Nothing is more thirst quinching, juicy and sweet than a Bartlett pear. I feel fortunate to be able to have had the time to plant a standard nearly 20 years ago now. No signs of Fireblight or any disease after all these years.
Do you have fireblight in your area? I have it around here and have tons of wild pear rootstock that never grows much because of it .Not many pears around here and never has been . I assume because of our cold winters and short growing season. Wanted to try them (Bartlett) but worried about the fireblight.
We do have Fireblight but the wild pears that grow here never show signs of it. The rootstock not dying is the key to growing good pears . If the top gets Fireblight cut it off and graft it again. You might try Kieffer or Douglas pears.
I have lost a number of A. pear trees near my Bartlett to fireblight but it has not seen a strike yet.
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Vohd,
I got by with growing a huge clapps favorite for years and it got Fireblight one week and was dead to the ground within a couple of weeks. Like you my Bartlett has never had it fortunately.
Pretty picture, pretty pears. I have the tree, no pears. I would love one of those!
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Mrs G ,
My pear began bearing several years ago. The pear was very slow to bear. My recommendation would be to get some branches lateral ASAP. Weighting or tying down branches will encourage your pear to bear sooner. The tree seems to naturally favor vertical growth which does not encourage fruiting.
Thanks Clark, the tree is now pruned into a roundish shape which has taken years to do. Many of the lower branches are pointing downwards. Still no bloom!
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Mrsg47,
Bartletts do take a lot of years to produce fruit. The first year mine produced it was in bushels. My tree took around 12 years if I remember correctly.
That is horrible news. Ugh
Mrsg47,
Standard trees take much longer to produce. I was told mine took longer than normal. Mine is around 30 ft tall now and produces around 6 bushels + of wonderful pears. Dwarfs or semi dwarfs should produce in half the time and half as much. It’s worth the wait in my opinion. I’m told Seckel is one of the longest before they produce fruit. I’m growing Seckel now and expecting a longer wait.
Thanks, I feel better now. What is your chief pollinator for your Bartlett? Mine is on Quince rootstock.
I grow many varieties of pears so I cannot honestly say I know the answer. I would suspect Kieffer.
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Mrs. G
I have a Max Red Bartlett pear that has 1 pear on it this year. I can tell that it wasn’t any of the following that pollinated it because they have yet to bloom: Moonglow, Red Anjou or Collette. What must have pollinated mine was one of my Asian pears: Hosui, Shinseiki(New Century), Chojuro or Maxie(Max Red Bartlett x Nijisseiki).
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Clark and ljkewlj, thanks.
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How long did it take for your Asian pears to produce? What rootstock are they on?
Clark
All of them started started producing two years after I planted them. Hosui, Shinseiki and Chojuro all came from Miller’s back in May or June 2012 which Stark Bros. bought out a year or two ago. Rootstocks are unknown but if I have to guess it’s Quince. Maxie came from Stark Bros. and that one I planted the same year but in Nov. so you might as well say it was planted in the following spring for fruiting purposes and again two years there.
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I ate the only one pear, which supposed to be Bartlett. It ripened right on the tree. It is kind of lumpy on the outside. Very sweet, mellow without any grittiness.
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Hopefully, it will be more productive for you next season.
Tony
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