It’s a staple pear like ayers here. They are both good. It’s not among the best but it will keep your belly full every year. Some good quality pears are light on pears like warren! I’m not going to say it’s a must have it reminds me of Kieffer I certainly keep it around and appreciate the tree but it’s not easy on the eyes and that drives me crazy sometimes. Never see those trees go a year without broken branches from fruit weight. Thinning so many trees is not realistic for me. The problem with scions and trees is shipping as well as scarcity. Corvallis tightened up their program. I’m one of the few growers who does fruit tree research and posts results and those results of research they seemed to have checked out extensively this year. I’m assuming that was just results of high shipping costs. I donate something to Corvallis when I can it’s been a great program. It’s never as big a donation as they deserve but it’s something.
I got some on the horizon to graft. I cut off my Warren and Magness even though you thought they had life after my first black rot spores showing up. Shin Li which will store until the next Spring to eat is one I’m really seeking for food storage benefits, and, along with Korean Giant.
Shinsui is another as it’s very early ripening and very sweet.
Docteur Deportes as I asked for wood I got some from another member, it’s getting re-grafted. I hope to find Charles Harris. I’ve got some good stuff.
Corvalis is great. I send them 4x what they request for shipping. I sent them 40 to 50 dollars in previous years.
I hear ya, this is a job that comes along with the food. And, you get a lot of trees, and there is no “taking a year off.”
Korean Giant is very late which drives me crazy. It’s main crop comes on as stink bug numbers increase late in the year. It was great for years but stink bugs numbers are rising. @alan pointed out the rot and stink bugs may have some correlation. That seems plausible but I don’t like loosing that many big nice pears. Charles Harris popped buds early this year on me. It broke the shucks off weeks ago but never opened the bud which could be dead but I don’t think so. It’s a strange pear. Leona is another southern pear I grow. Drippin honey is an exceptional Asian pear. Do you t-bud graft ? If so we could send some Charles Harris buds in June or July. It’s rare I don’t know anyone but me who grows it.
Korean Giant is a afterthought more than a present thought. I’m hoping with it whereas I’m reveling that Shin Li will have food for me each year. I’ve seen serious fireblight problems with Korean Giant here. A 20’ tree now 3’. It’s basically over with and we’ve been sticking cultivars on it for the past close years just to have a temporary spot to grow some scionwood. I will try it but I was aware of the lateness and that worries me in NW IL. I saw that thing in flower, wow! A narrow, almost fastigiate (or is fastigiate!) tree Korean Giant is. Wow, beautiful tree in flower. I never got to eat one. We had problems with frosts or I don’t know what. I wasn’t around the tree enough to know more than the unbelievable fireblight. Like 20% would go each year and after 5-years it was only a few feet tall from 20’ tall.
That’s crazy fireblight but it can be that bad here sometimes just not lately. The fruit of KG is delicious in that respect it’s excellent. Spray with copper a few years it will help get rid of fb. I’ve eradicated fireblight for now until someone close by gets it and their tree limps on a few years.
Here is a pic of my Shin Li stored till march. Not a top notch taster, but a tough tree. Mine has had several fights with bucks rubbing on it. It never fails to produce massive crop.
great. That’s what I want. wow, that’s gorgeous condition for March. it looks delicious Robert
I’m impressed I need that one! @Barkslip maybe we can swap some summer buds. If not I can help you with Charles Harris next year or you try to graft it green but the odds are against you even with pears.
cool, absolutely!
I’ll write a note, Clark.
Noted. I’ll send in June, but first I’ll write.
Literally don’t think I’ve given any Charles Harris wood out so it might not be out there yet. Wasn’t feeling well and so I didn’t cut scions for awhile. One gentleman I owed scions to I cut several for this year. @39thparallel comes here and cuts rare stuff at times when he needs it. Charles Harris is so rare people don’t even know it exists.
