I have 3 types of fruiting pear trees: Moonglow (about 25 years old), Seckel (about 25 years old), and Ubileen (about 10 years old). The Seckel blooms dependably but drops its fruit by July. The Moonglow has only begun blooming in the past 3 years, but it blooms much earlier than the Seckel. The Ubileen will only begin looming this year, but it too blooms before the Moonglow. I am having difficulty finding a pear tree which will bloom very ear, like the Moonglow, and which is genetically compatible with the Moonglow. I can’t seem to find a website which shows both genetic compatibility and bloom times of other types of Pears. my Moonglow seems to bloom much earlier that websites indicate. Perhaps it is because of the light reflected off the white wall on which is is an espalier, or because of the heat of the roof it grows above (the section blooms earliest and best). Can anyone help me find a very early blooming pear which is genetically compatible with my Moonglow?
Welcome Nancy to the website!
If anyone here can help you there is none more knowledgeable about pears than my friend Clark, @clarkinks who I am certain can give you all the advice you are seeking!
Take care
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Oh good! I hope he sees my post!
Moonglow is normally in flowering group 3 and would be pollinized by varieties such as Blake’s Pride, Harrow Delight, or Shenandoah. Since yours is blooming earlier than normal, you may need a group 2 pollinator such as Kieffer or Shinseiki. You might also consider a group 1 such as Conference. Please keep in mind that pears can bloom either earlier or later depending on climate and local conditions. Conference is considered group 1 in many areas but group 3 elsewhere.
H will Darrell also very knowledgeable
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are already getting some great advise. There can be other factors that can cause a pear to bloom earlier or later such as location. A pear on the south side of the house can bloom a week earlier than the same variety on the north side of the house. A pear in the shade will have similar results.
@nancy_jacobs, I’m working on a master list of pear varieties including traits such as bloom time. I have a similar problem with a pear tree which blooms extremely late. It is just now finishing up bloom roughly a month after all my other pear trees were in full bloom. Several forum members were able to point out very late blooming varieties of which I have arranged for scions from 3 to graft on trees in my yard.
Do you need a suggestion of a nursery for some of the possible varieties? or would you be interested in grafting a scion onto one of your existing trees? You might still be able to get Potomac or Shenandoah from:
https://www.grandpasorchard.com/
My Turnbul giant flowers first followed by my moonglow and Callery followed by my Maxine. The turnbul rarely sets fruit anymore. They all used to flower together 20 years ago. It happens to all of us some times. I wish you luck.
Poncirusguy: Do your trees all grow under exactly the same conditions?
Fusion_power: Do Potomac and Shenandoah bloom early? I’ve never successfully grafted anything, though I have tools (which I haven’t yet used). My Ubileen, which is the youngest, might take a graft, since it is still vigorous. Or I could try to convince my neighbor to have a different pear in his yard…
Fusion_power: I see that Grampas Orchard still carries Shenandoah, but it doesn’t describe the blooming time nor the quality (except to say that it’s fire blight resistant). Oddly, the website doesn’t indicate that Moonglow or Ubileen are fire blight resistant, though other websites have….
I am definately interested in a chart which shows the order of blooming times among the European pears. If I could find something VERY early-blooming, that might suit the needs of pollinating my very-early-blooming Moonglow, whether it’s by grafting to my Ubileen, or by growing on a dwarfing rootstock. The way things are going though, I might not see fruit within my lifetime, especially if I have to buy another tree in order to pollinate the Moonglow.
Clarkinks: though my pear trees are all on the south side of my house, the Seckel is partly shaded by the neighbor’s trees in the morning, the Ubileen is partly shaded in the midday, and the a Moonglow is shaded by my house in the late afternoon (the parts above the roofline -which I actually would like to cut off because they are tallest on the espalier and rub against the Edgar’s of the roof- are the earliest bloomers, and have sun all day)
Fusion_power: thank you for the recommendations for earlier-bloomers. I will look at those types.
Fusion_power: it sounds like you are south on NY. Moonglow is the only one of mine which is flowering now. Ubileen has set buds, and I see nothing on my Seckel. The Seckel has a lot of lichen on it this year: I hope it is okay….
Fusion_power: I looked up Shinseiki and found that it an Asian pear, so less likely to be compatible with my European pears.
I looked up Conference. Various websites seem to label it as early and others as mid season. To me, that means blooming groups 1&2 versus 3. I suppose if I could find some twigs to graft it, I could consider it.
Kieffer is a type that a friend might have, but it is a huge old tree, and I don’t know if I could get any twigs from it for grafting. That same friend said he has 3-4 Bartlett pears which I know he keeps short and contained in fences. Perhaps I will contact him to see if they are blooming. But didn’t I read somewhere that Bartletts are not good pollinators? If so Grafton GB them would be a waste of time and energy.
Do some due diligence on the orangepippin pollination site. Most Asian pears are compatible with most European pears. If you ask, someone might be able to send you a scion for a compatible pollinizer.
No The front yard Turnbull get 10 hours The Moonglow gets 8 hours and the Maxine gets 6 hours. The back yard Turnbull get 5 hours. the Maxine get 5 and an unknown Asian get 5 hours… the spread time is about the same, with the front yard trees about a week sooner than the back yard trees. I have a large Callery pair for pollination.
Asian and Euro pears will pollinate each other and Asian pears bloom much earlier in life than Euros. Usually within 1 or 2 years after planting. They all bloom pretty early, but the Chinese pears bloom too early. I would say to get the most disease resistant variety for your region though. Others can speak to fire blight resistance because we don’t get it here, I think Yoinashi is? And it is my favorite to grow.
Evenfall- I’m glad to hear that some pears can produce at a younger age than others. My Moonglow, though 20, still was not producing flowers and I am well aware that it should have been. I tried all kinds of pruning, fertilizing, even root pruning. Finally, I saw a flower. Then a year later, several flowers, now it is flowering quite a bit, but mostly on top. It clearly was not meant to be an espalier, but I didn’t know that in 1995 when I planted it.
Fusion_power: I am now seeing a variety of things on various sites on the internet about cross fertilizing Asian pears with European pears. From what I read long ago, I have the impression that I need to do a lot of preparation in order to graft: I have to find twigs on Autumn, cut them, store them, and then -at the appropriate time in the spring-graft them. Is that correct?