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.
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.
How does this compare to Chojuro?
Good question
Got my first fruits from Raja this year. Extremely fast grower. Fruits are good and flesh is softer than others.
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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Watch this video and he mentions ohxf87
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?
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.
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.
Blakes pride seems very resistant to fireblight. Hopefully it does not taste like it at my location. There are pears on the tree now.
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!
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.
I hope your Blake’s Pride taste good. Mine has not yet. Gritty and bland the first 4 years of fruiting.
It is also true of the infamous shenandoah pear they say. Like many fruits its not until its stored it tastes like bartlett. When it is first picked im told it can be very unpleasant to eat due to the acidity. Storage is part of the pear ripening process as we know. After its stored its apparently delicious. Snappy New Pear Is Long-Storing, Blight-Resistant : USDA ARS
These articles say it all
I have tried various refrigeration timing. Not working yet.
Raja is a great pear IMO. Grows twice as fast as others and the taste is really juicy and good. So far has been problem free with the exception of cracking.
I don’t grow Raja and haven’t tasted it yet. I have Hosui, Chojuro, Korean Giant, Seuri Li, and a young low vigor graft of either Yoinashi or Yakumo, whichever didn’t die over the winter, plus one on a really low vigor OHxF rootstock.
It seems like specific conditions are at least as important, if not more, than variety. Korean Giant has fruited a couple of times, but not ripened before the end of season or before something got them. Hosui rarely sets fruit, but I don’t spray, the year I did a dormant spray it made a few of some of the best Asian pears I’ve ever tasted.
Chojuro produces most reliably with very variable quality (year to year, not fruit to fruit).
I left my tree behind when I left California. While I was growing it, it never had fireblight.
Castenea
I got my Raja scionwood from you. The graft took and grew well abfd flowered in 2nd year. I picked off the flowers.
Last year, it flowered again and set fruit. Fire blight showed up. The whole graft was affected by the end. I removed the grafted this spring.
I’m seeing a lot of fire blight on my Raja branch this spring as well, here in central NC. My only other pear that seems to have a comparable number of strikes is Maxine grafted to the same tree.
