Marknmt,
I wish you could have had some of the gala I had this year it would change their worst critics opinions! wow! Then I had some others that nearly changed my opinion in the wrong way. Same thing with Fuji a bad one is blan but a good one is incredible. I suspect if you have a pink lady as it’s meant to be your opinion will change. The problem is there is so much regional and seasonal variation with apples which completely changes the flavor. I really really hate store bought red delicious but I promise you that the ones grown in Kansas are so good they remind me more of Staymans or Macintosh but nothing like a store bought red delicious.
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Yes, I have a young graft of it. The patent has expired.
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Matt, Clark, thanks for the comments.
I don’t just need more years ahead of me, I need more acreage! Pretty well have my little tree loaded with varieties as it is, dern it, and no room for an apricot. I’m trying to deal with the 'cot situation by going to a pot; we’ll see how that works. So far it hasn’t. Mebbe I could find someone with an underloved apple tree that could be a surrogate parent for my babies.
I know what you mean, Clark, about regional and seasonal variation. Couldn’t agree more. I’m waiting for a Hawkeye scion that Dbens in Washington sent me a couple of years back to mature so that I can experience the original red delicious. And I’ll keep my Galas, which really are pretty good for such an early apple.
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Auburn, I’m south of you in Montgomery area. We need to trade scion wood. The only interesting things I have are Liberty, Enterprise, Freedom, Kidds Orange Red and Carters Blue (founded in South Alabama). I’m done planting apples - only want to graft unique varieties at this point. I have many of the popular apples that I’m sure you don’t want or need (Dorset Golden being the best for this area).
I will add that bagging seems to be the only way I can get apples. Perhaps a vigorous spray program would work but that does not interest me at this point. Bagging is a chore; What are you doing to get pretty, well developed apples in Alabama?
Same here, I am out of space for new plantings. I am mostly adding scions of only disease resistant apple varieties. Most of my trees are small so I’m limited this year from trading these scions but I hope to have more trading options next season. You might not want pear scions but I do have some I can send to you when I do my winter pruning (Orient, Ayers, Moonglow). Trading scions is a good idea but I just don’t have many this season. Bill
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What do folks think about the Atlantic Queen pear? It is from France. Does it taste good if grown in the Mid-Atlantic?
I have seen few reviews on it, and they were mixed. Some say too astringent, or not sweet enough. Some say delicious with a buttery melting texture.
Apparently fireblight resistant.
Whaddaya all think?
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Matt never tried them but have heard they can be a great pear when grown right. I’m not sure grown right is not as much about fortune or misfortune of weather than anything else.
Best apples in my orchard - Centennial and Bastian’s Orange crabs.
Best pear - Chojuro…and, really, to my tastes, it’s still hard to beat a good old gritty Keiffer!
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I hear ya. We can possible trade in the future. I do have Moonglow and Orient but bloom at different times so pollination is an issue. This spring I grafted some Bartlett into the moonglow so I how to get some fruit next spring. Only concern is that Bartlett is fireblight prone. We will see.
I started keeping records of my different bloom times. My Orient bloomed well ahead of my Moonglow. Ayers bloomed pretty much at the same time as the Moonglow and it might be a viable option. My nearby neighbor has a Callery pear that blooms with my earlier blooming Orient. I also added grafts of Kieffer, Hood, and Seckel so I think my pollination down the road will be ok. On another note I share your pain with bagging but it has allowed me to grow good quality fruit organically. Bill
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I want to say for people who can’t grow the more fb prone Euro type pears because of fb pressure I really think Ayers is a really good pear. I thought it was nearly as good as Seckle. It only fruited for me once when I lived in Austin due to lack of chill but I think for people in areas that get good chill time it would be a great choice. I also loved the Abate Fetel and thought it was about as good a pear as any Ive had.
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I certainly agree with you. My Ayers pears this season were the best that has fruited in my orchard.
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I’ve read wonderful things about the abate fetel. It’s one of the fireblight prone pears that like forel keeps coming up. It is a curators choice pear http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/20721500/catalogs/pyrcult.html . The eloganted fruit , aroma, flavor make it a pear well known by conosouirs. Bosc is another we probably should never try to grow in my area but almost certainly will try. Magness and Ayers are reported by so many people to be good disease resistant choices. I feel like deciding to grow those fb resistant pears was a neccesity here . Getting so much good advice from this thread! Thank you
The wickson crabapple continues to come up so I got a scion. I’m surprised no one here mentioned it. Its rating is 5 out of 5 http://www.orangepippin.com/crab-apples/wickson-crab. The trees are obtainable for people who don’t enjoy grafting from here http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=146
Hello! For me, the first apple Kanz, then Sirius and Opal!
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Murky in your opinion is Comice the pear all other great pears are compared to? It seems like it is the true king of pears from many perspectives.
We have a friend who sends Harry and David fruit every year. Love that man!! Comice are aka as Royale Riviera from H&D. I find them to be overpowering sweet and somewhat too smooth. Bosc still is my favorite with forelle close for pears.
Had my first chestnut crab 2 yrs ago. I bought all they had at the farmers market and brought them into a family reunion at a Famous Dave’s BBQ. We finished 10# of apples and the BBQ went into to go boxes! Our wickson produced it’s first apple this year. Stunning intensity, so sweet, so acid. Kidd’s, Ashmead’s, and Karmijn should produce this year along with roxbury and golden russet. Can’t wait!
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Chikn you have great taste in fruit. You went down the list of many peoples reported favorites.
I’ve only had a few Comice. They can be really good. From the grocer, at least here, Taylor’s Gold are consistently excellent. It is a sport of Comice.
I may be in the camp that doesn’t consider “too smooth” and “too sweet” as an indictment, but I never try to eat more than one European pear in a day.
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That’s why they got planted,something to be said for anything that every one likes.[quote=“murky, post:43, topic:3457”]
“too smooth” and “too sweet” as an indictment,
[/quote]No indictment, just like a little texture and a smidge of acid to cut the sweet.
I guess that’s why we have so many varieties to choice from.
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