You’re killing me with those pics.
The tree does need to be pruned and thinned but I suspect that doesn’t explain the almost total lack of blossoms.
It bloomed about the same time as the other Asian pear(s) which is showing a lot of fruit.
Perhaps they need to be closer.
I’ll have to investigate how to do grafting because I’ve never done it before.
I’ve always suspected it’s hit-n-miss and ultimately heartbreaking.
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Your chances of success are actually pretty good when you just graft a limb on. Here are some difficult pears I top worked which is the same concept but you just want to do one limb Top working Pears weather permitting
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Vohd,
Drippin’ Honey are keeping very well this year. It’s almost December and I’ve not lost any in storage. I’m getting down to the small and misshapen pears. The crisper needs cleaned out at this point since they have been in there now 4-5 months. Flavor is wonderful! The trees are pretty mature now and likely at the peak of best production! The quality of pears has went up now that they are mature trees and as mentioned the fruit are now keeping much longer.
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Thank you for the update! There seems to be a lot to like about this variety and hopefully I can add it this season.
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You convinced me Clark to give Drippin Honey a try, ordered a tree during Gurney’s Black Friday sale. Gurney’s site says its on semi-dwarf rootstock, would sure be nice to know what that is but like Stark’s, probably not possible.
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Chris,
This topic Here comes the 2016 apple and Pear harvest! has more about the drippin’ honey harvest this year. I don’t think you will have any regrets growing drippin’ honey.
I got one as well!
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Clark,
I got a couple of your scions Bark grafted. I will compare your Fruits to my Mishirasu to see if they are similar in a year or two.
Tony
Remember Drippin’ honey are patented Tony so you don’t want to grow that and fruit it.
Got a question for Clark or anyone else growing Drippin Honey pears. I’m preparing for my spring plantings and want to get an idea of the size of D.H. at maturity and spacing needed since Gurney’s will not disclose which semi dwarf rootstock they are offering.
Since it is an Asian pear I’m thinking it will not get quite as big as a euro pear and i could get by with 8-10 in row but not sure, thanks.
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@Chris_in_GA,
My Drippin Honey pears ( I have 3) that came from gurneys (conglomerate nursery) are 12’ never topped and about 6’ diameter. Nice shapely trees that require very minimal if any pruning. They could be kept at 8’ height with no problems. I should mention the Drippin’ Honey fruit is still keeping well from last years harvest and today is February 2nd.
clarkins how easy is it to keep the standard under control with pruning? looking to maintain it at 8’ or less. they are sold out of the semi dwarf.
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It won’t be hard because Asian pears start bearing early and it will runt the tree out. I’m not sure you can keep it at 8’ all the time but 10 or 12’ is doable on the most vigorous rootstock. There is an exception and that is unless its on BET or Harbin rootstock. We have no way to know what they are calling standard. Is 8’ a must all the time?
I’m mostly concerned about width since I’m trying to jam a lot trees into a small space. Taller is ok but I would like to keep the width in check. Think that’s possible w a bit of summer and early spring pruning?
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They are not very wide. They would be less than 5’ wide if I let them.
Clarkins thanks so much for the feedback! Are you growing standard or semi dwarf varieties?
That’s the catch 22 , it depends on the rootstock. I usually go with BET rootstocks on Asian pears which are technically taller than a standard full size pear. On my ground due to clay / loam soil and Asian pears the trees will get 12-20’ at best. I do put some on ohxf97 rootstock. Asian pears have a tendency to runt out at about 10-15’ because they produce fruit much faster than European pears. The one exception that gets huge are harbin pear rootstocks. If you put an Asian pear on a dwarf rootstock the tree may only get 6’ and runt out. The dwarfs don’t have enough vigor to push an Asian pear to any height. If you put a European pear on BET rootstock it could be 10-15’ taller than an Asian pear because they are slower to come into bearing in most cases. A dwarf European pear on Oxf333 may get 10-12’ so twice the height of an Asian on the same rootstock.
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Wow – you are are a treasure trove of information. Did you order your dripping honey on standard or semi-dwarf rootstocks? Is there a reason why Gurneys won’t tell folks which one they use?
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It’s easier for them to just say standard pear and use one of the several rootstocks they have on hand such as those rootstocks mentioned. I don’t recall which one my pears are on. Henry fields typically is a little cheaper than gurneys for the same trees.