I had it and a polar vortex took it. I couldn’t believe it because nothing else died that I recall. I’m sure of it because I have only one rootstock in place that I didn’t lop off this year. That’s where I’m putting on Docteur Deportes. I’ll add Charles Harris again when the rare day happens. I sold one and he lost his too. In Kansas he is. Clint.
I got Honey Sweet in a trade this year. Supposed to be like a bigger Seckel. Anyone know if it’s any good. Does it need the fridge?
It’s one of the (I know Comice is your favorite cause you wrote it) sugar-sweet, fine-grained, dripping, sweet, best of the best. Here’s a bloom time chart I made for some of the cultivars I grafted at one time:
I don’t know the best ripening. Or about Honeysweet flowering. I see the USDA Grin program did not send it, either. It’s a Comice type.
Crimson Gem Comice. I couldn’t remember the name. I got the Regal Red from you, but I wish I had got the Gem as well. Anyone we know that bought it from you?
Our apologies for hijacking the cleft graft thread it wasn’t intentional. Pear growers as you know are distracted by the mere mention of a pear. We can’t help but get off topic. Maybe we should make a pear grafting thread again.
I made up my mind long ago that it is NOT just pear growers that go off topic. It is just about every person who posts on this forum. It is not a bad thing, lots of good information gets exposed that way.
Back on topic. I see a lot of discussion of using bark graft vs cleft graft. I don’t see much discussion of which species is appropriate for one vs the other and nothing about supporting the graft afterward. As examples, pecan roughly 2 inches diameter up to 4 inches diameter is outstanding for a bark graft. From 2 inches down to about 1 inch diameter, a cleft graft works better in my experience. Pear is a different situation with bark graft working well up to roughly 8 inches diameter and cleft graft best in 1 to 3 inch stock. With either pecan or pear, bark grafts should be supported with a tie-on stick or other means to keep them from being blown out by strong wind. I’m not seeing pictures above of anyone using a support stake. This bothers me as I am certain they are needed.
I grafted 5 callery pear trees to named varieties today using a mix of bark and cleft grafts along with one whip and tongue on a small tree. I usually get 100% takes with pear. The larger trees have 3 inlay bark grafts and the smaller trees have 2 cleft grafts. All are sealed with beeswax which I currently have an abundance of.
I don’t remember having Crimson Gem, but apparently I did. That one doesn’t even bring up memories. I wonder if they didn’t send it and say they did.
Nope, I’ve never had it. They didn’t send it but it was noted that they would. I checked my files, it was never here or grafted.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve never cleft grafted anything 1" or greater. I’ve always bark grafted.
That’s two good brains to my one saying cleft works and you guys like using it. Alright, thanks a lot.
Crimson gem was out of stock when I ordered it in 2019. Everyone wants it! What Pears will you grow this year?
**PI 541535 - COR - Pyrus communis-doyenne du comice -crimson gem **
Crimson Gem Comice ( PI 541535).–Originated in Phoenix, Oregon, by Lyle Kinney. Introduced in 1977 by Sierra Gold Nurseries, Yuba City, California. US Plant Patent 4263. Bud mutation of Regal Red Comice. Discovered in 1965. Fruit: resembles Comice; skin thick, smooth, glossy, solid red throughout growing season, with little or no purplish tint and having slight yellowish undercolor when ripe; flesh white, fine, tender, juicy, sweet; ripens about 22 Sept. in southern Oregon; hangs well, keeping quality good to 15 January. Tree: spur-type, large, roundish. – Brooks and Olmo Register of Fruit and Nut Varieties –
From U.S. Plant Patent 4263 (issued June 1978, Expired 1995): A new and distinct variety of pear tree, distinguished principally from its parent, the Regal Red Comice, by being a spur-type tree bearing fruit, having a substantially solid red color throughout the growing season, with little or no purplish tint and having very slight yellowish undercoat when ripe, having substantially thicker and tougher skin, and having a rounded shape more nearly similar to the standard Doyenne du Comice.
If you look up the patent it’s a slow grower which is why there is likely no wood available USPP4263P - Pear tree - Google Patents