No blooms here.
Dax
2 Likes
Second leaf. No bloom.
2 Likes
Can’t wait to see others getting fruit! Dont expect much the first year but the pears improve the next year or two. I t-budded another in July 2016 and it has flowers this year. The other small yellow pear I tbudded im top working over. These pears dont keep long enough than to have 2 trees.
2 Likes
Yes its delicious!
1 Like
Im suspecting this pear is either an old home cross Pear rootstocks influence on Fruit size or one of the Canadian crosses Canadian Pears Enie, Menie, Miney, Moe, Phileson . Im getting the mystery narrowed down but the pear taste awfully good to be a common rootstock. Time will tell and next year I will get oh20 and oh50 and see if this little yellow pear is one of the crosses that made up the modern rootstocks we use today. Its not the modern rootstock but it may be the parent of one of them. Im suspicious because OH50 (seedling of original old home) https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=PI+541238 is as close as I have seen. Now the real question is since we know OH50 is a cross between bartlett x old home x unknown is it the relative or the actual small yellow pear. This would explain a lot because harrow delight https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid= PI541431 is also a good quality pear made of the same type of cross in Canada. This is what ars grin said " Harrow Delight (PI 541431). -Introduced for early fresh market and home garden use. Originated at Research Station., Harrow, Ontario, Canada by H.A. Quamme, Agr. Canada. Introduced in 1982. Purdue 80-15 (Old Home x Early Sweet) x Bartlett. Cross made by R.E.C. Layne, Research Station., Harrow; selected in 1973; tested as HW-603. Fruit: 5% smaller than that of Bartlett; ovate-pyriform, shallow, broad basin; flesh quality high, juicy, grit equal to that of Bartlett, flavor as good as that of Bartlett but distinctly different; skin light-green to yellow-green color with 20% to 30% covered with a light blush, no russeting; processed fruit inferior to that of Bartlett and only a little better than that of Kieffer; ripens 2 weeks before Bartlett. Tree: spreading; vigor moderate; productive; leaves ovate with rounded base, leaf serrations indistinct; flowers white; resistance to fire blight slightly less than Old Home. Cross fertile with Bartlett, Bosc, Anjou, and Harvest Queen. - Brooks and Olmo Register of Fruit and Nut Varieties
Cold hardy; successfully fruited in Anchorage, Alaska. – Paul Lariviere, 2006"
We know according to genetic testing Old home x farmingdale (ohxf) is actually (ohxb) old home x bartlett Old Home x Bartlett? | Good Fruit Grower and with that relatively new information the good quality of the seedlings makes more since. Harrow delight is just one example of high quality fruit from bartlett x rootstock crosses. Everyone is aware years ago i would have thought of this pear as being a possible rootstock and i did but all i had to compare it to is what we use as rootstocks such as ohxf87, 333, 97 etc… this is what they look like which does not resemble it enough to think its anything but a child of it (shown below) leaves etc are to light and growth to different, no suckers etc.!
Another reason i ruled out the harbor day society using this pear as a rootstock is it would be a terrible choice for one because it suckers profusely on its own roots unlike modern rootstocks (shown below)
Remember originally i bought this pear from the harbor day society as old fashioned kieffer. I trim off those suckers every year. They may be digging those up as rootstocks. Mislabeling pears is common by nurseries and there is no sign its improving now. Im very thankful for this delicious mislabeled tree but im going to keep looking until i find out where it actually came from. The taste is to good, fireblight resistance to strong, and it grafts to easily to be anything short of an intentional cross. Most men might say who cares what its name is it tastes good im growing it. The pear deserves the name and people in the future deserve to know how useful it is. In the meantime we can call it small yellow pear. If this pear was crossed with harrow delight or harrow sweet etc think of what it could be like! Im making sure this one does not get lost to time (its to valuable for that) like other pears have.
3 Likes
Great research, Clark. Here’s my 1-year change over of an inexpensive Bartlett to your Small Yellow Pear. 7’ tall and 3’ wide after pruning. I grafted the main trunk and then pruned to (2) side branches that I switched over, too.
I grafted Harrow Sweet to it a week or so ago. Hopefully both will flower next year.
