I thinned my pears quite well this year. Both 20th Century and Hosui were well thinned and weigh about 5.0 -6.0 oz.
Hosui is sweeter with brix at 15. Flesh is soft, melting.
20th Century is milder at around 12-13 brix. Flesh is crunchy and juicier.
Since I like crunchy A pears, I prefer 20th C over Hosui.
I also thinned Korean Giant well. I see some of them getting closer to a lb on the tree. Hopefully, Squirrels would not get to them before I could. KG is a late pear. I pick them in Oct.
If you like Asian pears, you should try the common Kieffer pear! It’s a suspected cross between a Chinese sand pear and a European Barlett. Although routinely “reserved” only as a “cooking” pear due to its hardness…it’s actually my favorite pear precisely DUE to its hard, crispy, crunchy, gritty, watery flesh! It’s rather similar to an Asian pear, but a bit grittier and harder…
Just note that to get a Kieffer pear, you’ll probably have to either find some at a farmer’s market or grow some yourself! As they are not deemed “commercially viable” for being merely “cooking” pears. And so no grocery stores carry them.
Well to each their own…but European pears are comparatively too mushy and bruise too easily for me!
Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve read enough about Kieffer and, at this point. I’ll pass.
If you like Kieffer you might want to try the Orient pear. A few of us forum members like these pears. I grew up eating them so they are what seems normal to me. With that said I like all pears and I’m excited about several other varieties that I have grafted but have yet to fruit. The Kieffer and Orient thrive in my area with very little care.
To leave size out of the equation (I am not a big fun of large fruit), are tinned ones better/sweeter/more juicy than not tinned ones? If you are about to choose between 4 small ones and 1 big for the same price in the store, which one you choose?
Generally speaking, 4 small ones don’t taste as good as one big one. This is especially true with peaches. Unthinned peaches don’t taste as good. A tree spends too much energy feeding hundred of small fruit instead of concentrating in half the number.
Also, with smal fruit, so much waste on skin, seeds/pits, etc. than actual flesh.
I am not talking about growers who sizing up their fruit by watering so they have large, attractive fruit that taste diluted.
I am suspecious of large fruit selling in supermarkets. Are they large because of proper thinning or adding water? I think it’s more of the latter.
Orient is a large, excellent, flesh-quality pear. The tree has the best fire blight resistance. It holds its leaves well into the fall and is a reliable producer. The chilling requirement is low and can be grown in areas ranging from 400 to 1200 hours. This tree normally bears after 4 years and is self-sterile.
Sounds great and I’d love to try one…but these are all just hard to find anywhere, unless you grow them yourself! Commercial grocers are all overdominated by European pears, with rarely an Asian pear, much less any Eurasian hybrids (Kieffer, Orient, etc)…
So, unless you grow them yourself - I think your only hope of finding some of these Eurasian hybrids is from a farmer’s market or neighbor…
Has anyone tried any of the fruit from the following varieties, if so what do you think of the fruit, have any disease problems with them and what kind of climate do you live in?
‘Doitsu’ (fruit quality 7 out of 9) https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1182333
‘Suisei’ (fruit quality 7 out of 9) https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1263376
‘Okolo’ (fruit quality 7 out of 9) https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1436844
‘Hawaii x Japanese Golden Russet’ (Hawaii x Jap. Gold. Russet)(fruit quality 7 out of 9) https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1436701
I have Hosui, Shenseiki, Hamese, Maxie, Mishirasu in production, and grafts of Chojuro, Nijiseiki blooming now. Raja graft this spring is growing now. These are on three multigraft trees.
I like Shinseiki best for productivity and flavor. Hosui and Hamese havent done much for me. Mishirasu are huge, flavor kind of insipid to me. Maxie,a cross i think, feel free to correct me, between red Bartlett and Nijiseiki, has just been hard and astringent so far even though they do have the red color.
My climate is inland maritime Pacific NW.
I would love for Chojuro to do betterbecause I like the butterscotch flavor. The grafts are young so maybe this year.
I think that since Corvallis has so many pear trees that they don’t give the trees much of a chance to prove them selves, or at least do not show records that they do. The don’t try them on much root stocks, don’t give data for every year.
They may have given Shenseiki a 6 out of 9 for fruit quality, yet they state that it’s fruit tastes bland, which a lot of people say otherwise. That is why I don’t fully trust their data. They have taken on a huge project and don’t have the time to do as good as home growers can for certain observations.
A lot of varieties of things do get better with the gaining age of the tree/bush, some varieties of Asian pears prefer a hot climate with lots of sun hours, yet cool winters. I wonder if age of tree might make that irrelevant to any extent.
I have a Nijiseiki (aka 20th Century Pear) on OHxF97. At one point it was deer pruned back severely, but continued growth above the graft, or so I thought. Now I’m questioning if the new growth is Nijiseiki or root stock (97) because the new growth has thorns. Can anyone growing Nijiseiki confirm if its juvenile growth has thorns?
My Hosui was unproductive for almost 10 years, and I’ve grafted other varieties, the most productive of which has been Chojuro, although I don’t thin enough and the fruits are small. Quality highly variable on the Chojuro from excellent to meh.
Last year, for the first time, I sprayed copper and oil one time in late winter. I got my first Hosui crop, a handful, and they were outstanding. Really good.
Maybe it was a coincidence, or the weather or something. Or maybe the spray dealt with pseudemonas blossom blast.
This year none again, but now I’m much more interested in preserving a portion of the tree as Hosui, compared to me thoughts the previous many years.
My Hosui has been non productive since I planted it 7-8 years ago. I think my issue is because it is in a partial shade location.
Not my most productive, but a true machine though. I find if you let them hang for a while they get even better.
My most reliable and top producer is Shinseiki. Although if you want quick growth and production, Raja is the ticket. They grow like mulberries. Twice as fast as any other asian.
Glad you guys mentioned that about Hosui. I was going to put one in next year. Surprising an asian pear would do that.
Yes, I agree about hanging longer. But there is a limit. I waited too long last time. The flavor was great, but the texture was awful - to my palate. Wasn’t crisp.
My Hosui also took a very long time to get reliable, and it is also in a somewhat shady spot. It is in its 19th year now and is finally a regular producer.
The only problem is it is also in squirrel alley and I rarely get pears from it. My Shinsui got wiped out by wasps this year. Last year the crows took every single asian pear not already taken by squirrels. At least I have not seen the crows yet this year, I hung up several plastic dead crows which are supposed to be good scares. Also after around 50 trapped squirrels this year the stealing of the pears seems to have leveled off. 50 down, 50 more to go…
Scott,
19 years!! I have a dozen more year to wait. By the time it is productive, I may not have any strong teeth left!!
Your pest pressure is incredible. Where do you bury those bodies?
Wow, 19 years, I would chop my pear tree down just to show them squirrels. It’s a lose lose situation for them too. Ok, I kid.
I have a pear on my 20th century and a tiny Hosui right now. Last year one pear tree with one big fruit was removed due to fire blight.
20th Century set fruit like mad. I have to thin 80%of them off to get them to size up. They still smallish pears, juicy, mildly sweet. Hosui is a lot tastier.
I grafted my 20th over to 10 other pear varieties. No regret.
