Blakes pride seems very resistant to fireblight. Hopefully it does not taste like it at my location. There are pears on the tree now.
2 Likes
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!
3 Likes
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.
2 Likes
I hope your Blake’s Pride taste good. Mine has not yet. Gritty and bland the first 4 years of fruiting.
3 Likes
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
1 Like
I have tried various refrigeration timing. Not working yet.
2 Likes
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.
4 Likes
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).
3 Likes
I left my tree behind when I left California. While I was growing it, it never had fireblight.
3 Likes
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.
3 Likes
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.
2 Likes
Maxine has been fireblight free in Kansas. Are you sure it is Maxine pear? Maxine pear . Fireblight pressure can be very different in different locations.
1 Like
@clarkinks, I’m not sure, but I bought my Maxine scionwood from Cliff England, and it hasn’t fruited yet but has a lot of marble sized fruit on it right now.
2 Likes
Please keep us up to date or grab a photo or two at the time to post. Fireblight is most pear growers biggest problem.
1 Like
Wow. That’s sad. But that’s the big problem with fireblight. You can go without it for a long time and then it unexpectedly hits something. I grew quince for more than 10 years with no fireblight and then in two years it destroyed all of them.
4 Likes
Did you get a Raja? I just planted one so i will be adding details to this thread as i discover them. Mine is fron One Green World. Looks to be a fine sapling and healthy, but has not put on any new growth yet, i expect it will in a week or two.
1 Like
I found out that to much fertilizer can cause a tree to get fire blight. So my suggestion is to lightly fertilize in the spring, unless the soil is poor.
2 Likes
Do you have any sources you could point me towards to read more into this? I’m just curious which component of a fertilizer could potentially be most likely to induce a disease like fire blight.
I grafted ‘Raja’ to my unknown Asian Pear (believed to be Chojuro) last season along with a few others and ‘Raja’ grew way more than any of the other grafts. This variety seems to be very vigorous right out of the gates over here in Western Washington.
1 Like
I don’t have much experience with fireblight, but I’m pretty sure the component from fertilizer is the nitrogen and related to stimulating excessive vigor.
3 Likes