[AlaninCarlisle]

I bought a couple of pear trees yesterday, a Doyenne du Comice and a Concorde. The Concorde is to pollinate the Comice. It left me wondering whether or not I needed to plant them close to each other or if I could have one of them maybe 60 metres away in another part of the garden. Does anyone know how close self-sterile trees and their pollinators need to be to each other?

[Goosegirl]

I don't have any experience of this, but pollination by insects and the wind (?) should mean that they don't need to be close together like, say, sweet corn, but see what others say.

[surbie100]

The only reference I found for my trees is that the pollinator had to be 'nearby'. My plot's small so that's not a problem.  Could you give the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale a call and ask? http://www.brogdalecollections.co.uk/ I've found them really helpful in the past. Otherwise the place you bought them from should be able to tell you.

Do let us know what you find out.

[simonwatson]

I think a good rule of thumb is no more than 100 feet if you want confidence that they will cross pollinate well.

[mumofstig]

Do you need to plant a pollinizer if your neighbor has an apple tree? That depends on the distance between their tree and yours. Spacing of 50 feet or less is generally recommended for good pollination of dwarf trees, 20 feet for semi-dwarfs

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1751/#ixzz3JcTvVUln

[beesrus]

One other thing I learned from a stupid mistake when planting apart, make sure the soil and particularly sunlight conditions are the same for both trees. Differing light and shelter conditions can put one tree a good fortnight or more behind the other when blossoming, with the obvious drawbacks of that.

[barley]

Blackmoor nurseries have good advice on pear trees

here's their page on pollination groups

http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/category/89

[AlaninCarlisle]

Thanks for all the advice and external sites recommended. Consensus seems to be no more than about 50 feet apart. I'm playing safe and planting them about 12 feet apart