Patten Pear
Pollination & Compatibility Guide
Patten pear pollination guide: Bloom Group 2 timing, Zone 4 cold hardiness, diploid companion choices, and northern orchard layout.
Patten is Self-Sterile (Needs 1 Diploid Partner)
Charles G. Patten / Iowa AES introduction (1922; Orel 15 × Anjou). Outstanding cold hardiness and an excellent, prolific pollen donor for other northern pears. Incompatible with its parent Anjou. Patten 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
- Mid (-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 1 to 3 provides matching blossom overlap.
Compatible Pollination Partners (20)
| Cultivar | Bloom Group | Overlap Type | Harvest | Primary Uses | Interactive Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Early ±6d delta | Canning, Jelly | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Early ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Pickling | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Early ±11d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 1 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±11d delta | Fresh Eating | 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 | Mid ±14d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 1 | Full Overlap | Mid ±21d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±28d delta | Fresh Eating, Baking | Test Cross |
Incompatible Varieties & Exclusions (4)
These pear varieties overlap in flowering time with Patten but cannot fertilise it due to non-viable pollen (male-sterile diploids), direct parentage exclusions, or shared incompatibility alleles.
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: Continental Cold Hardiness, Early Bloom & Table Quality
Introduced by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in 1922 from an Orel 15 seedling, Patten is one of the most reliable and cold-hardy European-style pears for northern temperate fruit blocks. It produces large, bell-shaped fruit that turns tender, sweet, and juicy when properly conditioned off the tree.
Patten is a diploid cultivar blooming early in Bloom Group 2. In northern orchards, it must be paired with companion diploids that share an early flowering season, such as Golden Spice, Luscious, Moonglow, or Harrow Delight. It does not set commercial crops without a compatible pollinizer.
The tree develops a strong, upright-spreading scaffold capable of withstanding heavy snow and ice storms without structural damage. It is a productive cropper that responds well to standard central-leader training systems in commercial blocks. Patten's resilience against severe temperature fluctuations and spring frost injury makes it an essential anchor cultivar for cold-climate orchards where standard commercial varieties experience frequent blossom mortality.
Key Orchard Considerations for Patten
Should be budded onto hardy Pyrus communis or Pyrus ussuriensis seedling rootstocks, or OHxF 87 where severe soil freezing is managed. Quince stocks are not winter-hardy enough for Patten blocks.
Moderate resistance to fire blight; outstanding resistance to winter trunk injury, freeze-thaw bark cracking, and spring frost bud kill.
Harvests mid-season (early September in the North). Pick when green skin begins to show yellowish lightening; condition in cool storage for one to two weeks before bringing to ambient room temperature.
Take Patten 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 Patten 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.