Added another row of Duchess D’ Angoulme.
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How many trees is that?
This row was a dozen trees.
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I was just wondering. I was not sure if it was just few or a few dozen. My Duchess has a few pieces of fruit on it for the first time. Hopefully I can taste one this year. I have a lot of deer so I will try to get to it before they do. You make it sound like it is a very good pear to grow. That is one reason why I planted one.
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Just had a Duchess D’ Angoulme that was melting and juicy much like a bartlett. Normally they are crisp and firm with grit near the core. Have grown this pear for many years and much of the time i know our growing conditions dont allow this pear to be as good as it should be. I bring this up because it does have the longest growing season of any pear i grow many years. Most of the time we get 80% of the quality it is capable of. When people ask i say its not the best quality but it can be exceedingly good like bartlett.
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It has a longer growing season than Kieffer? Just curious , the Duchess was ripe before my Kieffer pear, this year. Of course this is the first year I had pears on both of those pear trees.
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Yes at least a month or two longer than old fashioned kieffer. Now notice i say that like there are not 100 trees sold as kieffer that all ripen at different times. The true kieffer is very late ripening but much earlier than This one.
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My father in law had an original Kieffer and it ripened late and was a good looking fruit. When I planted my Kieffer I didn’t realize that there were improved varieties. The one I have is a little bigger and ripens earlier.
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Is there any difference in ripening between duchess d’angouleme and bronzee? They are both late but do you pick both at the same time?
Thanks
REALLY? I am so surprised at knowing that. Bummer. I thought I had the original Kieffer pear, not a version of a Kieffer. I guess I was wrong. Sounds like the Kieffer pear is like the Horse apple, lots of different versions called by that name.
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Have been testing several types on my farm. Have found multiple companies calling pears kieffer that have all been somewhat different. At @39thparallel farm he pulls his scion wood from an old homestead kieffer there at his orchard. I planted it on ohxf333 and started getting pears quickly. It ripens very late and is the kieffer we may remember from our childhood. .
That sounds like the original Kieffer… The Kieffer I had at an old house was a late ripening as well. HUGE pears.
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It was a very dry year which made many pears small but they have a great flavor. It is february now and im still eating them! Very sugary, juicy, and delicious!
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Descriptions of both pears can be found here
tec_bul_41_.pdf (4.3 MB)
Hi Clark:) Hope your pears are doing well. Read on the link provided above about duchess and it says late midseason harvest. I also read on a post of yours that you had issues rpening them into November. Is that location/shade related? Thanks
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It can be though in my case it isn’t. It depends strictly on the year. Some years we ripen fruit in early September and other years as late as November. Literally i can pick them frozen sometimes. Seems mostly related to sunshine and heat.
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We have lots of cedars and junipers; are y’all spraying these for rust or do they seem resistant?
My apples and seuri li are most susceptible. I didnt spray this year and foliage on pears was clean. I’ll probably do a mycobutanil/ oil spray this spring of 2025.
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