Unfortunately not seeing any fruitlets Clark. None of my other pear trees close by bloomed this year so I’m thinking lack of pollination is the problem.
I do agree a dwarf rootstock like 87 is the way to go for Warren, my Warren is on an unknown semi dwarf or full size rootstock purchased from Johnson Nursery.
I have Warren on OHxF333. It’s in its 5th leaf and was loaded with blooms this Spring, and is now loaded with fruitlets. It had a lot of blooms and fruit (~25 pears, pretty good for a young tree IMO) last year as well, but we ended up not getting to try any of it due to some heavy pest pressure late in the year.
I also have a Harrow Delight, planted at the same time, right next to Warren, on the same OHxF333 rootstock, that has grown to the same size but not produced any flowers to date. So I’m not sure what’s going on with Harrow Delight, but considering that there weren’t many, if any, pear blooms nearby the Warren, I think it’s at least partially self-fertile.
@npolaske
In certain locations (not mine) some pears dont need pollinators
" Bartlett pear, though nearly self-sterile, is self-fruitful in most California orchards because of the production of parthenocarpic fruit. Vegetative parthenocarpy was responsible for most of the seedless fruit produced. Stimulative parthenocarpy due to self-pollination did not give significantly greater fruit sets than those effected by vegetative parthenocarpy alone.
Parthenocarpy means development of the edible fruit without fertilization. Parthenocarpic fruits are seedless. They have been divided into two types—vegetative and stimulative. Vegetative parthenocarpy implies that the fruit developed without pollination, while stimulative parthenocarpy indicates that they developed as a result of the stimulus of pollination." - http://hilgardia.ucanr.edu/Abstract/?a=hilg.v22n19p643
Isn’t it weird? We seem to experience different fruiting time lines of the same variety of pear.
My Harrow Delight grafted in 2016 has several flowers this yesr.
My Warrenin, grafted 2015, sitll has not a single flower.
Both varieties were grafted on the same OHxF 97.
Big Manuang, you just have to wait a little longer,mine took seven years. First year very light but from there this tree start rolling. Here is how mine works, one year heavy bloom, following year much lighter and so on. Is it worth growing?, absolutely, my tree is big and wide, love this tree!. Btw, got this started from T.O.Warren back when I was still a member at Nafex, late seventies. I did the grafting session with a bunch of guys including Robert Kurl, started a Nafex area at the Botanical Garden, don’t know if it still there. Back in those days I sprayed Robert two plus acres often when he got too old.
Bob.
I also have a 3 year old Warren graft with blooms. It’s on multi-graft tree with a 6 year old seedling pear for rootstock, which appears to be less vigorous than OxHF333. Harrow Sweet bloomed last year, its second year, and other varieties have also bloomed this year. Precociousness is nice, but I am a little concerned this tree will produce smaller pears.
Years ago someone gave me advice to graft warren with something else suspecting it had some partial pollination issues so i grafted it with Ewart aka Karls Favorite. I did because i suspect hormones in the tree change once it starts fruiting and i believe pollination is better this way.
@fruitgrower We had a severe drought last year so our experience may not be that different. We are both very fortunate to get fruit so quickly considering many have waited 15 years on this variety. In my experience many pears such as magness produce better and faster on old homexfarmingdale 333 or 87 than anything else but the roots are not as deep or extensive as they are on callery or BET. It’s a double edged sword but both methods worked for us. My concern after last year with ohxf333 is i learned during the drought there is a cost to fast production in our Kansas soil. In other locations with deeper loam and heavier rainfall than 32" inches a year i doubt its an issue. Last year the 333 rootstock struggled when the drought hit and we had 10" of rain by this time of year. We have thin loam 4" -1’ with clay 2’-3’ down and rock mixed with heavy clay below that. The 333 have not penetrated the 3rd layer after many years whereas the callery and BET penetrate the 3rd layer and head for the 15’ -20’ deep layer that contains plenty of water. On a wet year 333 does fine but a year like last year reminds me why callery and BET are the best rootstocks for my area. No doubt my tree was stressed last year which may be why i have pears this year the same as your was stressed and then produced. It makes sense to me!
How are your Warren and Magness holding up this year? I’m thinking about biting the bullet and putting in one or the other next Spring.
Fantastic tasting pears but not heavy producers.i would recommend warren over magness and graft a pollinator such as karls favorite to the same tree.
Is that because of pollination problems? There’s a Harrow Sweet that’d be maybe 100 feet or so from where I want the Warren/Magness. Plus I have one neighbor who has a (Kieffer?) pear, and another who has a flowering pear.
