They sell it at One Green World and the description sounds appealing. I don’t think I’ve heard of it elsewhere.
I had a vague recollection that it was spoken well of by someone on the GW forum. I found this post by Pam in Cinti. In another post, @Bhawkins mentioned that he had just planted it (2013), so he may have some initial impressions now.
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I’m growing it. It had fruit for the first time last year but birds got the fruit. It is the most vigorous Asian pear I have ever grown. So far, no fire blight.
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Does anybody have any updates on Raja pear? It sounds like such a great pear and I figured I would take a chance and I ordered from OGW for the spring.
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I moved before getting any fruit. Pam (another poster, in Cincinnati?) loves it
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Thanks for the info. I just found some of her past posts on gardenweb, she made it sound like an great grower and only had problems because of the rootstock. OGW has it on Pyrus betuaefolia, which should hopefully perform better. We’ll see how it grows for me here in MD.
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Extremely vigorous Asian pear with heavy production of fruit. No fire blight. Based on those qualities alone, it’s the most fun Asian pear I grow.
Based on the flavor of the fruit, it’s a totally average Asian pear. Not bad, but just average.
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Doh- I think Pam made it sound good enough that I grafted it last spring (scionwood from Cliff England). Oh well- maybe it will be well suited to my area (more similar to Cincinnati than zone 9B…).
Though I will make sure to keep the growth in check. I put it on a couple multi-grafts, so it doesn’t have unlimited space to grow.
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I have changed my mind about the fruit quality. In the past I considered this cultivar to have average flavor for an Asian pear, but I’m becoming more sophisticated about how to pick the fruit and now consider it to be above average in flavor. Both of these are Raja Asian pears. The large fruit has average taste but has not yet ripened to its peak. The one that has the orange glow has fully ripened and is much better than average.
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How does this compare to Chojuro?
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Good question
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Got my first fruits from Raja this year. Extremely fast grower. Fruits are good and flesh is softer than others.
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Thanks for starting this thread many years ago. How do you feel about raja now after many years?
2015 had been a long time ago and your link changed. This link seems like the update https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1444894/wanting-to-plant-first-asian-pear-tree-and-more . There is no doubt that link will change eventually. This is the conversation as best as i could follow it assuming none was deleted in the gardenweb to houzz move. A lot of our really old posts i think were removed.
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Pear decline on ohxf rootstocks is not unheard of but i dont believe it always happens. I think it happens in the presence of high amounts of pear psylla which i linked a video here of professional growers. My ohxf333 is over 7 years old with no problems
Watch this video and he mentions ohxf87
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Think BET rootstock is a wise choice! It will take plenty of pruning if you want to keep it under 20 feet. By now you should have fruit.
Any updates on this pear? Any fireblight seen?
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Have had it several years here. If there have been any fb strikes, they’ve been minor ones. The pears last year were excellent—very sweet and juicy. I will say that, within my limited range of experience, it’s one of the best Asian pears I’ve eaten, and could conceivably become my favorite if it keeps on delivering. Last year, I liked it better than a good Large Korean—and, as you know, that’s a pretty good pear! Ripens around the same time as Chojuro here—and I think it’s a much better pear than Chojuro, or it was last season, anyway. Good fruit set on it this year.
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It really depends on our location I guess. Raja, grafted in 2020 or 2021. Showed sign of fire blight last year. Totally consumed by fire blight this year, the whole branch. Removed it. It was on Blake’s Pride which has not been affected.
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Blakes pride seems very resistant to fireblight. Hopefully it does not taste like it at my location. There are pears on the tree now.
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Lol! Yeah, you always expect that disease-resistance comes at some cost. But sometimes there are pleasant surprises. I know I was kind of shocked when I tasted my first Ayers pear. Figured it was one of those make-do pears, maybe okay-tasting, that you just have to grow because of blight-pressure in the South—but no, it was really good!
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Yes ayers is very good. Sugary, melting, heavy producer etc… The more you grow it and tenn you will notice something off about the taste once every several years. For some people that off taste happens more frequently. A slight tannin like taste in the peel is the best way i know to describe it.
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I hope your Blake’s Pride taste good. Mine has not yet. Gritty and bland the first 4 years of fruiting.
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