Here comes the 2019 pear harvest!

Ayers is a good pear and there are plenty of them ripening this time of year on August 23rd. Ayers does well here. We pick them as time permits so the animals will get their share. You can ripen or nearly ripen these on the tree! Dripping and juicy with very high sugar makes these a pear i really like. I have way to many of these trees!



11 Likes

Clark, your killing me! You keep adding varieties I want to try out on my Franken pear. I think I will have 4 sites available to graft onto next spring. At the moment I’m thinking Warren, Clapp’s, and maybe your little green pear. For the fourth I have been waffling on Ayer’s and when you add pics like this is puts be back to the “add” side. I’m eager to see how Abbe Fetel does for you too, I really am tempted to get that one going. If it can survive 5b and ripen it’s fruit, even on odd years it would be worth it…so good, and enormous. Did you get any fruit set on AF this year?

2 Likes

@cis4elk
None of abate fetel this time. Maxine is a new pear to me this year and ripened at different times over the last couple of weeks with today being August 24th. Trying to figure this one out. Sweet but still crunchy so not as ripe as i like to pick my pears. A good yellow pear with no blush but not much really going for it other than extreme fireblight resistance which is enough. I really love growing a pear i dont need to worry about! Its a keeper for disease resistance alone.if you live in the South ayers, and warren are your better pears. I enjoyed the maxine pears i ate so please grow it for yourself but be aware of my experience.



3 Likes

I apologize for posting so many photos i do that to document pears for those wanting to grow pears and not finding any information. I live in a land of vast open spaces some would call the land flowing with milk and honey, a true land of plenty but remember many of my pear trees sufferred loss of over half the branches this year due to storms. Some know already but many don’t Kansas storms prune for me but i never prune unless i need to because every branch means lost fruit. Some locations apparently do not have severe storms. Last year was a drought and this year there is flooding. Today is August 24th. Various pears were picked. The far left is left Drippin Honey (just ripening), unknown pear variety (middle), ts hardy (right side)


Anyone recognize this pear below please let me know. Its a dwarf on callery which is very unusual. Took over 10 years to produce fruit. It is one of my last unknown pears.



Drippin Honey is so delicious!!! It is accurately named!



Note the pear on the right is (slightly yellow) is ripe and was in the sun. The other 2 are ripe also but were not in the sun and will turn more yellow now that they are picked but would have fell from the tree. Use the tilt test on this pear. Many yellow pears are not ripe and green ones are ripe.They are all very close to ripe. A ripe Drippin Honey may be green when you eat it.

10 Likes

Here are some Asian pears I picked today. From left to right are 2 Chojuro, 1 Drippin Honey, and 3 Hosui.


I had to pick the Drippin Honey early because it was being attacker by ants. It had a slight acidity to it but was still sweeter than the other two. The texture was crunchy and pleasing. Hosui had the best texture in my opinion being crunchy but less firm than the other two but it wasn’t as sweet as the other two. Chojuro was sweet but coarse. It had the oddest texture and the insides are slightly amber in color, very odd.
@clarkinks thanks for recommending Drippin’ Honey! It’s even larger than Korean Giant although Korean Giant has another month to grow.

9 Likes

@PharmerDrewee
Drippin Honey when ripe in our location is very high quality. Hosui i have found in my location to be low in sugar and not impressive in anyway besides there are lots of them. That may change as the trees age. Im told thety are extremely good in some areas. Chojuro tastes like butterscotch and has a texture in my area similar to hosui “crunchy” , fruit is very pleasant and delicious but it lacks disease resistance. Many asian pears are not at their best the first couple of years. Korean Giant ripens late in the fall but is very high quality like Drippin Honey but totally different flavor. @PharmerDrewee your welcome im glad you like them! You did a very good job growing all of them and i believe as the trees age the flavor will improve. The ants and other insects gave you their stamp of approval on what they thought was the best when they attacked. Korean Giant will get as large or larger than drippin’ honey. During a drought in 2018 Here comes the 2018 apple & pear harvest! korean giant produced large fruit at my location

13 Likes

Keep up the great pictures, no need to apologize it’s a treat to see them!

2 Likes

A box of Bartlett and a few unknown pears. I put the whole box in the fridge.

I can keep these in the fridge for storage for a while right? Pull them out as needed and let them sit on the counter until ripe.?

5 Likes

Often that’s a very good way to ripen many kinds of pears. That’s probably what I’d do.

3 Likes

@clarkinks

IS DRIPPIN’ HONEY KNOWN BY ANY OTHER NAME?

The only place I see it available is the Gurneys, Henry Fields, Spring Hill, etc. group.

Is it available , as a tree anywhere else?

Wondering if “Drippin Honey” is the only one marketing name .

2 Likes

@MES111
It is only known by drippin honey.

Anybody else with comice on 333 and size. First year with maybe 10-12 on it and the size good I think. Is this what I can expect going forward? Or is this cause there was. So few fruit.
image image

10 Likes

Comice is a nice looking pear. How do they taste?

1 Like

Don’t know yet there in my fridge right now. According to Oregon state university they need to be chilled before ripening. Will update after. Fingers crossed I do this right the first time I know there notorious for rotting inside out.

3 Likes

I saw it and thought: Kieffer

2 Likes

Yah, I’m afraid you’re right. Not a bad tasting pear, but my wife seemed to like it more, and I planted most of the pears for her.

I’m just glad one of the trees bore some fruit after just three years.

2 Likes

The pear harvest has been huge this year. I should have taken more pictures but i did take plenty in the 2016 & 2018 harvest and dont want to overwhelm the website with an excessive number of pictures that dont add much. I even took some pictures in the less productive years of 2015 & 2017. I did leave the last bucket of drippin honey until today September 14th and managed to get by with it. Im not sure i would try it again. Its hard to figure , we had heavy rains all year and not a single cracked drippin honey pear.

10 Likes

My last pear from my “Orient” tree, which judging by responses on here and info I’ve seen online, is probably a Kieffer. This last one has been on the tree about a month longer than the other one I picked, so it is bigger and has a nice pinkish blush on it from the sun, so it should be sweeter. It was barely hanging on, so it’s probably ripe enough.

A grand total of 2 pears this year, but it’s a start, especially considering this tree was planted just 3 years ago.

6 Likes

@subdood_ky_z6b
Thats not a kieffer its a cross of old home by the looks of it.

1 Like

Old Home, as in the rootstock? Is OH a pretty good pear? What are some well known OH crosses? The tree is on Callery rootstock, btw.

I weighed this one, it came in at 10oz, so a nice sized pear.

3 Likes