Why a fan is worth the effort

A fan-trained pear takes up a strip of ground barely 30cm deep and a couple of metres wide, yet it can go on cropping for fifty years or more. The flat plane of branches catches far more sun than a bush of the same age, so the fruit colours better and ripens more reliably — no small consideration in a British summer. Pears are also a shade tenderer than apples: they flower early and appreciate warmth. A south- or west-facing wall soaks up heat during the day and releases it slowly after dusk, which can bring flowering and ripening forward by a fortnight. On an allotment, a fan against a shed wall or a sturdy boundary fence does the same job.

Choosing the site, rootstock and variety

Give the tree a spot in full sun, with free-draining soil and a pH around 6.5. Dig in plenty of garden compost and a handful of bone meal before planting, and set the trunk about 25–30cm out from the wall so air can circulate and rain reaches the roots.

For the framework, run horizontal galvanised wires 30cm apart up to about 2.4m, fixed to vine eyes. Training canes are then tied to these wires and moved as the fan grows.

Rootstock matters enormously. Quince A suits most gardens and gives a fan of roughly 3m across; Quince C is smaller and crops a year or two earlier. Allow 3.5–4m between fans if you are planting more than one.

Reliable varieties include Conference, which is partly self-fertile, Concorde, Doyenné du Comice for flavour and Williams' Bon Chrétien. Most pears need a pollination partner flowering at the same time, so check before buying a single tree — a neighbour's pear within a few hundred metres often does the trick.

Building the framework in the first winters

Plant a bare-root maiden between November and March. In late March, cut it back to about 45cm above a strong bud, or to the lowest good bud if you have bought a part-trained fan.

During the first summer, select three strong shoots: one tied vertically up the middle, two tied at 45 degrees to left and right. Remove everything else. The following winter, shorten each of those three by about a third, cutting to an outward-facing bud, and tie in the new growth that follows to even out the spokes of the fan.

Repeat each winter: extend the leaders by a third to a half, cut back to a bud, and rub out any shoot growing straight out from the wall or crossing a neighbour. Aim for branches spaced evenly like the ribs of a hand-held fan, with no gaps and nothing overcrowded.

Summer pinching and tying in

This is where the crop is made. From June onwards, tie new shoots to canes and gradually lower them towards the horizontal as they lengthen — the flatter the branch, the more fruit spurs it forms.

Leave the framework leaders alone, but pinch back side shoots to six leaves in late July. In late August, go over them again and shorten to three leaves above the basal cluster of buds. Always cut to a leaf on the underside, and never leave a stub.

Prune pears in August rather than winter where you can. Winter pruning encourages soft sappy growth, and pears are prone to canker, which enters through wounds. Any larger structural cuts are best made in late summer too.

Feeding, watering and thinning

In February, scatter sulphate of potash at roughly 15g per square metre around the root zone — a modest handful — and fork it in lightly. Potash encourages flower and fruit rather than leafy growth. If the tree is growing weakly, add a balanced fertiliser, but go easy on nitrogen, which produces leaves at the expense of pears.

Mulch with 5cm of well-rotted compost or manure in spring, keeping it clear of the trunk.

Water thoroughly in dry spells from June to August. A fan's roots sit close to a wall, in the rain shadow, and dry out faster than you would expect. Soak once a week rather than little and often.

Thin the fruitlets in July, leaving one pear per cluster and 10–15cm between fruit. Remove all fruit in the first two or three years so the tree puts its energy into the framework.

Routine care and harvest

• Pear midge: small fruitlets swell and blacken, then drop in June. Pick and bin them — never compost — to break the cycle.
• Canker: cut out dead, sunken patches back to clean wood in dry weather and dispose of the prunings.
• Scab and winter moth: keep the fan open to the air with careful summer pinching, and pick off damaged leaves.
• Birds: net the fan once the fruit starts to colour, or hang old CDs among the branches.

Pick pears slightly underripe, lifting each one gently until it parts from the spur. Store them in a cool, dark, frost-free place — Comice needs a week or two to soften, while Conference will keep well into December. A well-trained fan, fed and pinched each August, will reward you with fruit that no supermarket pear can match.