree, quince gives a dwarf with shallow roots that needs staking and watering for life.

Fruit description

Small, roundish fruit around 2.5–4 cm across, greenish-yellow when ripe, borne on thick stalks with a persistent calyx. Size and eating quality vary greatly from tree to tree — most wild and seedling fruit is hard, dry and only mildly flavored, and is often described as essentially inedible fresh, though occasional good seedlings produce pleasantly flavored, if still somewhat dry, fruit. The species is grown chiefly for its hardiness and breeding value rather than for fruit quality.

Propagation

Named selections are grafted onto seedling rootstock, since seedlings are variable and do not come true. P. ussuriensis itself is one of the most important cold-climate pear rootstocks and breeding parents — it is raised from seed specifically to be used as a rootstock or hardiness donor, and has been crossed directly with fire-blight-susceptible European cultivars such as 'Doyenné du Comice' to breed more cold-hardy, fire-blight-resistant pears.

Pollination

Some nursery sources describe it as self-fertile and as a good pollinator specifically for other Ussurian-type pear cultivars (e.g. 'Ure,' 'Krazulya,' 'Vekovaya') — atypical for pears, which are usually self-incompatible — though fruit set is generally still improved by cross-pollination.

Pollinator partners

Asian pear / nashi, Chinese white pear

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.