Dax
7 Likes
Looks great you should have some fruit pretty soon! The flavor of that yellow pear is second to none ive had! Seckel is good but the small yellow pear can be much better on a good year. Harrow sweet is a perfect pollin partner since the blooms overlap.
2 Likes
My sisters children are still teenagers and though they have a bit to learn about graft placement they made their first graft this year. It was my small yellow pear on callery! Thats a picture from one of my sisters orchards.
10 Likes
Does it look like anyone will get fruit this year ftom the small yellow pear?
1 Like
Not this year - maybe next. My scions got good growth and are nice and horizontal, but they’re just not far enough along to have spurs yet.
2 Likes
I know, I can’t wait to look. I Googled how many weeks to fruit a branch in water and it said 4-5 for pears. I’ve got my email calendar marked for a week apart to remove a few branches from my fridge so I’ll have pollen. I don’t know which of my grafts may/may not have flowers. I’ve now got a 15’ “Small Yellow” from putting it on a 8-10 gallon pear. Haven’t checked though for spurs. It shot that leader about 8-9 foot I suppose after last year’s growth. I’ll check into it later when I think of it.
Dax
4 Likes
Dax,
Any blooms by chance? This is a really good pear on a good year. Hard to pick, dont keep etc. But the best flavor of any pear i have had! Do you still sell some of these trees if someone is looking for a tree?
@39thparallel
Are you grafting some of my small yellow pear and crabapples for your nursery next year?
Frequently i get requests for these trees and one way or the other people got the scions or trees they needed this year. Im not always going to be able to cut pear or apple scion wood for everyone who requests these types. Every year i get requests.
1 Like
No I’m not grafting pears this year. I shouldn’t say that. I have some rootstocks but I have a couple requests, and, a couple extra-rootstocks.
It’s been on my mind lately to go look. Trees aren’t blooming here but, gooseberry are splitting scales… as is josta-berry.
I’ll go take a look soon. I have a hole in one of my rubber shoes. I don’t like to wear anything else.
’
Dax
1 Like
Nope, all veg. Clark.
Maybe I missed something.
D
1 Like
@BobVance asked a question on another thread Morettini and Ubileen early pear harvest - #14 by PaulInMaplewood on how to know when the small yellow pear gets ripe. Below was my response
The small yellow pear is very high quality but not prior to ripening is not. I use my thumb and push into the pear and wgen its ripe you can physically feel the give in the neck. The green gives way to a slightly liggter greenish yellow color. A few pears ripen and drop before others not due to insect damage just the nature of the tree. The tilt test is effective but not until the last minute. Insects that like sugar begin to arrive such as wasps and beetles. There are so many i eat one and look at the seeds color. In addition to all that it ripens early summer so i use other easy to pick pears as indicators.
I may not always be around so in case im not remember share this pear for free when you can as i did. Once you taste it you will know why i said that if its suitable to your climate im confident it will be your highest quality pear. The first couple of years it produces fruit they will not be its best quality in fact in the case of my first tree they were awful. Normally i would have top worked it but got busy and didnt and was also curious about it. The tree is thorny when its young but as it ages it wont be. If all that was not unique and strange enough its final unusual trick it can do is bloom a second time and still ripen very tiny fruit before fall. Thats useful on years like this where the crop is scarce due to a killing freeze of the blooms. Im on the verge of some huge break throughs with pears and apples. If im unable to complete my work with this pear i put it in the hands of others on this forum. I always gave it away free of charge because these unique features make the genetics of this pear very important to the future of all people. Some things in life go beyond ourselves and the seed crosses of pears and apples im working on will be incredibly important for the future of everyone.
9 Likes
@clarkinks
Glad you mentioned that the fruit could disappoint at first. Knowing this would stop me from removing the tree after a year or two of fruiting. It looks like this variety needs a chance to produce better fruit as the tree grows to maturity.
Thank you for the wood.
2 Likes
I’m jealous of anyone who can just plant in the wide open without $&@?&$@$ deer obliterating everything in three days flat.
2 Likes
Yeah, I’d love a deer fence, but with the hills and blackberries, I’d have to deal with a gates and maintaining fence line. Not to mention the expense.
Maybe when I retire.
2 Likes
My hatred for deer is almost irrational. 
4 Likes