Harrow Delight Pear
Pollination & Compatibility Guide
Harrow Delight pear pollination guide: early bloom timing, fire blight resistance, Agriculture Canada breeding, and diploid pollinizers.
Harrow Delight is Self-Sterile (Needs 1 Diploid Partner)
Bartlett is a direct parent and is not a reliable pollinizer for it. Blooms early, so an early-to-mid partner is needed — Moonglow, Rescue or Patten all overlap. Harrow Delight needs at least one compatible pollinizer from bloom group 1–3 to set a reliable crop.
- Chromosome Ploidy
- Diploid (2n)
- Required Companions
- 1 Diploid Partner
- Bloom Group
- Group 2 (Early-Spring)
- Harvest Timing
- Early (-25d from Conference)
Flowering Period & Overlap Window
Pear flowering periods are compressed into numbered bloom groups (1 through 4). Cross-pollination requires overlapping blossom timing between genetically compatible cultivars, with Asian pears flowering 7–14 days ahead of mid-season European varieties.
Any compatible diploid pear flowering within Group 1 to 3 provides matching blossom overlap.
Compatible Pollination Partners (19)
| Cultivar | Bloom Group | Overlap Type | Harvest | Primary Uses | Interactive Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Early ±4d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Early ±5d delta | Canning, Jelly | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Mid ±11d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Mid ±18d delta | Fresh Eating, Pickling | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±3d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±11d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±18d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±18d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 1 | Full Overlap | Mid ±18d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±25d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±25d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 1 | Full Overlap | Mid ±32d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±39d delta | Fresh Eating, Baking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±39d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross |
Incompatible Varieties & Exclusions (5)
These pear varieties overlap in flowering time with Harrow Delight but cannot fertilise it due to non-viable pollen (male-sterile diploids), direct parentage exclusions, or shared incompatibility alleles.
A direct parent ((Old Home × Early Sweet) × Bartlett) — roughly half the pollen is non-functional, so it is not a reliable partner.
Gourmet produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Luscious produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Magness produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Warren produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Pomological Assessment: Early Season Ripening, Blight Resistance & Pollinizer Utility
Selected at the Agriculture Canada Research Station in Harrow, Ontario, Harrow Delight was bred from a cross involving Bartlett and Purdue breeding lines. It was introduced to give growers a fire-blight-resistant alternative to early-season Bartlett. The fruit is medium in size, light green with a subtle blush, and ripens to smooth, juicy, melting dessert quality.
Harrow Delight is a diploid cultivar flowering in Bloom Group 2 (early mid-season). It serves as an early pollen donor for companion diploids like Bartlett, Seckel, and Moonglow. Planting alongside early-blooming partners ensures regular, heavy fruit set across fluctuating spring weather.
The tree produces an upright, open canopy that comes into fruiting quickly on precocious rootstocks. Because fruit matures early in the heat of late summer, orchardists must monitor block pressure readings closely to coordinate picking before fruit softens on the tree. In commercial trial orchards, Harrow Delight has demonstrated consistent yield efficiency and low incidence of bitter pit, performing reliably across varying soil textures and drainage conditions.
Key Orchard Considerations for Harrow Delight
Grafts cleanly to OHxF 87 and OHxF 97 rootstocks, producing sturdy, productive, well-anchored trees. Direct compatibility on Quince rootstocks is variable; an interstem is advised.
Demonstrates high field resistance to fire blight, rarely suffering serious blossom or structural strikes even under heavy inoculum pressure.
Picks approximately two weeks before Bartlett. Must be harvested firm green and marketed promptly or placed into cold storage, as fruit softens swiftly at room temperature.
Take Harrow Delight from Planning to Planting
Use Kropigo's free browser tools to model your block density, tree counts, and pollinizer rows, then maintain permanent orchard records row by row.
Pollination Checker
Check Harrow Delight against supported cultivars with compatible flowering and pollination data.
Commercial Block Planner
Calculate high-density tree spacing, row geometry, and establishment costs.
Block Record Keeping
Track pruning, chemical thinning, and harvest tallies block by block from the orchard.