Interesting pear cummins said this
" seckel type sweet pear that is highly resistant to fireblight"
“Small to medium sized, neat pear of Seckel type, recommended for sites where fireblight is found. Clear yellow when ripe, which may happen on the tree, after midsummer; flesh melting, juicy, resembling Seckel. A good choice for a pear ahead of Magness. Another introduction from the New York Experiment Station, 1950s. End July.”
https://garden.org/plants/view/710297/Pear-Pyrus-communis-Chapin/
Anybody have or tried this pear? Wanna be seckel? Looks ti be almost a month earier. Arboretum co has them on betch rootstock, yet specs say it needs dwarfing rs
Consider what is said below. I’m not discouraging anyone from growing it rather i want you to go into with both eyes open. It helps to know how much you should pay for a tree based on its performance.
" Chapin
Breeder(s): U.P. Hedrick, Geneva, New York.
History: ‘Seckel’ X o.p. seedling released in 1945. I chose to plant this partially because it was an introduction of one of my pomological heroes, Dr. Hedrick. However, though it is a good pear, it did not live up to my high expectations, at least in our climate.
Rootstocks used: Angers quince (Georgia) and OHxF #513 (NC).
Orchards grown in: Coal Mountain, Georgia; Pittsboro, NC orchard B.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Flavor is sweet and spicy, rather like a muted ‘Seckel’. Texture is smooth and buttery. Good.
Fruit size: Small, about like ‘Seckel’. *** g/fruit
Fruit appearance: pyriform, covered in golden-bronze russet.
Culinary characteristics: We did not cook them.
Storage characteristics: Stores for at least *** in common refrigeration.
Harvest season: Mid-season; *** in Pittsboro, NC.
Bloom season: ***; a few days *** vs Spalding
Pollination: Good pollen for other cultivars. Needs a pollinizer.
Diseases: Susceptible to fireblight, but not so severely that one cannot grow it. Moderately resistant to pear leafspot. In Georgia, it retained 90%, 100%, 20% and 60% of its leaves in 1983, '84, '85, & '87 respectively.
Precocity: Slow to come into bearing; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock. On Angers quince, it had not set fruit by its 5th growing season, even though it was grown in full sunlight (not in a hedgerow) in Georgia.
Productivity: Unproductive, at least in a hedgerow…
Growth habit: Vigorous; crotch angles average for a pear; Dwarfing rootstock recommended
Bottom line: Not recommended for the Southeast. It is not exceptional in any way. It isn’t the best eating pear of its season, though they are good; it is susceptible to blight, but not tremendously so; it isn’t productive.
References other than my own experience:
Cricket Hill Garden."
Yep… I’ll pass. Magness sounds better to my heirs:)
You have heirs? I have 4 of em and sometimes they are a pita.
Just a couple heirs, but told them not to count on it:)
Corvallis never found the other Chapin parent by genotyping
I think at this point they likely never will find that other pear. It is interesting to me because of its fireblight resistance. There are many other great options. At some point we may we decide we have a need for thos pear.
