Everyone loves a great apple. They are without a doubt the most popular fruit in America. Amongst our group for a number of years i’m noticing a trend where pears are becoming more popular than apples. Persimmons, mulberry, jujube, and pawpaw are also growing quickly in popularity. There is a push to spray less to save money, save our health, and preserve the land around us. I’m not suggesting crabapples cant be grown using reduced sprays. What are your thoughts?
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I get bored of apples fast, I have always preferred properly ripe pears both European and Asian pears over apples.
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My new to me pear varieties (Dripping Honey and Korean Giant) are a big hit with my grands. As a whole I would say they are their favorite. The next favorite is Pink Lady apples. There are so many varieties of pears and apples that I have never tried out so this is the opinion of a small sample size.
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I’d say apples are still more popular than pears here… more apple posts than pear posts. … I checked and Google search says 21,000 apple hits and 13,000 pear hits on growingfruit. That is still a lot closer than the consumer sentiment which is probably 10:1 apples vs pears.
For the home grower its not hard to see why they are a win, they are easier to grow.
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Are there any pears that keep as well as the better-keeping apples? I’ve not grown enough varieties to know from personal experience, but keeping quality is a fairly big issue for me.
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I have some winter pears but they don’t keep nearly as long as my apples. I’d agree that’s a big advantage of apples. I have a supply of fresh apples all winter, I still have quite a bit left even now. The pears were gone many months ago.
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Pears may be easier to grow in warmer zones. They arent very productive in 4a and colder. Also, the varieties that are reliably winter hardy and available to purchase locally are not great table fare IMO.
Edited to add…just about everybody who lives in a rural setting here has an apple tree or 5. Only a couple folks I know have pears.
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We were always going to do pears here. However plans go awry and planned purchases drift away. And gifts come. Now this year Bartlett, Moonglow , Diamond , Fanstil , Warren and Summer Blood Birne are in the stable.
Apples however are a greatly reduced addition. But we did gain a handful of interesting roots by cutting types that seem to be taking. And another handful of Southern Heritage apples including a pair from Georgia.
The above pears are about it that we want other then the humble Sand Pear , June Sugar , Dixie , Reliance , Spaulding and Leconte( I know, could be Fanstil). And Hebe from South Carolina.
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Some of the asian pears keep just as well as apples.
@clarkinks I like pears more than apples, but I think a lot of growers are leaning toward pears because of their care free nature.
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No pear fan here. My system doesn’t digest them very well. Only Bosc seems special. Most don’t have much taste. The European pears are difficult to ripen properly.
Are there pears that are sweet/tart like some apples? Pears to me are one dimensional.
But then apples aren’t nearly as good as stone fruit. I’ll take lots of things before pears.
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Pears are fireblight magnets here.
Apples are much easier and there is a greater range of flavor.
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I’ll take a perfect tree ripened pear over any apple, but they’re far from surpassing apples nationwide. We have a bunch of u-pick apple orchards around here, but I have yet to see a pear one.
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Pear flavor varies as much if not more than apple flavor. Also, there are plenty of long storage pears. Winter Nelis as an example is rated for 2 or 3 months of storage. Winter Nelis pear - Wikipedia
Other pears rated for storage are Kasper’s Winter, Pound, and Santa Claus. I’ve seen a few varieties suggested for storage up to 6 months.
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There are some asian pears that are Perry pears, just like there are European Perry pears, Perry pears are pears which are used to make pear apple cider. Although should not be eaten as is. It sounds to me like they are as unpleasant to eat as is, as an unripe American persimmon
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Here is a list of perry varieties grown specifically for the purpose. Several more varieties have multiple uses including perry.
