Beth pear trees

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• Picking season: Early late August / early September
• Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
• Flowering group: 3
• Awards: RHS AGM (current) 1993

An easy and reliable early-season pear, with a very good melting flavour.

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Beth pear trees for sale

Choose a size - pot-grown

All our pot-grown trees are grown for us to our specification by the Frank P Matthews nursery.

• PG12-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree, Quince A rootstock£58.75
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• PG2Premium half-standard 12L pot-grown tree, Quince A rootstock£64.50
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock

Choose a size - bare-root

• BR11-year bare-root tree,Quince Eline rootstock£39.75
  Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• BR22-year bush-trained bare-root tree,Quince Eline rootstock£47.95
  Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• BR3Cordon-trained bare-root tree,Quince Eline rootstock£49.00
  Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• BR41-year bare-root tree,Quince A rootstock£38.25
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• BR52-year bush-trained bare-root tree,Quince A rootstock£47.50
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock
• BR62-year bare-root tree,Quince A rootstock£47.50
  Large tree (3m-5m after 10 years)
  

  Out of stock

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Need help?

Ask our fruit tree experts on 01759 392007 or fill in our contact form.

Tree specification

Photos of trees as supplied | Tree sizes and forms

Delivery charges

Delivery for a single tree starts at £9.95, it is calculated based on your postcode.

All about Beth pear trees

Beth is an excellent early-season pear, very well suited to the UK climate. It grows in a neat and compact fashion (although quite upright like most pears), and cropping is very good in most situations.

It has a particularly good flavour, with the characteristic melting texture usually associated with the French pear varieties.

In short Beth is the ideal pear for the allotment or back garden.

Growing and Training

Beth is one of the easiest pears to grow, and along with Invincible and Conference is a good choice if you have less than perfect conditions.

Beth is a low-vigour variety, yet with a heavy cropping potential. This combination can lead to small fruit size, but this is readily addressed by thinning the fruitlets in late May - thinning is a particularly effective technique with Beth.

Beth comes into bearing quite young by the standards of most pears, you are likely to get some fruit within 2-3 years. However, be wary of letting it fruit too heavily too early, as this can slow further growth of the tree.

The picking season is starts at the end of August in the southern UK, a bit later further north. Beth is one of the few pear varieties that you can eat straight off the tree - most should be picked when still hard and ripened indoors.

Beth is self-sterile so needs a pollination partner, but will be pollinated by a large number of other pear varieties.

Pears are generally more tolerant than apples to wet soils, but much less tolerant of drought conditions. Like all pears, Beth benefits from watering during the spring, as soon as the blossom starts to appear - if there is insufficient rain then apply 4-5 litres of water per day.

History

Beth was developed at the East Malling Research Station in the UK in the 1930s by Henry Tydeman (who also developed many apple varieties including Tydeman's Late Orange). Beth is a cross between Beurre Superfin and Williams' Bon Chretien.

British-grown trees

Unlike many garden centres and online retailers, the vast majority of our fruit trees are grown in the UK. Find out more.

All our trees are certified under the Plant Healthy scheme, supervised by the Plant Health Alliance. Other stakeholders include Defra and the RHS. Find out more.

Guaranteed fruit trees

When you buy your fruit tree from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees we guarantee it for the first season in your garden while it gets established. If it doesn't grow successfully, we'll either replace it the following season or offer a refund, subject to some conditions. Find out more.

More about pear trees

Dessert pears are amongst the most desirable of all orchard fruits, with their characteristic sweet flavours. Most of the varieties we know today arose in the first half of the 19th century, when there was an explosion of interest among amateur and professional growers in raising new varieties, particularly in Belgium, France, and England. The aim was to achieve a buttery soft flesh and exquisite rich flavour.

Unlike apples, dessert pears can't usually be eaten straight from the tree, and should not be left to ripen on the tree. Instead aim to pick them just before they are ripe, and then place them in a fruit bowl for a few days.