I just picked and ate my first two KG of this year. They were as good as ever. Sweet, crunchy and juicy. Brix was 16!!!
I don’t have a lot this year, around 50 total, 1/3 of most years.
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Has anyone tried grafting Korean Giant on any quince rootstock? Are they compatible?
I grafted KG few years ago on pyrus caucasica but gave it away. Now I kind of regret after reading all the positive comments but don’t have much space left so thinking about trying it again, this time on quince.
Awesome sweet treat. My wife also like KG.
Tony
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Mamuang,
They are good pears! They have some complexity to the flavor I really like.
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I was a little disappointed, all of my KG cracked badly this year, still have not had one to eat.
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Clark,
What my KG lacks in quantity ths year, they make it up in size. Many are more than half a lb and a few are over a lb.
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@tonyOmahaz5,
Tomorrow early morning, temp here could dropped to 34-35 F. I did not want to take a chance so I picked half of KG. Of 25 picked today, 6 weigh over one pound each. Average weight is about 12 oz per pear.
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Beautiful
Salivating. A nice crunch pear would hit the spot right now.
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Mamuang,
Those are gorgeous pears! Nice harvest!
Very nice harvest Mamuang!! Looks clean and tasty!!!
Tony
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Thank you @Auburn. @coolmantoole, @clarkinks and @tonyOmahaz5
Tony,
Tasty yes. Clean, mostly. I might have sprayed these pears with Surround twice early in the season. I figured they could fend for themselves from bugs.
I’ve found a few of them are damaged by stinkbugs. A few more by insects such as Plum Curculio, Oriental Fruit Moth or coddling moth. Usually, pears that are infected by worms tunneling inside, stay small with skin turns reddish brown sooner that others, (rather than greenish grown). Some drop early.
This year, I had two 1 lb pears that have bug damage inside (I strongly suspect coddling moths). Those pears continued to grow to a large size, did not miss a beat, hung on until I picked them.
The only difference of these bug damaged pears and the good pears is their texture. The damaged one had soft texture (no crunch but not mushy, either). The good pears are crunchy and juicy. The texture difference is very obvious.
To sum up, although the bug damaged pears can continue to grow to their full size, the texture is compromised. It becomes too ripe internally. Edible and good if you like soft flesh. To me, A pear equal crunchy and juicy. Need to spray more next year, I guess.
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Hi,
Reading this thread I think I would like to order a KG. Would a Ayers or Kieffer pollinate a KG?
I think stink bug damage may be cumulative- they used to not be an issue in my orchard and now 2/3rds of KG are damaged, half are useless. I may try a couple of summer Surround applications next year, but I will not keep poison on the fruit just to assure a harvest. No matter how sweet they are, my 65 year old palate in unimpressed. Liked them much more when I was younger.
If their bloom time overlaps, it should work.
KG are so good. I grafted 2 trees last year and 2 more this year. I tried whip&tongue and budding this year. They seem to take very quickly. Free free from seed you tossed around the yard. WOOT!
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Best Asian pear is Korean Giant, in my opinion. My tree was planted in 2008, my first fruit tree. The tree must have been 2-3 years old when I bought it as a potted plant.
By the time I know how to prune, the tree got a bit out of hand. I have tried to bend the new limbs to make new branches every year. As you can see, I am not very successful as the top of the tree try to run away to the sky.
I have been more successful with thinning aggressively. I’ve thinned many clusters of blooms off before they have time to set fruit and thinned the fruitlets aggressively, too, to prevent biennialing. So far, so good.
This year’s blooms.
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My KG is twice that size and had about 40-50 blossoms total due to lack of chilling. Many of those set so I’ll have a few fruit and no thinning needed…!!
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I just planted one that I had in a pot from last years bench graft. I have one more in a pot yet. I might give it to my sister. I also have a couple grafts of it on my 20th Century. It will be a couple years probably before I get to taste them. My other Asian pear trees are growing lots of fruit and not getting to big to fast. I would rather have small trees. They are easier to take care of.
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Mine is about 9-10’ft tall only. The tallest tree in my yard. I’m a short person who like short trees 
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