Conference

The most widely grown British pear and the most forgiving. Its partial self-fertility is why a lone Conference still produces something, and the long narrow fruit it sets without a partner is a recognised outcome rather than a fault.

A cultivar of Pear. Everything on this page is about the cultivar; how to grow the species is on the plant page, and how big the tree gets is on the rootstock page.

Names and origin

Origin: Rivers Nursery, Hertfordshire, late 19th century

Pollination

What this cultivar needs before it will set a crop.

Self-fertility: Partly self-fertile
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
Partner: Crops better with a partner
Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence
Applies when: Sets a crop alone, often with narrow or misshapen fruit. A compatible partner gives a heavier crop of better-formed pears.
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
Flowering group: 3 on the pear scale
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination groups
Checked 2026-08-13
Ploidy: diploid
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
NIAB — National Institute of Agricultural Botany: Cultivar ploidy records
Checked 2026-08-13
Partners needed: one

Partners for Conference, from the 8 pear cultivars GrowingHQ holds

Computed by the pollination engine from the flowering groups, ploidy and recorded pairings on each record — not a hand-written list. The scope is exactly what the heading says: these are the answers that exist in this catalogue, not the answers that exist.

Cultivar	Verdict	Why
Beth	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Concorde	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Doyenné du Comice	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Invincible	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Onward	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Williams' Bon Chrétien	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.
Winter Nelis	compatible	Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 3) and both produce viable pollen.

The fruit

Season: Mid-season
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — season
Checked 2026-08-13
Use: Eating
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — use
Checked 2026-08-13
Keeping: Keeps a few weeks
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — storage
Checked 2026-08-13

The plant

Vigour: Average vigour
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — vigour
Checked 2026-08-13
Habit: Upright
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — habit
Checked 2026-08-13
Cropping: Crops regularly
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — cropping
Checked 2026-08-13

On each rootstock

The size of the tree comes from the rootstock. What the cultivar contributes is a direction, in words — GrowingHQ does not multiply the range by a vigour factor, because no source supports the multiplier and the resulting number would look far more precise than the inputs are.

Rootstock	Height	With this cultivar
Quince C	250–350 cm source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Pear rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Conference is of average vigour, so the rootstock's range applies as published.
Quince A	300–450 cm source Sourced guidancehigh confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Pear rootstocks Checked 2026-08-13	Conference is of average vigour, so the rootstock's range applies as published.

Full profiles for each of these are on the rootstock page.

Cultivar record reviewed 2026-08-13.