We planted two Clapp’s in 2004 that came from two different sources. One was on OHxF97 and for the other from a local orchardist the rootstock was listed simply as standard. OHxF97 produced a larger tree. It didn’t take us quite 11 years for first fruits, but this was the first year the trees were really full. But that’s true of some other apple and pear varieties as well.
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My Clapps is from Millers and was listed as a “standard” and I’m just assuming it’s on OHxF97. It bloomed this spring but did not set fruit. It was however blooming with my Colette. The Colette was loaded with fruit this year (third year of blooming, planted at the same time), it dropped a lot, and as usual had some significant fire blight strikes and I had to take the top of the central leader. I’d guess both trees stand @ 18’ now. A third tree planted at the same time was Beurre Bosc. It died back to just above the graft. It’s now about 10’ tall, but I’m not sure it will ever be able to fruit in my climate.
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Our Bosc has been a regular producer for several years, and we’re in a similar climate.
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Sorry coming late here, missed some posts.
I’m glad to hear it is not only me… I gave up on my Tyson after 15+ years. Maybe it needs to be grafted to some other mature tree.
Grand Champion is another pear that never fruits. I still am keeping it but it will be its 19th year next year and still no bloom.
This year the crows took most of my pears, only one stand has any fruit left. I think that stand is close enough to the road to scare them off.
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Scott,
When I moved to Sebastopol, CA, I started planting apples and pears around the perimeter of a fenced “horse corral” of about 2/3 acre. After a few years, I started top-working some of the pears that did not turn out as well as I had originally hoped. I had grown Honeysweet in MS and liked it a lot, but here the taste has not been as good though the tree that was grafted and planted in 2003 has grown well. I have since grafted about a dozen different cultivars to it - one being Tyson. It was grafted in the spring of 2015 and I had fruit in 2017! No fruit in 2018, a small number in 2019 and a very good fruit set in 2020 with enough fruit to fill a quart jar with dried pears. No fruit on that graft this year but two very small fruit on another puny graft on what I think is a Keiffer.
So, bottom line, try grafting onto a good mature tree to see what happens. It certainly is a good pear.
BTW, my best pears in north Mississippi were Warren and Seckel. T.O. Warren was my fruit mentor.
Thanks for everything you do for this forum!
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Scott,
I have Gorham that has fruited in the past but had a fireblight strike this spring and I lost most of the tree… I think it blighted due to being such a late bloomer. Normally pears are finished blooming when the temperatures heat up and since we rarely have rain that late in the season, we seldom have much blight. I’ll occasionally miss some rat tail bloom and have a strike. Then about once every 10 years we have an epidemic. The last one was in 2015. Ornamental pears through out the area had lots of blight - I lost several mature trees and many grafts. That said, many varieties with known sensitivity were only slightly affected or not at all.
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Our Tyson, obtained from Fedco, took ten years to first fruit, but it has become a favorite for flavor, sweet, but spicy. Its melting flesh, as good as it is, however, means that the pears don’t keep well. We took them to farmers market yesterday, but I’m not sure how many will still be sellable by next Wednesday.
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Had a few flowers on Tyson last year and this year @scottfsmith I need to go see if it fruited. Like everyone mentioned I noticed it is very delayed in fruiting. We all grow hundreds of pears so it can be very challenging sometimes knowing what I have or don’t have.
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I have 6 ripe pears (nearly ripe) that are over a pound each…double size of most Bartlett or Bosc…am doubting “Ayers” is the proper ID even though scions came from COUPLE sources.
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Post photos if you get an opportunity. Thanks!
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I don’t have a smartphone (and don’t desire one)…but a pear much bigger than Bartlett cannot be Ayers, apparently.
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They can I have had it happen when the tree just has a few pears on it. All nutrients go to the few pears. Three ayers once filled the inside of my hat they were so big. Ayers will always be golden yellow but typically also have some red blush. That year they were very large they had no red blush. It seems to have to do with how much direct sunlight they receive as to how red they are.
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No red at all, no smell yet, but some moderate movement and they turned loose from the tree. If I can find someone to do a favor, I’ll get a photo.
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Sorry to not reply to this sooner. A few Fondante de Moulin Lille pears are starting to fall now so I think I should pick tomorrow. Will they ripen without any refrigerator chilling? Or do they taste better if chilled like so many others do?
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Seckle deserved an upgraded number on flavor this year. It was closer to an 8 or a few almost were 9s. I picked them as they ripened brought them inside and let them finish ripening over another 2-3 week period on the counter. My seckle are getting older and as many other pears the flavor improves with age. As many noted the shape and size were unusual but no doubt they were seckle.
My Tyson graft took a year off due to a heavy fruit set last yer. I had two small miserable fruit on another graft on my ? keiffer tree.
I tasted Devoe this week after a few weeks in the refrigeratoir. I rate it as average in taste with good texture. This was the first year to fruit so I’ll reserve judgement until it has a few years and I have more time to judge when to pick and whether to ripen on the counter or chill for a while. I only had 4 fruit this year.
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If I recall correctly, I refrigerated my Fondante for a couple of weeks. Then, left them on a counter before eating them. Birds got mine since they were young this year.
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Some of my pears do that as well even if I thin them they tend to bear biennial. Ayers is not a true biennial it bears heavy one year and bears lighter the next year. Some apples like honeycrisp are down right temperamental at times taking 5 years off then 4 bushels per tree. There are factors at play not well understood. I suspect pear and apple hormones will be studied at some point.
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Good to know. I have a good number of Fondante fruit on that graft so will refrigerate some and try a few directly on the counter.
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