Friends of mine have a pear tree that is either Potomac or Shenandoah – they couldn’t remember which. They just knew it was blight resistant. It was mildly sweet, but nothing special, so I never took scionwood from it. Now I think I’m done adding new pears.
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I planted a Seckel on OHxF 97 and Potomac and Harrow Sweet on OHxF 87 this spring. The Seckel took off right away and put on maybe 8-10 inches of growth before our hot dry June and hasn’t added any growth since. It looks generally happy and put out more horizontal growth than the other pears. The Potomac started up a bit later but put on maybe 12-14 inches. The Harrow Sweet took a long time to wake up and didn’t put much growth on in the spring. From July on we’ve had a nice mix of rain and warm days. The HS started growing like mad in July and has put on almost 3 feet of growth since. I’m new to pears and it was interesting to see the difference across trees. Of course, sample size of one doesn’t count for much, but seems to square with what I’ve read here.
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Seckle is another petite tree like honeysweet, harvest queen, Harrow sweet and others. I feel ohxf97 is the right rootstock for them or callery or BET like I commonly use. Does that mean as @mamuang pointed out that they can’t get large? No they can still get large but a more vigorous rootstock is needed for these types of trees. They are naturally small trees. Ohxf333 is everyone’s right tree if very tiny trees are wanted but there are problems. In my area ohxf333 can produce much smaller fruit for many years which I believe is because the roots are shallow. The roots underground are similar to the top above ground. Things like Quince will not work here at all long term. Callery and BET are ideal trees for this location. Harbin clings to life here but it’s a good rootstock overall in the north. There are nurseries that put every tree they sell on callery and I agree with them. In general callery is a good rootstock. Ohxf333 is intended for the very small farms or city lot and garden where tall trees can be an issue. Someone will ask why don’t I use Ohxf333, ohxf87, ohxf97 and the answer is I do use them but I use the right rootstock in the right situation. Magness and seckle on ohxf333 and my property are about 8 -10 feet tall on oxf333 never pruned to top them. They both were in the ground well over 6 years with no special treatment besides a thin layer of aged cow manure. My plan was to put Magness and seckle on 333 and have fast fruit from both.
That’s not what happened 333 got me fruit in 3 years on both and on both the fruit was normal sized but there was no more since. Many Asian pears had bad tasting small fruit for years on oxf333 but in all cases the fruit got close to normal in 4 or 5 years when the tree got very large. Korean giant on 333 can still get 15 feet tall but it likes to be 15 feet tall. I could prune off the top to control it. Small city lot owners easily prune these to under 8 feet which is ideal for their location. Pruning is not my advice but everyone knows their situation better than me. In dry areas or marginal areas in my opinion ohxf333, 87 and 97 are not ideal. Callery and BET are ideal because of the deeper roots and general vigor of the tree. Not every place is Kansas and I do think 333 , 87, and 97 are great rootstock in non marginal areas. 97 will get very large, 87 is still large trees , 333 is very easily controlled but the off tasting small fruit for many years in some situations is something to be aware of. 333 bosts of fruits quickly and it’s true but the fruit on the Asian pears was poor quality. The callery I grow in every situation produced larger , better tasting fruit in greater quantity. In the case of seckle on 333 it produced one pear on year 3 I believe. Callery produced hundreds of pears in year 5 with seckle. 5 years 333 produced still only 1 seckle. These trees were not watered and no special care was given to them whatsoever. On a different wetter peace of my property 333 is the ideal rootstock and sized up fast under constant wet conditions. Not every tree likes wet feet but 333 does not mind as much as most do.
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Here’s all the info I compiled on Elliot:
Patent info (USPP 6452, exp. Mar 2, 2007): Developed by UC Davis, patented in 1988. Tree primarily characterized by its tolerance to fire-blight. Blooms concurrently with Bartlett and is vigorous. Fruit possesses a richness of flavor and smoothness of texture superior to Bartlett. The most valuable asset is tolerance to fire-blight. When bacterial suspension were administered to open flowers, they turned black but the infection did not invade beyond the peduncle. Under natural conditions, only two cankers have been observed since 1967. Growth habit is upright with narrow branching angle. Bears regularly; grafted trees begin to bear in the 3rd season. Fruit shape is pyriform and tapered slightly, lacking a distinct shoulder. Skin color is yellow with slight russetting and reddish blush on side exposed to sun. Flesh color is white. Texture is buttery and tender but firm with low fiber content. Juice is rich, not watery, not overly sweet, has body to it and a pleasant aroma. Flavor is excellent to good. Sugar-acid ratio is well balanced; pleasant to taste. Keeping quality is good to excellent, keeping for 3 months at 32° F. Fruit will ripen on the tree unlike many European pear cultivars.
