Tawara is a new, relatively hardy, Asian pear variety producing 2-3 inch yellow fruit that are crisp, sweet and very juicy. The trees are hardy to -30 degrees. Thin fruit aggressively for best flavor size and quality. Tawara is self-fertile. You do not need to plant any other pear varieties to pollinate it, but different pears may improve fruit set. It may not reliably pollinate other pears trees. … Pears are a great fruit for Central Vermont. Pears suffer from fewer pests and diseases than apple trees, making it easier to grow high quality fruit. Plant 20-30 ft apart. All of the pears have been grafted onto semi-dwarfing rootstocks. OHFx87 is a bit smaller than OHFx97. Unpruned they can still get to 20 ft or more. Pear Pollination: The two different strains of pear, communis (European) and ussuriensis (Siberian), flower at slightly different times and will not reliably pollinate each other. Plant communis types with communis types, and ussuriensis types for most reliable fruit set. Also, some pear varieties produce very little pollen, making them poor pollinators for other pears. Plant at least two different varieties from the same pollination group (either communis or ussuriensis) for pollination. If planting a poor pollinator, plant at least two other varieties from the same group. The more the merrier! Tips: Prune pears minimally for the first 5-7 years until they are setting large crops, at which point you can begin heavier pruning. If they cannot put energy into fruit, they will forever fight you with vegetative growth. Thin heavy crops, one fruit per 12 inches of branch is reasonable. Fruit size, quality, and ripening will improve, as will the next years crop
