Best Early Blooming Asian Pear?

Tippy,
I will try but everyone wil have different favorites. My earliest is Shinseki seedling that I grew out and ripened late July. Next is Pai Li, it is loaded with exquisite little yellow pears just right for a juicy sweet snack and I can eat it green in the third week of August with a juicy twangy flavor or juicy sweet in early September, or let it sit on the counter for a few weeks then it is a melting flesh like European pear. It is definitely a must have. Third is my Shinko, very large Golden Russet , super sweet and juicy, and ripened in mid September. Fourth is my Ya li. The most loaded, midly sweet, super crunchy and very light texture with each bite in middle of September. Fifth is the late harvest Korean Giant, super large, sweet, and productive with super long shelf life. I am still waiting to taste Scott Smith Fragrant pear seedling and maybe this year because I saw a one cluster of flower. Also Sophia"s Yulu Fragrant pear that has many clusters of flowers. Crisp and Sweet from Gurney’s finally flowers also. Of course Sophia"s Red Asian showed sign of take with buds swollen. And the rest of the good ones like Chojoro, Tennosui, my crossed of Korean Giant x Mishirasu, Dippin’ Honey, …

5 Likes

Thanks, Tony. Do you have Ichiban and Dasui Li?

Anyone who do, could you please comment on the taste?

2 Likes

Do you remember how long it took before you started harvesting from your Shinseki? I am particular interested in the time since you said that it was a seedling. I just grafted Yali, Raja, Seuri, Hosui, Shinko, Tennesui, Tsu Li, Shin Li, and Shinseki scion wood that I got from Fruitwood Nursery to OHxF97 7/16 and OHxF87. 7/16 root stock that I got from Cummins. So far it looks like all of the grafts are taking. I am just curious as to when I might be able to expect to get fruit from them.

I have 2 each of Chujuro, 20th Century, and Giant Olympic that have been fruiting for about 3 years. They were planted 7 years ago. Can I expect my newer varieties of Asian pears to fruit within around the same time frame?

I think @castanea had much praise for Daisui Li. I have it but no fruit yet. The flavor might be similar to Shin Li since they are sisters. Shin Li is a flavorful and long keeping pear in my opinion.

4 Likes

@FarmGirl-Z6A I grafted Asian pear scions to tiny bareroot OHxF87. They flowered after 2 years but those flowers were damaged by a frost this year. The trees likely would have held fruit otherwise.

1 Like

Nice to hear.

@FarmGirl-Z6A, it should flower by year 4. I have pears on OHxF 97. Fruiit in year 3 but by then, that tree was 4 years old.

1 Like

I’m sorry to hear that the flowers were frost damaged, but that’s really encouraging news that they flowered after two year! Thanks so much for posting your experience.

1 Like

Asian pears are usually more precocious than Euro pears.

My Euro pears grafted on OHxF 87 are 3 year old now. No sign of flowers. I won’t be surprised if they won’t flower next year, either.

OHxF87 doesn’t appear to like my clay soil though. While it results in early fruiting, there is no vigor at all! I planted bareroot whips grafted to Betulifolia (Hosui and Shinsui) and they flowered the very next year while having good vigor. Less vigor could be good for my small yard, but I’m just very impatient watching them grow so slowly no matter how much fertilizer and water is dumped on them. Summer pruning vigorous pears is a very satisfactory way of keeping their size under control. Whatever mystery semi-dwarf rootstock Gurney’s uses performs well in terms of precocity and vigor too. Everything seems to flower after a year or 2 in my yard though.

2 Likes

My Chujuro, 20th Centry, and Giant Olympic came from Gurney’s too. They have done well. I planted most of the grafted pears in an area where the soil is nice and loamy, but some of them are in an area that is more clay filled. I have 4 of the Gurney’s trees in the clay area and they are doing great so far. Btw, here is the pollinator and root stock chart for Gurney’s.

2 Likes

You forgot to get Drippin’ Honey from them when you ordered. It makes good fruit where I live.

5 Likes

I have a Dripping Honey too, but it’s younger and I don’t really think it’s doing well.

1 Like

All this talk about Asian pears had me going back to Gurneys to look at what types they had to offer now. Upon looking closer at the photos, my son and I have discovered that what we thought was 20th Century (for the last few years) is actually a Dripping Honey! It’s one of our favorites too. It’s sweet even when it’s not fully ripe. Here’s a pic of some of it’s blooms from yesterday:

7 Likes

Tony,

Yaguang Li (鸭广梨,鸭儿广梨)is a local pear from the area around Beijing, close to where Pai Li is grown. Yaguang Li is like European pears, you have to leave it at room temperature for a couple of days, then it becomes soft, sweet and juicy. Eating it fresh off the tree is like eating a piece of wood.

BTW, I figured out that the Lantai Jujuli from ARS is not the famous fragrant pear from Xinjiang. It’s just a local pear from Xinjiang with low economic value. It’s called 轮台句句梨 in Chinese. Juju has no special meaning in Chinese at all and Luntai is the name of a county.

1 Like

I found my Pai Li scion from ARS might be mislabeled. I grafted Pai Li 2 years ago and had 3 pears this year. The pear is very different from the Pai Li pear I used to eat in Beijing. It has bigger core and many more coarse stones. It tastes quite unique, sweet tart with a good aroma. But overall it’s not a keeper.

2 Likes