My 1 GEM just dropped to the ground yesterday. I’d had 2 GEM’s on this 3rd leaf tree but the squirrels got one. This pear may have dropped a little early, I’d been lifting it every 2-3 days to see if it was ripe.
Given I only have 1, I’m wondering how long I should let it ripen in the fridge & on the shelf
btw, no fb or pear rust so far on this tree, both of which are common here in Dallas
I found this old thread on “gem” and thought you guys might be interested to know that Dr. Schupp up at FREC (PSU) has an ongoing study of fireblight resistant varieties and he is very complimentary on Gem. It has scored very well in taste panels and has lots of other good attributes. Apparently it ‘can’ be eaten crispy like an Asian pear but also can cure and be eaten later like a European pear. Thus a wide harvest. We are putting in a large planting and will need to bud from the interstem, so Gem looks like a contender… if I can find some wood.
If someone gets it to bloom with less than 500 chilling hours let us know. My understanding is that it hasn’t been tested at less than 700 chilling hours.
Reference this as parentage Barseck pear tree - #5 by clarkinks and this was an accidental double post Pears that Can Ripen on the Tree like Gem
How is everyones Gem tree doing?
I had fb on 3 of my new transplants last year, cuting half and did the recommended copper sprays, ok so far
I actually added a Gem this year. So I am excited to try it. I am trying to pick more disease resistant verities after initially buying ones that may get hit (i.e., Parker/Patten). So far, I have Gem, Kieffer, Harrow Delight, Parker, and a Patten I am nursing back.
Its that necrotic spreading patch ive seen on shinsui and some Hsweet. Like yall said cut back to north bud and copper treatment. Is there a need for a follow up spray? Pseudomonas?
That should do it lets hope you get hit less than we did in Kansas this year. We have never in my lifetime seen the type of damage we have seen here this year.
Gem continues to win over the pear growers as indicated by this 2019 article!
Gem is infected with vein yellows virus
The reason this pear will do well in the market is because of its resistance to fireblight and nice size and flavor.
@clarkinks
Have you tasted Gem yet? If so, what do you think? How’s fireblight on it in your area?
I have not but its a big pear with reportedly good flavor. Ensure you clean tools between pruning it and others. It would be best not to spread the virus around.
Ive been growing Gem for U pick and farmers market sales for over 20 years. Of course it was only a numbered selection for most of those years. Also the same for Blakes Pride although it has been named from the start.
Both of these are great hopes for the growers that are troubled by fire blight which is not an issue for my area. The Gem, in particular is great for the fresh market sales. It fits into a niche in between summer varieties like Bartlet and Orcas and winter storage pears like Comice, Bosc, Conference. I would say it most fits in with pears like the Clapps, although it is superior to the Clapp for marketing especially U pick. Clapp is difficult to pick, underripe/overripe can leave customers with inferior fruit.
It also can be picked crunchy and still has a good flavor at this point. When stored for a month to two it does rise in sugars and softens somewhat but Ive never stored them to the buttery texture point. I have Comice for that.
One thing I would say about most of the adds. They tend to exaggerate the size of the fruit. Gem produces like crazy and always needs thinning but even if you over thin you would be lucky to get fruit the size that are in that pic in Good Fruit Grower, Ands thats just barely medium for pear size.
I read about the disease resistance of GEM pear but to your experience how does its disease resistance compare to other European pear?
We were all excited to be trialing this and all the pears from the Kearneysville, WV station and Dr. Bell. There were many in the 1996 trial and most just remained numbers and fell into obscurity. Gem took until 2013 to be named.
When we got the scionwood we were told to evaluate for disease resistance and general fruit production. At the time I was unaware that the main goal of Dr Bell was Fire Blight resistance. Since we dont get Fire Blight here our evaluations could only report on pear scab which is pretty serious issue here.
Its my opinion that Gem took so long to be named because it did rate only moderate Fire Blight resistance whereas all the 5 other named releases have much more resistance. It is reported to be better than Bartlet however. Pear scab resistance is not that great either.
I see that you are in Seattle area so you wont have FB to worry about. If your concerned about the cosmetics of the Gem and scab as I am since I sell at the farmers markets, I use an intensive Lime sulfur program on all my pears that i want to look good. This is a 5-6 spray program starting before bud break (with oil). Its messy and stinky but works better than nothing.
Conference pear is a good one to grow for around here that is fairly scab resistant.
One pear you might be familiar with is Orcas. Gem ripens just after Orcas, could be called a late summer pear, but Gem is more scab resistant than Orcas. Orcas is sold as a highly scab resistant variety by most all nurseries but thats a hoax. I used to have 18 Orcas trees, now have 2. Just cant keep the scab off them.
thank you so much for your reply and advice! Yes, im in seattle. I’m growing Orcas, and we do have issue with cedar rust. I’m not too familiar with pear scabs, but i want to try to grow most disease resistance in pears. I do have a conference pear tree, but i prefer more summer pears to eat fresh off the trees.
Orcas is a great eating pear! In a dry spring when we get good ones we will sell a lot of them. They are better than Bartlets.
You mention Cedar Rust. That is mostly a problem for me with Asian pears although I have seen an occasional hit on a Euro pear leaf. I never realized how many different species of Gymnosporangium there are until I researched it. It seems the one that affects me here is commonly known as Pear Trellis Rust or European Pear Rust.
This one uses the common cultivated varieties of Juniper as the main host.
Ive had 3 varieties of Asian Pear that were so bad that I had to remove them. Fortunately most Asian P. seem to be resistant to CAR.
As far as other summer type pears for this area, have you tried the Clapps? There is standard Clapp and the Red Clapp.
