2017- name only 5 of your best flavored pears

2017 has brought a lot of changes in pears that people grow and the types of pears they like. Let me know what your preferred pears are. Need to make sure I’m keeping up on the latest pears. I think the top 5 champions are
Doyenne Comice
Abate fetel
Seckel
Forelle
Beurre Superfin

I know there are a few that should be in that list but I think that is most of them. There are a lot of pears that are bred from Seckel and Comice because the quality is very good. Apple growers have even bigger challenges because favorites change nowadays every 3-5 years.

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I really like my Summercrisp the best.

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I do grow that one but it has not fruited. Thought it might be hype so I’m really glad to hear that.

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I assume you mean European pears? My top-5 is more or less (well, less, only 4):

Aurora
Magness
Fondante des Moulins-Lille
Docteur Desportes

The Nye Russet Bartlett and Seckel should also be on that list but they have not been fruiting reliably enough due to poor tree location.

Beurre Superfin has been a real challenge for me, they rot easily and are hard to ripen well. Even the well-ripened ones are well below the above ones. I would probably rip it out but its one of my more productive and reliable croppers so its staying around for now.

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Thank you Scott I did mean European and should have specified. The 4 you mentioned I’m growing but they are pretty small still but I hope they will fruit soon. Based off your recommendation I’m growing 2 of them and the others are grafts from this year.

To be clear these are the best ones that I have fruited myself as grown in Texas not bought at the store.
Abate Fetel
Seckel
Magness
Ayers
Moonglow

I hope to taste Dabney this year. I f Asian types could make the list Hosui would be in the conversation too.

Drew

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Abate Fetel
Concorde
Beurre Superfin
Bartlett
Red Bartlett

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Drew,
Seckel tried to fruit for me this year and the 10 or so fruitlets were froze off. Moonglow I only grafted a couple of limbs that have not fruited ( I hear mixed reviews on FB resistance). I grafted abate fetel again this year because my one graft was broke off last year in a storm. Magness I’ve got at least half a dozen grafts of and many trees as well but none have fruited. Ayers I have one tree not growing to fast but it’s a couple years old and I think 2-3 others. I have a tree on its 6th year that has not produced fruit. You guys really have great choices in pears!

Mrsg47,
Those sound excellent! I don’t have red bartlett yet but I wondered about it the last couple years. I am growing red Anjou.

Red Anjou is delish!!!

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Glad to hear that Aurora is a good one. I have a very well established tree, but it’s been pretty slow to come into bearing. It finally flowered this season, but from what I can see it only has one fruit. Hopefully nothing bad happens and I’ll be able to taste it along with my Seckel, Harrow Delight, Harvest Queen, Potomac, Colette and Bartlett pears that also set fruit.

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Yes, Aurora is a bit on the slow side to fruit. Not horrible though. It starts with a few and slowly adds more fruit over the years.

Let us know how your pears turn out, I just added Harvest Queen this year based on all the good recs.

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I’ve only fruited four of my Euro pears thus far, though I’ve got most of the pears listed in this thread in various stages of development on my trees. In order of preference, though honestly, the first three are all excellent here.

Seckel
Comice
Bartlett
Warren

I ought to devote a new thread to this next paragraph, but we’re already talking pears, so apologies for what I hope is a mild, but sort of relevant hijack. I fruited Warren for the first time last year after eight, possibly ten or maybe even more years - have to go through my chaotic notes/receipts from my poor record-keeping years in order to dig out the exact year I grafted this tree. I had 20-25 fruits from the tree and was a bit disappointed at the level of sugars, but enjoyed them even so. I figured this year I’d have double, maybe triple the number of pears. Nope, I got zilch. Pear trees surrounding Warren have lots of fruits, with several younger trees sporting their very first pears. Anybody familiar enough with Warren to comment on its bearing habits?

Back to the main topic (sort of). I’ll be tasting Concorde, Conference, what I think is Butirre Rosata Morettini (poorly identified scion from a CRFG scion exchange) and possibly Packham’s Triumph this year if I protect the small crop (one each in the cases Concorde and Conference) these trees have set from maurading birds. Next year should see another handful of varieties begin to produce.

My shipova is also loaded again for the second year running. Last year it was terrible, but the tree defoliate about 70% over the course of four weeks beginning in July, so I’m sure that affected the sugars in the fruit. I’m hoping not to repeat that experience. Exciting times out here in Reno.

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Yep I’m familiar with Warren and at least in Texas it has a rep for being a real dog. Same story as you waiting forever to bear and then only setting a few and sporadically at that. What is surprising is that your pears were not of great quality as everyone I know who has fruit these say they are great. It is quince compatible and I wonder if that would help. It would not of course help pollination and that is the story of what I hear is the issue with this thing. It would at least reduce the long juvenile period if that is really an issue though.

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This list is from the market- I haven’t gotten much yield yet and when I do get some, I’m still working out when to pick it and how long to store it.

1.) Concorde
2.) Comice (and Taylor’s Gold, a russeted variant)
3.) Bosc

I think the best of Fondante des Moulins-Lille from my yard can compete with the best of the top 3.

There are others which I think are decent (Forelle, Seckel, etc) and those which are unoffensive, if a bit boring (Abate Fetel), but the above 3 standout above the rest, at least of what I’ve sampled.

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Forelle is variable and I think that’s why different people don’t say the same great things about it. I’m excited to see how it grows here. It sounds so far like the people who are very serious pear growers are pretty much on track with the ones I grow. Hopefully my small yellow pears will be something everyone is growing in a couple of years. The quality is very poor at first and improves within 2-3 years of when they start producing. You guys like normal have been a huge help to me. I’m growing one warren pear and I grafted half of that tree over to Karl’s favorite aka ewart.

Yep, I’m not as big a pear fan as many people are and I like Forelle.

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Red Anjou
Bosc
Orient
Kieffer
Moonglow

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I have only had boring Abate Fetel and Forelle pears, but it could just be the ones I had from the market. The Forelle were bland and not sweet and with rubbery skin. The Abate Fetel were somewhat like Bosc but with less flavor. Comice I have had many excellent ones from the market, also Bosc and Bartlett are usually excellent market pears here.

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I got some Euro pears to taste and compare this coming Fall and near future then I will have a better idea of my top five. Here are the varieties: Comice, Bartlett, Seckel, Improved Keiffer, Keiffer, Clark little yellow pear, Bosc, Moonglow, Honey sweet, Harvest Queen, Harrow Delight, Harrow Sweet, Summer crisp, Altoona, Red Bartlett, and FDM-L.

Tony

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