Here comes the 2018 apple & pear harvest!

These red Bartlett’s are small this year but sweeter than sugar! They are more of a red blushing Bartlett. Deer, raccoons etc. have been eating some of them as some pears fall on the ground or on low hanging branches. Expect to still get 20 gallons in the buckets. The windfalls help to keep the wildlife alive during this drought when all my neighbors had complete crop failures with their cereal crops. My fruit crops are a miracle during the most severe drought since the dirty thirties. A dust bowl is unlikely again because much better farming practices are in place today. To see this tree produce like this with just 7 inches of annual rainfall certainly means there is still underground water in this location. This part of my property was in bad shape over 25 years ago when I bought it but that underground water is why I wanted it. This pear tree is around 35 feet tall now but seems like yesterday when I planted the little switch in the ground. The tree took last year off but the 2016 harvest was pretty nice http://www.growingfruit.org/t/here-comes-the-2016-apple-and-pear-harvest/6762/11. See the pictures below of the 2018 harvest underway!

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I have yet to master the keys to ripeness in pears

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Clark,

Do you have to cold storage those Red Bartlett for while and let them sit out at room temp to ripen before eating them?

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Let these ripen on the table a week or so and once the part that is not red turns bright yellow they are delicious! They are a sugary, dripping, melting pear! Did they produce for you this year @tonyOmahaz5? You will love these!

I let 6 of them to mature. Very nice looking pears.

Tony

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@tonyOmahaz5
If pest pressure is low like any other Bartlett you can let them ripen on the tree.

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Here come my big 2018 crop of Golden Boy. Crunchy and sweet straight off the tree. I’m going to let these three sit on the counter a few days to compare taste. 3"x3.75"

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They are good size pears. Yummy!

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Those look great @Auburn. How long did it take them to start producing?

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Late frost did a heavy thinning of my pears. I’m really excited at how big a few of the Harrow Sweet are.

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Grafted these in last year onto a mature tree limbs. GB grows fast but seems to bear fruit quick also.

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Now that I’ve finally got the red Bartlett’s picked I can see my estimate on fruit yields was generous. The harvest was closer to 16-17 gallons total considering what I picked already. In order for this type of red Bartlett to be totally red you need more light than I give mine so pruning to an open center is better. One side is red on mine and the other is yellow due to how the sun hits them. These are some of the most beautiful pears I’ve seen.

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Some Pictures of the red Bartlett from recently but not today. I like to document the harvest and about the tree as well as possible for those of you who have scions who are growing this tree now. It’s had minimal fireblight strikes which makes it a real winner in my area! It’s more resistant to fireblight than my improved kieffer have been so apparently this Bartlett sport picked up some extra genetics beyond just the red color. Picked the harvest on a 20 foot ladder with a 20’ extender pole on my fruit picker and still could not reach a few in the top due to branches in the way. My family and I do not believe in taking every pear so it all works out. Some farmers still leave a strip of grains in their fields. I’m extremely fortunate to have such a good harvest!

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Love the pears! But, I miss my old S10

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Clark,
Beautiful pear. From your description, it is worth growing.

Those spots on the leaves are rust? How susceptible this variety is to pear rust on a normal year? This year your place is very dry. I am surprised to see those in such a dry year.

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@BobC
Some days I really like that S10 especially when I’m driving about a 1/2 mile from the road like I was in this picture. It really is great for off road because it’s fairly light. I don’t sink in much when I’m cutting through fields so there is no damage. They are pretty good in the city because they have very few blind spots.
@mamuang
I had not sprayed for rust this year because it was dry. This is the first year I saw any rust on the tree so I’m not sure I can answer your question yet. I’ve seen rust show up in the towns around me and eventually it has now hit here. My guess is soon everyone will see it as commonly as cedar apple rust (CAR).there are a bunch of resistant pears such as harrow delight , harrow sweet, my small yellow pear to name a few. Duchess, kieffer, Douglas etc. are rust magnets. The Asian pears are the worst about getting rust.

My pears should be ready in about a month. The trees I have are just now starting to get big enough to produce. Next year I should have a good crop though. This year I probably only have about a dozen.

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@insteng
That’s a good feeling to know you can only go up from here.

Yes I add about 8-10 different trees every year. My first trees were finally starting to produce this year. I just canned 10 quarts of peaches yesterday from one tree. We ate all we could then canned the rest. Right now I have 100’s of watermelons in the field. When I retire I want to farm out there and make some side money

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Very nice looking Pears. I’m considering putting some pear trees in at my Heirloom Apple Orchard and would like to have a good idea of what Cultivars of pears that would be a good choice here in our zone4 climate. Any recommendations?

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