Asian pear

Family

Rosaceae

Habit

Tree

Height

10 m

Spread

8 m

Growth

medium

Lifespan

50 years

First yield

after 5 years

Yield per plant

up to 100 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 20 t/ha

Energy yield

400 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 6–9

Shade tolerance

partial shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam, Clay

Soil moisture

semi-dry – very moist

pH

6 – 7.5

Synonyms

Nashi, Nashibaum, Nashibirne, Nashibirnbaum; Pyrus pyrifolia var. culta (Makino) Nakai

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: The fruit is round to slightly flattened, 7 to 9 cm across and, depending on cultivar, green-yellow to bronze-brown russeted. The flesh is white, very juicy and strikingly crisp - a texture closer to an apple than to a European pear, and one that never softens but goes mealy if kept too long. The flavour is sweet-sour and suggests apple, pear and melon at once; sugar content runs at about 6 to 9.5 per cent and fruit acid at up to 0.56 per cent. The main constituents worth naming are vitamin C, potassium, calcium and phosphorus. Nashi is usually eaten raw and peeled, because the skin is tough; it also suits compote, jam, cake and chutney, and its crisp acidity goes well with cheese, ham and game. Unlike the common pear it is harvested ready to eat and does not ripen further, yet keeps for several weeks to months in cool storage.

Medicinal: In China and Korea the sand pear has a long tradition as a household remedy for coughs, hoarseness and a dry throat. Widespread is the steamed or boiled pear with honey and ginger - known in Korea as baesuk - spooned warm during a cold; in Chinese dietetics the pear counts as cooling and moistening and is eaten against dryness complaints in autumn. This is traditional dietary knowledge without proof of efficacy by present-day standards. Its contribution to fluid and vitamin C intake is undisputed; any healing effect beyond that is not documented.

Other uses: Beyond its fruit the nashi is a handsome ornamental tree: the white blossom in April is among the earliest in the orchard, and the foliage turns a bright orange-red in autumn. Because it trains readily onto a horizontal flat framework - the usual system in Japan - it also works as a shading roof over a seat or path, with the fruit hanging within easy reach. In East Asia the developing fruits are traditionally wrapped individually in paper bags; this keeps pests off, prevents sunburn and produces a particularly pale, fine skin. Where flowering periods overlap, nashi can act as a pollen donor for common pears and vice versa. Pear wood is fine-grained, hard and even, darkens to a reddish tone and is prized for turnery, musical instruments and veneers, though nashi yields it only in small quantities.

Site: A sunny, sheltered position on deep, humus-rich, evenly fresh soil - the same requirements as the common pear. The decisive planning point is the flowering period from early April to early May: it falls very early, which rules out frost hollows, depressions and cold north-facing slopes; a gentle slope with cold-air drainage or a spot against a house wall is far safer. Almost all cultivars are self-sterile; only 'Nijisseiki' crops on its own. All others need a second nashi or pear cultivar with overlapping bloom within reach. The nashi is just as susceptible to fireblight as the common pear - allow distance from hawthorn, quince and apple plantings and observe regional reporting rules. It is, however, largely immune to pear rust, so a juniper nearby is not a problem. Care: Train as a spindle, espalier or, following Japanese practice, on a horizontal flat framework that lights the fruit evenly and limits storm damage. Prune in late winter: renew fruiting wood regularly, remove upright water shoots, keep the crown open. The nashi tends strongly to overcropping - without thinning to one fruit per cluster the fruit stays small, the tree ages prematurely and falls into biennial bearing. Feed moderately, as excess nitrogen increases fireblight susceptibility. Watch for fireblight and pear decline; for both, only consistent cutting out or removal helps. Harvest from August to early September; the picking window is broad at around three weeks, and the fruit is ready to eat at once and does not ripen further in store.

The nashi is propagated exclusively by grafting, because seedlings do not come true and take many years to crop. The rootstocks used are pear seedlings - in Central Europe usually 'Kirchensaller Mostbirne' or seedlings of Pyrus communis, in East Asia Pyrus betulifolia and Pyrus calleryana. They give vigorous, long-lived and more fireblight-tolerant trees for half and full standards. Dwarfing quince stocks such as Quince A or C make the tree smaller and bring it into bearing sooner, but are incompatible with many nashi cultivars and then require an interstem. Grafting is done in late winter by whip-and-tongue onto one-year rootstocks, or in July and August by chip or shield budding onto a dormant bud. Seed raising is relevant only for rootstock production: the seed needs eight to ten weeks of moist cold stratification at about 1 to 4 degrees, while temperatures above 15 to 20 degrees trigger a secondary dormancy.

The nashi is a neophyte from East Asia and no caterpillar host for native moths, but it has real value as a flowering tree. Its white bloom from early April to early May falls at a time when forage is still scarce; 31 wild bee species take nectar and pollen from it, none of them specialised. Honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies and early beetles come too and are needed anyway to pollinate this self-sterile tree - here the ecological benefit and the grower's own yield are directly linked. Ripe and split fruit is taken by wasps, blackbirds and starlings, windfalls by hedgehogs and small mammals. A nashi trained as a flat framework or espalier offers cover and nesting sites in its dense, horizontally branched crown. Anyone aiming for greater insect diversity should add native flowering shrubs.

Besonderheiten: dürre+schadstofftolerant; Veredelung oft auf Quitte +Aroma Birnen (spez. Sorten) s

East Asia: China, Japan, Korea. The nashi is the cultivated form of the sand pear Pyrus pyrifolia, which originates in China and is known there as shali, sand pear, or shuili, water pear. It was bred on across East Asia over centuries; today's range of cultivars is largely of Japanese origin, which is why the Japanese name nashi has prevailed in trade. For some decades it has also been grown outside Asia, among other places in Chile, France, Italy, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. In Germany it has been on the market since the 1960s and is planted mainly in home and self-sufficiency gardens.

As a purely cultivated form the nashi has no natural range of its own; its requirements derive from the wild sand pear. That species grows in the deciduous woodlands and woodland margins of eastern and central China, mostly in areas with mild winters and summer rainfall. It calls for deep, humus-rich, evenly fresh to moist soil in a sunny, sheltered position - essentially the same conditions as the common pear. It avoids dry shallow ground and cold hollows, but mature trees are hardy to about -23 degrees and can therefore be planted throughout Central Europe. The critical point is not the winter but the early bud break.