Harrow Sweet Pear
Pollination & Compatibility Guide
Harrow Sweet pear pollination guide: high precocity, fire blight resistance, Bloom Group 3 overlap, and storage pear management.
Harrow Sweet is Self-Sterile (Needs 1 Diploid Partner)
Bartlett is a direct parent and is not a reliable pollinizer for it. Conference, Comice and Bosc all overlap its mid-season bloom. Harrow Sweet needs at least one compatible pollinizer from bloom group 2–4 to set a reliable crop.
- Chromosome Ploidy
- Diploid (2n)
- Required Companions
- 1 Diploid Partner
- Bloom Group
- Group 3 (Mid-Spring)
- Harvest Timing
- Late (+14d 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 2 to 4 provides matching blossom overlap.
Compatible Pollination Partners (21)
| Cultivar | Bloom Group | Overlap Type | Harvest | Primary Uses | Interactive Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Baking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Storage | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±14d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±14d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±21d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±21d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±28d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±39d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±42d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 4 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 4 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 4 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Canning, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 4 | Full Overlap | Mid Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Storage | Test Cross |
Incompatible Varieties & Exclusions (5)
These pear varieties overlap in flowering time with Harrow Sweet but cannot fertilise it due to non-viable pollen (male-sterile diploids), direct parentage exclusions, or shared incompatibility alleles.
A direct parent (Bartlett × (Old Home × Early Sweet)) — 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: Commercial Precocity, Blight Resistance & Crop Load
Introduced by Agriculture Canada's Harrow Research Station in 1990 from a Bartlett open-pollinated cross, Harrow Sweet has rapidly established itself as one of the finest late-season commercial cultivars. The fruit closely resembles Bartlett in shape and colour, offering rich, sweet, juicy, fine-textured flesh.
Harrow Sweet is a diploid blooming in Bloom Group 3. It overlaps reliably with Conference, Beurré Bosc, Comice, and Bartlett. The tree is exceptionally precocious and heavy-bearing, often producing fruit in its second leaf; annual fruit thinning is mandatory to maintain commercial size and prevent broken branches.
The tree exhibits spreading, manageable vigour with short internodes that make it suitable for high-density trellis blocks. Its consistent annual flower set reduces the risk of biennial bearing cycles, provided excessive fruit clusters are thinned early. Commercial trials highlight Harrow Sweet's superior yield efficiency compared to standard Bartlett, with trees producing uniform fruit sizes and high packhouse turnout when standard thinning protocols are observed.
Key Orchard Considerations for Harrow Sweet
Highly compatible with OHxF 87 rootstock. Can also be grafted to Quince A when combined with appropriate management to support its heavy cropping tendencies.
Possesses outstanding genetic resistance to fire blight and solid resistance to pear scab, making it one of the most resilient commercial cultivars available.
Picks late season, roughly three to four weeks after Bartlett. Features excellent storage potential, holding in cold storage for up to ten to twelve weeks without losing texture or flavour.
Take Harrow Sweet 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 Sweet 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.