Blutbirnen are ripening and bletting as the ripening window is very tight.
Yes, Clark. I’m 78, so I’m glad I planted the Shannons so long ago. It would have been discouraging if I had only found out about Shannon pears this year.
Susan,
Many of us growing fruit now are over 50. The people who grow fruit start to age by the time we get really good at it. I’m glad to see people like @disc4tw Ryan starting out establishing his new orchard much the way i did. After waiting years on your Shannon aka Grand Champion like @scottfsmith did i have heard the fruit is worth the wait! I know you said you bought your tree from the gentleman who sold them there in Oregon. He typically sold the tree as Shannon since that was the fruit trees developers last name. Im documenting all i can about it here Shannon pear aka Grand Champion pear . Here is an old newspaper article The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, November 01, 1917, Image 4 « Historic Oregon Newspapers
I noticed Mrs. W.F. Shannon was involved in the community in that area. I think the name is no coincidence. I wish the prices were the same as in 1917 i would feel good about retiring in 10 or 15 years!
@clarkinks could you post a close up pic of a Hosui? I’m trying to figure out if that’s what I have on some of my trees.
The big leaves and green/brown fruits look a lot like what I have.
I think that I have two different types though they look very similar: the green and the brown. Though the trees are planted near each other and should be at a similar stage, some trees have fruits which are just plain green and not turning brown. Also, the trees have slightly different forms. However, I actually don’t know how many types I have.
The bottom one looks like a Chojuro.
A guaranteed way to tell hosui is to feel the skin. If it is hosui the skin feels like sand paper. Hosui will turn a brownish gold when ripe. It will ripen soon. Chojuro on the otherhand tastes strongly of butterscotch. The texture to the skin is very different. As an example drippin honey has smooth skin. It is hard to tell by how they look but easy to tell by how they feel.
I tried this morning and they definitely feel rough! I’ll cross my fingers they’re not all stolen by squirrels before I get some.
Dripping Honey. If there is a better tasting pear I have never tasted it. I did a light lift and it dropped into my hand. This pear was perfectly ripe according to my taste. Sweet/Honey flavor with some juice that I had to be careful not to let it drip onto my shirt. Seeds were getting dark.
I have aboutI 8 traps and they were full to the top. That looks horrible.
Dripping Honey starts ripening slowly and then all of a sudden they all ripen. Picked the last 11 fruits this morning. My 5 grands are visiting and they ate the 5 pears that I had washed and had ready for them yesterday. They really like DH. This is still a young tree and the DH are a little small but the taste was still very good.
I’m a long time advocate of Drippin Honey as you know. I have several trees of it. Im very glad your growing these and like the taste!
Here are some old photos from this thread Here comes the 2016 apple and Pear harvest! - #30 by clarkinks
If you have a few you pick slightly green they store for months. The only downside to Drippin’ Honey is they are given to cracking if you have droughts followed by heavy rains.
We are running about a month ahead on some pear harvests this year. I need to watch myself to not miss any. Thanks for the warning Bill i need to keep an eye on mine. Some years im harvesting in August instead of July the same pears.
A warning to those growing hosui is if it is a new tree the taste may not be good the first few years. The taste on my hosui was awful at first. Older trees like yours taste great. Pears flavor is very deceptive in certain regions like mine the first year and sometimes afterwards. I refrain from grafting over trees now.
A few photos from today. Im going to slip in sone apples as well.
Kosui at the top and i will sort out the others as time permits
Our retro-wildened old pear is setting up for a mega-crop. I’m not sure that there are 2 leaves per pear. It will look even crazier, when they double in size…
That it is. And it will hopefully keep going long after I’m gone.
What cultivar is this?
It has reverted to it’s rootstock within the last 5-7 years. It has killed off (literally dried off) the last sub-branch with the grafted variety this winter. Now it has golf ball+ sized round yellow&red pears that blet very quickly, but have a strong aroma and a lot of sugar. Great for distilling. And for drying, if you manage to get it fast enough.
