I planted a moonglow pear tree in my yard. I am hoping to graft another pear variety to it. I was thinking of possibly grafting Ayers or Seckel.
Do you know a great resource for comparing pear varieties?
Do you have a pear variety you would recommend? - Why?
Look up in that magnifying glass in the upper corner and then read @clarkinks many hundreds if not thousands of pear comparisons.
This forum is not just a great resource its the best resource.
Moonglow is my strange pear tree. It’s small leaves partly roll up and slowly die for no apparent reason. Literally still green. Then it sets new leaves a two months later. I just think it is too hot for it.
Agreed. When I have a question, this site is the first place I look for answers.
It depends on where you live and how hot your summer gets. Personally, I like Warren a lot.
Study carefully for fireblight tolerance, number of chill hours, and season of ripening.
This is an ok basic starting point if you’re looking for the most disease resistance, like others have said search the forum for info about the varieties
Pears -
Euros and hybrids -
Warren, Orient, Tyson, Leona, Douglas, Turnbull, Harrow delight, Ayers, Lazy J, Blake’s pride
Asian -
Drippin’ honey, Ya li, Hosui, Shin li, Daisui li
I just grafted and planted out 3 this Spring after doing some reading on here. I did Bartlett, Moonglow, and Warren.
I did the Bartlett because I got the scions from my neighbors tree that is 50+ years old and has never been pruned, sprayed, or taken care of and still kicks out tons of great pears every year.
What about Warren made it the choice for you?
I have read warren is slow to fruit with a few people removing them after several fruitless years.
Clark is an encyclopedia about pear attributes on the land where he grows them in KS. Whenever people have questions about pear varieties, I believe they should post their general location- not just zone. I’m in the lower NE near NYC- my biggest pear problem is psyla, Clark’s is fireblight. My second biggest problem is plant bugs, Clark’s second biggest problem is fireblight.
Nearby, I manage orchards where pears are not bothered by psyla or FB. However, in my region and all others, it is instructive to know which pests are most prevalent.
Consider the ripening time as well. Do you want all the pears from your tree to ripen at the same time, or would you prefer them to ripen gradually over a period?
I read some where that Moonglows grow slow and look like they are struggling. I am not sure if its true or not but it seems like that is their growth habit.
I am in SW PA. Less than a city block from my house in early summer a Bradford pear caught what i am assuming to be fireblight. It went entirely black like a thirty foot tall Halloween decoration.
I think the moonglow is mid season. I would like something before or after to spread out the harvest.
Warren is an easy choice because it is highly resistant to fireblight, exceptionally good flavored, and has excellent texture. I short circuited the long wait for production by grafting it on a 6 inch diameter rootstock. It produced 8 pears last year but none this year. I’m expecting a good crop next year because the tree has nearly doubled in size this year. It helps a lot that Warren is widely adapted growing and producing from the gulf coast all the way up to Pennsylvania.
I have about 100 varieties of pear growing now and will add about 20 more next year. Why? So I can figure out which I like and which are either non-productive or poor flavored or disease susceptible. I want an abundance of good flavored easy keeper pears.
I also have an interest in breeding a pear with some traits I like. For example, I want a double flowered pear tree such as https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/cabot.jpg combined with a tree that has flame red foliage in the fall https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/peartree.jpg combined with the flavor and texture and fireblight resistance found in Warren. If I could just figure out where to find a red flowered pear tree… I want that too!
I don’t remember 100% but I think it was the resistance to FB and the texture. My family likes the soft, buttery, non gritty texture pears.
