Plant de Blanc perry pear trees
Malus domestica - Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
Plant de Blanc is a traditional pear variety from north-west France, used for making perry (pear cider). The pears are small, very juicy, with good acidic levels. The pears are usually harvested in mid-October, and can be kept for 1-2 weeks before pressing.
Plant de Blanc It is one of the varieties associated with the area of Domfront in Normandy, where perry - rather than apple cider- is the local speciality. Domfront perry can only be made with pears grown on standard trees in the Domfront region, and the pears must be allowed to fall and be picked from the ground. A minimum of 40% of the juice must be from Plant de Blanc, but it can also be used to produce a single-varietal (100%) perry. Of course growers outside the Domfront area are free to grow the trees in any way they wish, but it is useful to know this variety is suitable for such specific growing requirements.
Plant de Blanc organic perry pear trees for sale
Next deliveries: December 2025
11 yeartree on PyroDwarf rootstock29.25€Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Bare-root
Sold-out
21 yeartree on Kirchensaller rootstock28.00€Very large tree
(5m-6m+ after 10 years)
Bare-root
EU delivery countries
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Growing and Training
Plant de Blanc is a vigorous variety which produces attractive long-lived trees when grafted on vigorous rootstocks.
It is naturally biennial, in other words it will tend to produce pears only in alternate years - one year it will produce very heavily and the next year there will be nothing, and so on. Assuming you prefer regular production it is important to thin the crop very aggressively in June in the "on" year, in order to reduce the crop. This will in turn allow the tree to produce pears in the "off" year.
Like many traditional perry pear varieties Plant de Blanc has good disease resistance and is very suitable for organic orchards - or better, still, for "no spray" orchards.
History
Find out more about Plant de Blanc in this article about Domfront perry in Cider Review magazine.
Plant de Blanc characteristics
- Attractive featuresAttractive tree / plant
- Gardening skillExperienced
- Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
- Flowering group3
- Disease resistanceGood
- Picking periodmid-October
- Picking seasonLate
- Season of use1 week
- Food usesHard cider
- Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)Cold (< 20C / 67F)
- Country of originFrance
- Flower colourWhite
- Fruit colourGreen / Yellow
Similar varieties
FaussetFausset is a traditional Normandy perry pear variety.
More about perry pear trees
Perry is a traditional drink made from fermented pear juice, and in recent years has enjoyed a resurgence in interest, along with its cousin cider. Perry is now sometimes called pear cider and although this is incorrect, the term seems to have made it more accessible to consumers.
As with cider apples, perry pears are used specifically for the qualities of their juice and are not usually eaten fresh.
Perry pears are closely related to mainstream pears, and will cross-polinate with them, and both are classified in the species Pyrus communis. However it is likely that perry pears are a distinct sub-species.
If grown on seedling rootstocks perry pears can be very long-lived, as well as growing to a considerable height and spread.
Perry production has a very long history in England and France, although with different methods of production.
