Many of you are aware i spent a lot of time and effort in 2023 converting many pear trees to fireblight resistant types. Here are a few of the results of not growing pears that bring fireblight to my orchard. This is Warren , Magness, seckle, karls favorite, Hoskins, Maxine etc. It’s to early to say what the future will bring but for now these pears are clean and disease free. They are growing without spray of any kind. I’m not opposed to spraying when it is needed.
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Glad I picked up a Maxine last season. I could only get a small caliper graft, but it’s on OHxF97 so it should eventually be a nice size tree. It did well last year and has put on some nice growth this year so far.
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Seckel is resistant for you? It is currently my worst pear, I lost all of the fruiting wood in last years horror. I decided to topwork half of the tree and may eventually do over the whole thing. Docteur Desportes is the other pear that got nailed for me, and Kosui also got hit pretty hard.
This year so far the pears are clean; I am getting some shoot strikes on the apples but nothing more yet. It is prime FB weather here now, in the red zone in the models.
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Been reading several posts that guy says Tennosui has been his most resistant.
Folks years ago said maybe ‘immune’
I was going to PM you clark but i forgot… Marta has some really interesting pear scions…maybe some you have been looking for or want to try.
Late Korean looks interesting (Okusanchiki)
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Doctor desportes and kosui got hit hard. Kosui stopped the infection. I had many what were called “seckle” trees some were fireblight magnets. Once I got my hands on the real seckle my problems stopped. I will be glad to send you some bud wood or scions next year Scott.
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Maybe I just got unlucky, I looked it up and it does look to be pretty resistant. This last year was the first time it got hit in 22 years. If I get hit again though I will be asking you for some wood!
Docteur Desportes was bitter in the skin this last year, I’m less excited by it than I was a few years ago since it has not been consistently good. Now with the fireblight on top it might be on the way out of my orchard…
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Beautiful work. Some of those trees they look huge! My Hosui is on BET so I’m a little nervous about how I’ll need to prune it to keep it under 15-20 feet.
Also I skated by the FB this year but my friends two 20 foot Shinseiki trees got hit hard. Luckily I tossed the scions and didn’t graft on my new tree. I did graft a few on his trees and they ended up good for now. Strange.
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Beautiful trees
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@scottfsmith … last spring i grafted kieffer and imp kieffer to callery rootstocks and they grew very well.
This spring i have some nice scaffold branches developing.
I was planning to add grafts of orient possibly Ayers to them next spring.
I managed to get a scion of Bell pear this spring and grafted it and it is doing well… 4 shoots near 2 ft long now… should have some good scion wood from that to graft next spring.
My goal is for no spray pears.
I did not care at all… if I had to grow kieffer or orient pears only to be able to get no spray pears. Not a problem at all for me.
But now have read where K8tpayaso… in TX got the new fireblight and it killed their kieffer and orient trees dead.
I read thru your post… The really FB resistent pears are a short list.
I see in there you mention a short list of…
Ayers, Maxine, Warren, Potomac, Clarks little yellow pear. You said those varieries could be ignored in FB season.
At this point would you include Bell Pear in that list ?
Since Kieffer and Orient are now known to die of this new FB strain…
I am wondering… if I should not top work my kieffer trees over to a couple of the others that survived and did well for you with the new FB strain.
Would a combo like Bell and Ayers or Maxine or Potomac… possibly work ok here for no spray pears.
That is my ideal pear… one that will survive FB and produce decent fruit with no spray.
To me kieffer pears are decent fruit… it does not have to be any better than that. It would be ok if it was better as long as it was possible with no spray.
Thanks for your help !!!
TNHunter
IMO, if you don’t want a bunch of pear trees, graft Kieffer to something else because fruit quality is mediocre at best. You can grow better quality pears.
Even with best fireblight resistance, pears will still be hit by pests so expect some damage, but likely not enough to prevent regular cropping.
I have Ayers, Bell, Blake’s Pride, Clark’s Small Yellow, Hood, Maxine, Potomac, Shenandoah, Tyson, Warren, and others grafted and growing. All have shown excellent fireblight resistance so far with plenty of fireblight affected trees nearby. Suggest investigating these varieties for fruit quality, uses, and storage. Any you want, just ask, scionwood should be available next spring. I have multiple grafts of most so might even be able to give you a small tree.
