The pears you may not have heard of and should consider growing

Other than Seckle which seems universally loved, the ones I settled down to try out and graft past few years are:
Citron de Carmes
Beurre Superfin
Beurre Giffard
Tyson (I basically live in Jenkintown so thought it would be cool to try since it originates there)

Other pears I may have grafted after reading descriptions on USDA site but not sure of their quality (some I may have picked just to get an early pear at my friends land in Upper State NY if they are early) and not sure which ones took yet:
Hudar, Ubileenā€™s Gift, Aurora, Stacy, Wilder Early, Emcianka, Summer Blood, Bloodgood.

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I find Luscious to be a real winner.

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Clark,

Can you declare victory with your Worden graft yet?

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Matt,
Itā€™s small but itā€™s grown two inches so it did take. Iā€™m not sure Iā€™m ready to call it victory yet because itā€™s to sunny and hot to cut the branches around it off of it and yet I know I need to because if left alone they would shade it out. I suspect itā€™s a smaller tree is that accurate?

Worden is reported to have moderate vigor. I would cut away some of its competition and give it priority.

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Matt,
I will give it another week or so to make sure that graft is solid and then cut it some light.

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I try and graft 2-3 of each variety in hopes that if a tree is lost or a storm comes through I have an extra to fall back on. It paid off this year. Iā€™m down to one graft of many pears after the storms.

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The pears that made it through the storms continue to flourish. The true test will be if they can survive Fireblight when they fruit in a couple of years.

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You asked in a post how is the LeCont pear? I donā€™t think I saw an answere. I have one that fruited for the second time this year. Itā€™s been a slow grower for me. It acts like itā€™s on dwarfing root stock, but I got 25 pears off of it this its third year in ground. Itā€™s very similar to Golden Boy which I bet is its improved seedling. Classically pear shaped yellow fruit with red blush, fine texture, robust flavor, not super soft but not hard either. Itā€™s meaty, not melting and not super juicy but juicy enough. The skin is a bit tough. The one pear I got off of it the year before last was huge, but the 25 I got off of it this year were half the size I got off the golden boy tree thatā€™s twice as big but the same age. Itā€™s a good pear, but Golden Boy is so similar to it but bigger and better that I donā€™t know why you would need both if you have other pears for pollination.

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No one has mentioned Golden Boy which was found on a Florida Homestead in Wachula County Fl and introduced by Just Fruits and exotics. They say that itā€™s the all around most reliable eating pear in their orchard and has the best potential for a commercial use in N Florida (personal communication). My tree has been in the ground three years and produced 50 pears on a large healthy tree. They ripen equally well on the counter and under refrigeration. Itā€™s a large yellow blushed pear shaped pear, but kind of on the fat side. You can see a pic I posted on the Southern Pear thread. The textur is fine, meaty more than melting. The ripened pears were way better than the Bartlett pears I bought from the grocery store the other day. The flavor is good. Golden Boy and LeConte are very similar with the Golden Boy being a good bit bigger and slightly better. God Bless.

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Just Fruits offered a new one last year that I have called Scarlot. Itā€™s another find from an old homestead. The mother tree dates back to the early 19 hindreds. I havenā€™t gotten any pears from mine yet. Just Fruits says itā€™s very large, has soft melting flesh and has a very unique spiced honey flavor (whatever that means). The picture they have makes it look kind of like a fat Bell shape kind of like Orient. Itā€™s also looks to be kind of orangey looking in the photo. When I talked to the Just Fruits folks about it, they said is very uniquely flavored and is probably their prettiest one. We shall see.

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@coolmantoole,
Unfortunately zone 8&9 wonā€™t work for most of us as it does sound like a good one http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product/scarlet-pear/. Sounds like a few years from now you will be blessed with an exceptional pear harvest!

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Some may be worth a try though, as keiffer is listed 7a to 8b, so the zones they list seem pretty general on the high side.

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Leconte was a good pear for me in the Austin area. Not in the class of Ayers or Magness but pretty good for sure. The zones listed on southern pears are more guesses than anything some of them may so just fine further north. Just my two cents.

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Second this. Iā€™ve seen stuff in JF&E state it was only for zone 8b and higher and I knew that wasnā€™t the case, as the thing in question is grown around here. Then again Iā€™ve seen a few other things on their website theyā€™ve said should grow in my area, like certain kinds of fruiting bananas and I really think theyā€™ve overestimated how mild our winters are in those cases.

If it were me,Iā€™d take their recommendations with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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Honeysweet is a fast grower. Anyone had it fruit yet? My understanding is Honeysweet pear tree
US PP4379 P was introduced in 1978 http://www.google.com/patents/USPP4379. Seems like a great pear.

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I think my Honeysweet will produce next year. Its a Seckel seedling and supposed to be delicious. Iā€™ll let you know if I get any.

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What are the yields like on Fan-Stil?

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Pretty good from what I remember. I had one on standard root and one on 333. The one on 333 did poorly just like all pears did for me in Austin on that stock. However the one on standard bore heavily even the squirells had a field day with them at that location. You may know this but it is pretty much a Leconte pear and some say the fruit is identical. I thought it was.

Drew

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I hope I made a good decision going with as many 333 rootstocks as what I did.