Kay Ryugo (Acta Hort. 124:33, 1982): Elliot is resistant to fire blight. Fruit has shape and coloration similar to Doyenne du Comice. A cross between Vermont Beauty and Elliot #4. Elliot #4 was discovered in the 1930s by H.E. Thomas of UC Berkeley on the Elliot Ranch, located in the Sacramento River Delta district. It arose as a sucker from an old rootstock (probably a seedling of Pyrus communis). Evaluations revealed that several offspring from the Elliot #4 x Vermont Beauty did not become infected with fire blight, although they had not been sprayed with an antibiotic during the 20 years of observation. Fruit matures 2 to 4 weeks after Bartlett and stores well up to 4 months at 0 C. Fruit has a buttery texture and a flavor like Beurre Bosc. The rich-bodied juice will attain a soluble solids content of 18%. Harvest size ranges from 50 to 60 mm in diameter; shape varies from pyriform to conical. Skin is yellowish green; surface color is brownish yellow, with 50% russet, similar to Beurre Bosc. Fruits exposed to the sun develop a red blush that tends to fade as the fruit matures. Blooms with Bartlett. Will cross-pollinate with Winter Nelis. The pedicels are thin, so that in windy areas, the weight of the fruit may cause them to break, resulting in a preharvest drop. No evidence of biennial bearing.
Pépinières Escande (Saint-Vite, Lot-et-Garonne, SW France): Elliot offers great advantages: high adaptability to areas with low winter rest (200-300 chill hours), high tolerance to fire blight, high production (50 T/Ha), keeping ability and excellent flavor. Elliot is juicy, very tasty, soft and crunchy at the same time. The sugar level is high, often more than 15 Brix. Harvest takes place from the end of August and keeps until spring in cold storage. Once out of the fridge, its shelf-life is impressive. Some of the fruits put on a nice copper color, others remain golden. Its marketing can therefore go from mid-September to April. On existing plantations, no fire blight has been identified to date, unlike other varieties on the same plot which were affected. Compared to other varieties, Elliot is managed like an apple tree with a central axis and arched branches.
I grafted Elliot in spring 2020, and the graft grew vigorously. It produced heavily in 2021, and I thinned it to four pears. A couple of days ago I and my wife shared an Elliot pear that spent one week in the fridge and another on the counter. It was juicy, with buttery flesh. Very good, complex flavor.
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Thanks, @Stan
My “Elliott” pears is a graft that set heavily andI thinned them to 4, too. Mine are small pears. I will take a pic to morrow.
The description of yellowish green color and “surface color is brownish yellow, with 50% russet” makes me wonder if mine is true to label. Mine are brownish red even when they don’t get full sun.
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I hope mine are correct.
These pears are small to medium. They were thin and long with mostly reddish color when they were young. Now, not as reddish anymore. They got about 4-5 hours of sun.
Many of my pears esp. Euro pears this year have that odd-looking stems.
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That’s a characteristic of its genetics. Good news those are really good genetics.
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So you think my Elliott are correctly labeled.
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I can only tell you that I believe that neck is an indicator that those pears have a very good flavor . It’s highly probable it’s Elliot. Look at your Harrow sweet and I suspect you can imagine the 2 have a common ancestor.
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Hi Tippy,
These look like my Elliot pears. Other than younger fruits, the young branches are reddish too. I was able to taste a ripe fruit a few days ago which ripened earlier due to damage done to it by some creatures. It tasted like Bosc. I’m so happy as that was the reason I got it.
I have a couple more picked a few days ago. Can’t wait for them to soften a bit before I try again.
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Glad to hear. Thank you for confirmation.
You picked yours a couple of days ago, I guess mine would be mid Oct!! I hope nothing get to them before me!
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Glad to hear about Elliot. I asked a while ago if anyone was growing it. On of my furit growing friends and I ordered scions ferom the Covallis Repository in 2020. We both had very poor growth on our potted grafts. I did plant the tree this year, it has grown slowly but hopefully will do better this next season - if we have some winter rain this year. We are two years with very little rain.
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This year I will try Turnbull again as many have recommended. Many are reporting Taylor’s gold is good which is a pear I do not grow currently. Think I will add 20+ pear types this year.
My tastes have not changed much lately.
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How many varieties do you think you could put on a franken pear? I’m thinking of building one for all the good pears that need the fridge to ripen. That way I can taste them, but they don’t take much space in the fridge.
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10 types is no problem but you can get many more on one tree if you want. You want to try to match pears of equal vigor otherwise one will shade the others out.
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It’s almost time to revise this list again!
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Clark, my wifey hates this list cause I keep adding them to my next years must haves… 5 at a time…and now Ambrosia too! Hahaha! PyrusManiacus:)
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