Douglas is heavy with pears this year and I have 4 trees. Seems I may need to graft some over at some point to something different. Looking forward to this welcomed crop of pears that will surely add heavily to our winter supplies.
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They seem precocious. I grafted a stick onto a dud of a pear last year and the stick has two pears this year…while the parent tree is mostly bare.
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Just realize that it is not sweet pear. I probably will remove the graft. Not a fan of sour/tart pears (or apples for that matter.
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I assume kieffer is a parent, so it wouldn’t be too surprising?
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It is sweet but think of the taste as more like an apple than a pear. Some people prefer them since they are very refreshing.
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Yes Duchess D’angoulme is believed to be one of the parents and Kieffer the other as everyone can read about above. If you read the glowing testimonials above from the previous generation it’s easy to see some people love the Douglas pear! The old timers made most of our modern fruit breeders look like amateurs. Ayer was one of them who developed several new types of pears like douglas. Ayer was no Van Mons but they all had their own claims to fame. At the time of its creation Douglas was very valuable because it gave people fresh fruit at a time of the year when they didn’t have it. Van Mons who developed pears like anjou would harvest pears unripe then let the pear rot intentionally knowing the impact it had on the seed. Modern fruit breeders cannot match their results. Unfortunately many things they did are lost to time. The Douglas pear might have been lost without programs like Corvallis.
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One of the questions I get about Douglas is how is the production? Bushels of pears come off these trees! They are late this year its October and I’m still picking bushels of fruit! Picked this bushel as a gift for @39thparallel today. You cannot out give Mike the guy sent me home with a load of apples. Interesting thing about the Douglas pear is its origins were actually in Lawrence which is Douglas County Kansas. The pear received its name from that location. The pear was never sprayed nor was any special treatment given to this pear at all.
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My graft labeled Douglas has one large pear on it. It is still very green. I don’t know if it would ever turn nice mellow yellow like yours.
The leaves are small and dark green. I wonder if it is a real Douglas.
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@mamuang
It is likely Douglas we will find out in November I bet. The ones I picked are a little early. Our winter was long last year so ripening dates are behind this year. Today is October 9th and many Douglas can still use a little more time on the tree. Your ripening times are always a little behind us.
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Any luck with it ripening yet? My pears are behind this year. Douglas are a mixed bag this year with some being very good and some blan. I’m going to blame the year. Drippin Honey and lots of other pears were equal in that many lacked the best flavor this year. We had a lot of rain and a very late winter than hung on an extra month. Some pears were completely unaffected and others have mixed results. @39thparallel your fairly close by, have you had any fruit that’s not at it’s best this year?
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@clarkinks I had no pears, no peaches and most off the apples I did get where not at there very best. Late frosts then a hot rainy summer is not optimal. Sounds bad but, I am looking forward to our next drought cycle. That’s when my river bottom orchard will shine.
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It is still hanging on. It is very large. I don’t know if it is a real Douglas. It does not look like yours.
Do you have a close up pic of it, 0keaee?
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There are close ups above. I’m 100% sure it’s the real Douglas in my photos. If it’s a really big pear you might be growing Duchess D’ Angoulme because remember I sent you scion wood. It can get over 2 pounds. It’s one of the last pears to ripen typically in October or November. They are not ripe here yet so that gives you an idea of how late they are. I’m getting a few drops due to damage. If it starts showing stretch marks it’s Duchess!
I took these pics yesterday at dusk (because I kept forgetting to). Not sure it looks like yours.
It is quite a large pear. I could not take the 4x6 bag off of it. I may have to cut the bag. That is a very good quality bag. I may cut the pear instead.
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There is a very limited amount of pears that get so large. Can’t wait to see it out of that bag when it turns yellow! Have a feeling you will pick that pear in snow boots! As your aware if it’s Duchess and there is only one pear on the tree it may top 2 pounds since you got the scion wood from me. You have more water than I do there. Those pears can get enormous as I have grown 11/2 pound pears but the tree those scions came from produced 2 pounders Largest / Best tasting pear . Since Duchess is a parent of Douglas they are similar in many ways. These pears are highly resistant to fireblight as mentioned here https://growingfruit.org/t/clarkinks-strain-of-duchesse-d-angouleme/9475
This is not a special strain I grow @scottfsmith was able to easily identify it. @alan grows the pear as well. It’s not only popular with the other admins it is well known in other groups eg. NAFEX. All that said they are normally only good quality here but not fantastic. Every location grows fruits slightly differently. Once in awhile I get a really exceptional Duchess and they are great. Like honeycrisp apples I grew lots of them for many years but the flavor was only OK at best. I found when only a few are on the tree they are exceptional. Now I find myself only wanting my own honeycrisp. For years the store bought hc were better than mine. It’s my suspicion I’m making a mistake with Duchess and may need to leave them until nearly December. I’m working on growing them right. Once in awhile I taste a hint of why that Duchess allowed the pear to be named after her. See those russeting patches? See the large lenticels on that pear? They look familiar I think.
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Hi @clarkinks - I read this thread in Winter 2021 and decided to order a Douglas Pear. Flash forward a year and it’s already flowering. I’m not sure if it will hold on to fruit but if it does, should I delay it for at least another season?
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That’s great to hear.
I just put in Dewdrop and Sunrise to go along with my Concorde. None of them are flowering yet so I’ll have to get lucky with some cross pollination from a neighbor.
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I’ve got this one in the nursery bed. Will probably move to a slot in the yard based on this thread.
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