It indeed is opposite. I like firm texture like Bing has. But my Black Gold cherry has much firmer texture than White Gold. My White Gold is on soft side
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@IL847
I have read about Black Gold’s firmness from other grower like Scott. Mine is not firm but not soft like the Romance cherries. It is something in between.
I like Bing’s firmness. It Bing’s firmness is a 10, my Black Gold’s firmness is a 5. My White Gold is a 6. Utah Giant was a 7.
@clarkinks has several thread dedicated to each variety of pear. I happened to graft many of them. I would like to put various varieties that start to produce in one thread.
This year, Citron de Carmes has set fruit.
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My Pulu persimmon came back with a lot of new shoots. Cut down all the others already. Thought this one was dead also.
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Congrats, Bob. Glad it comes back.
My Rojo Brillante is pushing buds. I sure hope it will not have that dreadful curl leaves with burned tips again. I put in some new potting soil and intentionally did not add any extra fertilizer.
My karmijn d’sonneville apple tree bloomed this year, and it looks like it would make a nice ornamental
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I have heard so many good things about Kamijn. I grafted one last year.
If the squirrels leave me any apples, I’ll report.
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What do you do to prevent squirrels from stealing your fruit?
That fence may not deter them.
Whao! Very nice Tippy. Don’t give it too much nitro now, micro,s are more important.
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I had forgotten you had so many beautiful pears. Just curious if any of yours get rust? Every single year more and more of my pears are getting destroyed by some kind of rust. I can’t tell if its quince rust or Euro pear rust or something else. But I now get it on trees that I’ve had for many years that never used to get it. And it becomes more damaging every year. Your leaves look healthy and I don’t see any of the bright orange growth or dust on your fruitlets so you must not have that problem.
What kind of spray do you use?
You know me…same old thing for everything (which I readily admit is not ideal!). So one copper in very late winter, then captan and Myclobutantil at petal drop and about 1 per month (every other time I spray peaches). HOWEVER… that isn’t completely fair because some of my pears I didn’t use to have to spray or I’d spray less often so if I honor that schedule religiously I’d probably have a lot more success. I probably should do a pre-bloom application too, and perhaps spray every 2 weeks when I do peaches.
I’ve read that some antibiotic sprays would help but I’m about done adding things to my rotation…I already have to buy 6 things each year!
I also have lots of cedar trees near me that I can’t cut. I don’t think i have Junipers in this area but I’m not sure, and reportedly they really add to pear problems.
Do you have a pollinator?
I think you have too many host for rust in a close proximity. I spray with myclobutanil at petal fall and 14 days later. Just last year that I add Captan to avoid a fungicide resistance issue.
I don’t have CAR, pear or quince rust, so far. All these issues are supposed to be managed by fungicide like myclo.
I 100% think you are right…there are cedar trees within 20 yards of most of my pears and apples, but they aren’t on my property so not much I can do. Some of the cedars have those things hanging on them that are part of the rust cycle (forget what they are called). But what is odd is that I sprays apples same time, same mix, same schedule as my apples and it controls it on my apples. Oh well.
I wish myclo and captan worked well for pear fungus issues including scab. I don’t think they work for rust either. The commercial formulation of myclo, Rally, doesn’t even allow spraying pears.
Cornell doesn’t list pear rust as a major pear problem in my most recent guideline book, and I’ve never seen it get bad enough to affect crops. The main issues for me with pears are, first of all, psyla, which also encourages Fabrea leaf spot which causes early defoliation and is often mistaken for scab, which can also be a problem but it’s a different fungus than apple scab.
Several summer apps of oil are often needed when psyla shows up… unless you want to invest in Centaur which offers really good chemical control. You might be best served with Topsin M to control fab or scab although Manzate works.
If you know psyla is a problem, two oil sprays, one at first growth with 3% oil and one at green bud at 1% are recommended by some gurus. Then apply oil again when they appear later.
Captan does not list in materials used in Cornell recs for pear production at all. Too bad. It’s relatively cheap, available and tough for fungus to unlock.
If growing tips dry up in early spring, look up some photos of psyla then get out a good magnifying glass and see if you can find adults near those tips. They are impossible for me to see with the naked eye.
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