Arlingham Squash, Barland, Barnet, Bartestree Squash, Beetroot Clows Top, Beetroot Wick Court Alex, Beetroot Wick Court Ella, Beetroot Wick Court Eric, Bergamy, Berllanderi Green, Berllanderi Red, Betty Prosser, Bird Pear, Blakeney Red, Blood Pear, Boy Pear, Brandy, Brinarl, Brown Bess, Bunch, Burgundy, Butt, Butter Pear, Buttersend Pear, Cannock, Capel Hir Early, Catillac, Catillac, Catillac, Chapman’s Orange, Christmas Pear, Ciphrous, Claret, Clusters, Coppy, Cowslip, Cygnet, Darell Wick, Dead Boy, Dead Dog, Dua, Ducksbarn, Early Blunt Red, Early Griffin, Early Hay Pear, Early St Brides, Ellis’ Coppy, Felix, Flakey Bark, Gennet (Laurel), Gin, Green Horse, Green Longdon, Green Olive, Green Roller, Gregg’s Pit, Gwehelog, Gwehelog Red, Hampton Rough, Harley Gum, Hartpury Green, Hastings, Hawkes Hill, Hellen’s Green, Hendre Huffcap, High Pear, Hillend Green, Holme Lacy Pear, Holmer, Honeydew, Island Gennet, Jenkin’s Red, Judge Amphlett, Knapper, Littlecross Huffcap, Littleton Late Treacle, Lullam, Lumber, Merrylegs, Moorcroft, Moorcroft, Nailer, New Meadow, Newbridge, Old Pear, Oldfield, Oldfield, Packhorse, Painted Lady, Parsonage, Penny Pear, Pine, Pint, Potato Pear, Queen’s Wick View, Red Longdon, Red Pear, Rock, Rock (Wick Court form), Sack, Seckle, Snake Pole, Speart Pear, Stanton Wick, Staunton Squash, Strawberry Pear, Swan Egg, Sweet Huffcap, Taynton Squash Early, Taynton Squash Late, Teddington Green, Teegar, Tettenhall Dick, Thorn, Thurston’s Red, Tirley Brown, Tumper, Turner’s Barn, Water Lugg, Welsh Gin, White Bache, White Longdon, Whiteheads Crab, Wick Crab, Wick Early Browning, Wick Early Clutterbuck, Wick Early Godsell, Wick Early Martin, Wick Early Pickering, Wick Early Vick, Winnal’s Longdon, Workman Wick, Yate Wick, Yellow Huffcap, Zealous Wick, Ginnybrook,
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Z6a Southern Rockies here.
My ‘Harvest Queen’ (Harrow, Ontario varieties tend to have ‘har’ in their names,) is as reliably productive as any apple, very sweet and flavorful, while being a beautiful landscape tree.
I wish I had planted it years ago, with a more vigorous rootstock. Vigor not real good here.
Pollination is an issue, but a “Summercrisp” pear is a functional equivalent of a crabapple in the pollination department.
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Pears are softer in texture (the opposite of Honeycrisp) and require more work to eat, that is they have to ripen and soften before you can eat them. You cannot buy a bag of Bartlett from the store and eat them right away like an apple
I think for those reasons they are less popular
People like crispy fruit which is easy
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Just in the last few years, I’ve realized how much I love a soft, juicy, perfectly ripe pear. I’ve always been an apple girl, but lately, give me the choice between the two, and I’ll reach for the pear every time. We buy them by the 5 lb bag weekly in season, so much that I’m really hoping to put a pear tree in this fall.
My hesitation is also storage and ripening. Apples are easy. My favorite store-bought pears are Bartlett and Comice. I’m not a fan of crispy pears, I want them oh so soft, so need to figure out how to manage that (and will definitely use the extras to can my favorite pear-ginger jam and salted caramel pear butter).
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Do due diligence re Bartlett and Comice. Both are very susceptible to fire blight. Warren can get you Comice flavor in a fire blight resistant variety. Also, you will need 2 pears for pollination and they should be selected to avoid pollen sterile varieties. Ask here on the forum and you can find some compatible varieties.
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S/W Michigan is apple country for now. Lot of yanking out of HoneyC, dont know what fad they will chase next. People are mostly ignorant about pears in general around here and are limited to the bartlett, bosc anjou, red and comice. I dont see asian pears in the stores here anymore.
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