I’m reading that Warren ripens later. That might make it the winner for me, so I can enjoy the Harrow Sweet without having the “better” pear ready yet. Century Farm Orchards says Warren is a “good keeper” Trees of Antiquity says it will keep for 3 months or longer. That sounds pretty good!
Thats not been my experience. Warren ripened here weeks ahead of harrow sweet. Magness ripened around the same time as Warren. Karls favorite blooms overlap warren and i got pears on callery much faster than most people get warren. My wood came from ARS GRIN so its unlikely its mislabeled. Harrow delight is the earlier pear i recommend. So in order of ripening at my place this year was 1st harrow delight, warren, Magness, karls favorite ( close to the same time) Much later is harrow sweet. This was my first year for warren and everything was out of order this year but harrow sweet is just now ripe.
Century Farm Orchards says Warren ripens about a month after Magness, which ripens right around the same time as Harrow Sweet according to Adams’ chart. Go figure.
Pear ripening times can vary signifigantly here depending on weather. We are ripening many things early this year and others such as ayers are very late. Next year i will see what happens and may have a better idea.
My one regret was that i didnt grow it sooner.
I just read this entire thread and thought I would add some comments as an older pear grower. To my mind there are several misconceptions about Warren and Magness that I would like to address. I’m from Mississippi and T.O Warren was my mentor at the start of my 40-year fruit journey. I was active in NAFEX and served as president, vice president and board member. So, I was involved in the early days of the Warren introduction and the controversy about whether Warren and Magness were indeed the same pear. Several experienced fruit growers thought they were but didn’t want to upset T.O. with that idea. Both are pollen sterile and are great pears. The most recent information is that T.O. got scions from an abandoned experimental orchard in MS and that Warren is lower chill than Magness (Information from Ethan Natelson in Houston, TX). I understand that Oregon investigators have stated that there is a genetic difference, but I have not seen that in print. In addition, my observation is that Warren is a healthier tree with no trunk blight tendency like Magness. Has anyone had a Magness or Warren tree have fire blight after a hail storm? https://www.apsnet.org/publications/phytopathology/backissues/Documents/1970Articles/Phyto60n04_593.PDF
I don’t remember how long it took for the two varieties to fruit in MS but here in Sebastopol, CA my Magness tree fruited in 3 years on P. communis seedling (the only rootstock I could find the first year I lived in Sebastopol - 1998). Warren took 4 years on OHxF 513 and a mislabeled Moonglow scion grafted on calleryana took 7 years (it is either Magness or Warren - I think Warren) And yes, fruiting can be a problem for both. This year I had a great crop on Magness, good crop on the Not Moonglow and a very light fruit set on Warren. In the past, the Magness tree always set very poorly so I started hand pollinating it with Comice pollen with good success. Four years ago I grafted Comice into the tree, this year Comice bloomed and I had the best crop of Magness ever. I know, anecdotal evidence, but I’ll take it.
When to pick. They both ripen at the same time. About 10 days after Bartlett. That translates to the 3rd week in August to the first week in September here. We are an hour north of the Golden Gate in what is called the costal cool climate zone. My key to when to pick is to watch for a subtle color change to yellowish-green and then for the first fruit fall. Then I start lifting individual pears to horizontal. Let those that don’t release easily stay on the tree to size up more. I get a two-week picking window that way. If they come off, pick them and put them into the refrigerator. I like to leave them there for at least a week then bring the fruit out as you need to ripen them. A week or so on the kitchen counter is usually about right. If you don’t like the really sweet taste and buttery texture, eat them sooner. They will ripen more on the tree but I think taste better with the cold treatment. And if picked that way, the fruit will store in the refer for three months.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting this
David,
Welcome to our forum! Experienced growers like you greatly enrich it… Thanks for an excellent post! I never grew a pear tree, but I have been eating Magness, Seckel, Harrow Sweet, Blake’s Pride and Bosc for the past few years from a close by orchard. In addition to California Comice occasionally from supermarkets. I love Comice, but Seckel and Magness are my favorites. I love the buttery taste/texture of Magness!
I have plans to grow Seckel and Magness in my future orchard (I am moving from my current house soon) and perhaps add a Warren tree too. So, this information that you provided is specially useful for us.
Please continue to allow us learn from your long experience growing fruit trees.
Welcome to the forum! In my experience in Kansas any kind of damage eg. Pruning, hail, wind, cicada etc. can be exactly what fireblight needs to get started on magness and other susceptible varities. Rapidly developing cells such as blooms , succulent new tip growth etc. Quickly prove that. The fact that fireblight stops in the winter best shows its only weakness. Copper sprays help to inhibit the bacteria in the spring.
