Does anyone grow Atlantic Queen? I’ve heard that it is both large and hearty. I wonder how it tastes.
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Quill,
I’m not sure if I grow Atlantic Queen or not. One year I grafted a bunch of pears. One of the grafts was Atlantic queen. Not all the grafts took because the rootstocks were wild callery pears. The 4 trees that’s grafts took the tags were destroyed by water and ink bleed. Those trees have not fruited yet. Maybe next year I will get a pear from them and find out. Atlantic Queen is said to grow to 1 1/2 pounds. Madame Boutant is said to be a large pear. I grafted at the same time. A friend gave me some scions. The mislabeling is a set back but I will be able to figure out what pear is what when they come in production. Not a lot of information on this pear but here is a little about it https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=%20PI+255614 and http://www.cumminsnursery.com/pear.htm
I just picked these two Conference today. At least a third larger than last year. Used Surround soaked footies. Only 2 other pears on tree that are dwarfs. My first pic upload, hope it is right.
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Quill,
Those pears look great! They look more like Comice than conference. Suspect they are some of the best pears ever eaten!
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Quill,
Raintree has a beautiful photo of the Atlantic Queen pear, which piqued my interest in them. But I lost interest when someone here on this forum explained that they found their taste disappointing (I can’t remember who).
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Actually, I need to revise my response. Here is what @TheFluffyBunny said about Atlantic Queen:
"I cut mine down a decade ago. I might consider it again for the visual impact as an espalier. It is not exactly what I call a desert pear it is more of a dinner pear. By that I mean I find it worked best in a sandwich of a salad where it helped along some other foods. For example a couple of slices on a turkey, rye, lettuce, mayo and cheese sandwich is awesome. You are also talking one heck of large pear too. Like all pears they tend to ripen from the inside out so it is hard to tree ripen due to the size.
One nice thing is the squirrels and raccoons seem consider it a last resort so you will always have some if you have other pears around. Still and all there is nothing wrong with it."
Clark,
The link says “page not found”.
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR
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Thanks Matt. I knew there had to be a “catch”. I need to grow my pear patience as I have some nice ones in the wings.
Those pears really don’t look like the pears on my conference pear trees. I checked Google images and theirs don’t look like yours either. It may be a climate difference. I don’t know.
John S
PDX OR
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John,
I added another link hope that works for you. These were the only pictures I could find of madame boutant https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/imagedisplay.aspx?lnk=194341, Fruit image from National Clonal Gerplasm Repository, Corvallis, Oregon field collection., Postman, Joseph, USDA-ARS
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/imagedisplay.aspx?lnk=126691, Fruit of Madame Boutant. Photo taken on 08/31/2005 with Canon PowerShot S30., Postman, Joseph, USDA-ARS
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/imagedisplay.aspx?lnk=314415, , Postman, Joseph, USDA-ARS
Pear leaves all look a lot alike so it won’t be until I get fruit that I know what I’m growing for sure.
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Thanks Clark. That’s a good looking pear.
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Quill,
The summers are very hot and dry here typically which makes most pears very good. @Matt_in_Maryland is bringing up great points. Pears can vary significantly in flavor even 20 miles apart. Our pears taste excellent at my location but there are trade offs. What I’m getting at is that pear is still around because it’s a great pear in certain locations. Some places likely have to much rainfall to grow certain pears. I say this because on really high rainfall years I don’t care for certain pears grown here. Many wineries secret to growing great grapes for wine is the mineral content of their soil. The same is true for other fruits.
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I agree John, as the pears looked much more like typical Conferences. I don’t think it had an interstem. It is on Quince C in a whiskey barrel. Perhaps uneven watering?
I was just asking because I couldn’t figure out why and I would like to know why they look so different from other Conference pears.
John S
PDX OR
Definitely not Conference pears, you have Comice
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Alcedo,
Thank you for confirming the pear identity. As stated above it does look like Comice to me. Comice is an extremely high quality pear. The expensive and highly prized Royal Riviera pears offered by Harry and David are Comice Amazon.com. When people speak of conference they cannot do so without comparing it with Comice 彩世界,彩世界平台,彩世界网址 . Comice is the standard in high quality pears. Quill if I have a mislabeled tree let it be a Comice every time. You can always graft conference to the same tree or plant a conference pear.
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Unfortunately late season pears are a pretty big target for insects and animals looking for a free meal. This is one of my duchess d’angoulme pears showing significant damage. Many of these are already in excess of 1 pound!
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Still looks good to me. Cut out the bad parts and eat the rest. Sopping rich juicy pear-- mmm, luscious!
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I have a penchant for red colored pear, they look so nice, according to my perception they are better in taste.
In addition to the usual comice I also have the red variety it is a spur mutant.
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Aicedo,
Beautiful pears. Why are some pears, like the ones in the background, not bagged?
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