As an example, Clark’s small yellow is noted for a narrow picking window and must be consumed within a few days after picking. Shenandoah is a large fruit juicy pear that can be stored up to 5 months. You can see how both would be useful.
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Seckel was the only pear I lost to blight out of my whole orchard that I had 40 years ago.
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Your pears look beautiful, both fruit and foliage. We used to grow several varieties organically in NorCal, but have moved to SoUtah now. All they recommend for our unique high hot desert is Kieffer. We had a few fruit the first year (last) and it was good enough to continue. We have a few more fruit on the tree this year. Unfortunately it got FB on the trunk and where the branches come out of the trunk last year. I’ve never seen this before and I hope the tree can continue to survive as there’s about a 1/2" of cambium and outer bark remaining at the base. We already lost a pink lady to the same FB, with one other apple infected in the same way, still holding on (but no fruit this year). I tend to think the trees came infected from the nursery :-(. We don’t spray as the tree is in the chicken yard, but planted a Bartlett at the other end of the property and we’ll see how that goes. Someone just told me it has blister mites - one more thing I’ve never heard of before…
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Zone 8b is going to allow you to grow many things very well. We can help you with pears since it is similar to growing pears inTexas. @k8tpayaso faces similar problems in Texas. @fruitnut can give you wonderful tips on things that do well in that type of climate. Give these pears a chance there
Hood
Florida Home
Orient
Fan-Stil
For dessert type pears try
Ayers
Warren
Many others can be grown there but take time
Leona
Pineapple
Kieffer is a great pear in many ways. Kieffer is resistant to fireblight only in that it doesnt usually die from fireblight. In my experience it gets fireblight regularly.
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Would you recommend Ayers or Warren to pair with seckel? (My mom likes dessert pears) Does one keep longer than the other? Less complicated ripening ritual (fridge, countertop)?
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Note that at least two other forum growers in Maryland have had Seckel trees die on them from fire blight.
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Yeah, I have fingers crossed and hoping for the best 
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I would at least plant a third pear variety to provide pollination if and when your Seckel dies. I suggest Potomac.
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There’s a 30 ft Bradford about 75 ft away so hoping that can do some pollination. You almost need to bust out the COVID masks with that thing it’s so bad when it blooms.
So maybe an Ayers and a Warren then problem solved!
I’ll look into Potomac too.
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@Fusion_power ---- I don’t want a bunch of pear trees… that is true. Two should be enough for me.
I have spent some time researching the varieties you listed and Clark seemed pleased with as well.
These 4 stand out to me… best I can tell they are all in FG3 so pollination should be good and bloom is hopefully not too early… they might make it past my late frosts occasionally. FB resistance is known to be good,
AYERS (known as a Tennessee/southern pear)…self pollinating, Pick early (August timeframe).
BELL — exceptional flavor high productivity, strong resistance to FB. Pick Early week b4 Bartlet
POTOMAC – read lots of reports on flavor… would love to try one… Pick Late season
SHENANDOAH – rich sweet sharp flavor… often fruits in 3 years… Pick Late season
A couple early varieties and a couple late varieties.
My concern with these (much nicer than kieffer pears) is this… I have picked kieffer pears in my county for years, several different locations, and they were pest free (no worms, no maggots, no PC, no CM).
Are you sure that these much nicer pears that are often described as soft, melting… are going to be give me a decent crop with absolutely no spray ?
If a pear is full of worms/maggots, etc… it does not matter how soft and melting they are… they are ruined.
The last 3 years… my apples here have been ripped by PC and CM, are Pears somehow less attractive to those and can give you a decent crop with no spray ?
Or is it just specific types of pears (hard pears) Kiefer, Orient that work better with no spray.
I could not find the answer to that anywhere… I have experienced Kieffer pears being like that, and have seen several people on youtube saying that Orient pears do well with no spray,
Ayers, Bell, Potomac, Shenandoah — with no spray ? would they be a big ole worm infested mess, or would you get a decent crop.
Do you spray those varieties there at your place ? or grow them no spray ?
Thanks
TNHunter
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