You really need to try Asian pears such as Drippin honey and Korean Giant because they are exactly what you describe as your perfect pear.
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I was under the assumption the Asian pears are lacking flavor. I tried a few in the store and they were just “okay”. With your reply I may have to rethink this and get one of the two you mentioned. TY!!
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Thanks Clark, we tried some Korean Giant at the orchard last year. They were OK, my wife who likes pears more, thought the same, so I don’t think it’s enough to get a tree. We also tried Hosui, which were soft, hardly any flavor, so not too impressed with those. The Meigeitsu (sp?) was better flavored of all the Asian pears we tried, but don’t know if we’d try any here. I haven’t had a Dripping Honey, so I can’t comment on those.
If we can get a Maxine tree, I think that’d be good enough for us. They are also called a Starking Delicious, so I may have to get one from Stark Bros. Cummins had some, but are now out of them, that’s what I get for dragging my feet! I don’t know what rootstock Stark’s standard pear tree is on, but I did send them an email asking what they use. Still haven’t heard from them.
Is there a Euro pear that is close to the Maxine in texture and taste? Oh sorry, I just re-read your comment above about Potomac, Magness and the Harrow’s… Any others, tho? Thanks.
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A lot is about location but Potomac is said to be a quality pear at almost any location. KG is a good pear in most cases.
Just an update on the pears I added for the first time or more of based on the previous years analysis was a long list! Primarily I dealt with Singing tree and the USDA this year. Pears such as Farmingdale may lack commercial potential but I may find advantages to growing them on a small scale. There is a distinct possibility I will use farmingdale for breeding and interstems long term. These are additional pears I’m growing.
Spalding
Morgan
Pineapple
Carrick
Ya Li
Ayer not Ayers
Duchesse Bronzee
Duchesse d’Angouleme Bronzee
Farmingdale
Hoskins
Sucre Verte
Dabney
Hood
Mac
Mericourt
El Dorado
Richard Peters
Tenn
Miney
Enie
Menie
Fondante De Moulins Lille
Dana Hovey
Doyenne Gris
Forelle
Early Seckel
Aurora
Doyenne du Comice
Abbe Fetel
Flemish Beauty
Luscious
Magness
Orcas
Rescue
Beurre Superfin
Tyson
Worden
Concorde
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Well Clark, you will be the Midwest pears back up for the USDA in Corvallis,Oregon.
Tony
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how many acres is your pear orchard going to be
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KlecknerOasis,
3 acres roughly.
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Going back to the pears as vegetables–I have a recipe service I use occasionally, and the other month they sent me a recipe that involved cooking pears up in quinoa and serving the meat over top. The pears they sent were Seckels, but they weren’t ripe at all. They were hard as rocks and tasted slightly starchy. Yet after I cooked them up with the quinoa, they were quite savory. It was very good.
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Scott had just posted a list of recommended fruit trees for various regions from the 1900s. For the region encompassing southern GA, they recommended White Doyenne and Winter Nelis. Anyone Grow these in GA or a similar climate?
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Will post pictures later on of abate fetel, forelle, comice, Superfin etc. and let you know how much growth I get on them this year. I’m hoping a few of my new pears will fruit this year.
Has ayers fruited for you Clark? I think I saw a post where you grafted it.
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It might fruit this year. I pinched the flowers off last year because it was to young to bear fruit.
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I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on it as far as taste and when it is ripe
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Derby,
Lets see what the weather does but currently I have a lot of pear trees budding. I need to check ayers and see if it’s going to bloom this year. There are trees I grafting last year with blooms getting ready to open. With the weather being what it is I’m not holding out much hope.
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Tony,
I will only grow close to 100 varieties after this year. Some of those are not really meant for fresh eating and a couple are not meant for eating at all. It will be interesting to see which ones do best in Kansas. I’m getting the list narrowed down for commercially viable pears in Kansas and it’s a very short list.
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When you say you are growing inedible pears, do you mean perry pears, or oranamental types?
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I’m actually growing pears such as farmingdale among others. Though they may be considered somewhat edible that’s not their purpose.
So, your inedible pears will be used for rootstocks? Are you planning in the future to maybe make some crosses to make your own rootstocks?
Just curious, I like learning new things and I haven’t really heard of people growing inedible pears, unless they were perry pears or ornamentals. 
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I’m growing them for interstems, breeding fireblight resistance into future crosses, and rootstocks. @Lucky_P uses ohxf513 for the interstem purpose and many others grow other pears for that purpose. Long-term I plan to grow old home pears and farmingdale pears separate because they have been crossed to make all of the current ohxf rootstocks that are being used on fireblight resistant pears.
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