See those dots on the blushed skin? The size of the fruit is the right size. Those characteristics are extremely unique as well. As a matter of fact never saw another pear with all the characteristics we identified that wasn’t the pear we were suspecting it is. The question remaining is how could it be ayers in that cold zone?
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St. Lawrence Nursery has a reputation for selling cold hardy trees. They sell Ayers pear Ayers Pear – St. Lawrence Nurseries (slngrow.com)
I have learned over the years that what is winter hardy at SLN’s location does not necessarily equate to what is winter hardy here, even though our USDA zones are the same. They get more consistent and heavier snow cover than I do.
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i concur. as cold as we got last winter i have 0 winterkill from -40f even on my red gem goumi.
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@smsmith @steveb4 @NorthBranch
Good find as we were suspecting the pear information was wrong on many websites. SLN reports it survives cold winters like you said. They said its “Extremely Hardy (-50F or Colder) to Very Hardy (to -50F with occasional winter injury)” . This mystery appears to be solved.
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I can assure you it is not hardy to -30 in central MN. I’m not sure the last time SLN saw -50, but doubt it was any time recently. I take their hardiness ratings with a huge grain of salt. That said, I’d believe an Ayers pear could survive in northern ME if it was proven to me.
edit…also not quite sure how a pear that ripens in early September at SLN’s location is still hanging on the tree in late October in northern ME.
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Pears ripen at different times on these cold years. Winter hung around and extra month or two for us so all my pears ripened a month later. My guess is you all had the same experience. If they ripen normally for me in August then yours ripen in September. That makes them getting ripe right on time in October if your winter hung around like ours did. This year they should ripen earlier. See how late everything was Here comes the 2021 Apple and pear harvest! . Went back and checked and sure enough they ripened in September this last year Ayers pear!
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Thanks! I forgot to mention the fruit bunching, which I thought was odd, and not like any pear I had seen. Compared to your Ayers, with the similarities if the spots on the fruit, the red blush, and the bunching I think it’s a likely match. How’s the flavor, and do your pears have grit cells?
By the way, that’s quite a tree you have!
-Donny
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Thanks for the help! We’re probably about the same latitude here in Maine, at 46.26 degrees, as you are in Minnesota, and our elevation is about 500’. We’re far enough off the coast that we don’t have any large bodies of water nearby to effect the climate, and the prevailing wind doesn’t come across any bodies of water. I agree that Potsdam, NY likely hasn’t seen -50 in quite some time, and winter 2022’s -35 overnight here is the coldest air temperature I can remember.
I checked Weather.gov’s coldest temp site for the two nearby recording areas, Bridgewater and Houlton AP, averaged them (we’re about midway north-south) and found the record coldest temp was about -38, twice, in January 2009. That January also had at least three consecutive days -30 or colder, and I think those trees were in the ground by then. I ran the numbers again since 2010, and we had two record lows in the -30s, -31 and -33, and as many as 32 days -20 or colder.
I’ll ask to make sure when those trees were planted, but they seem to be cold survivors.
-Donny
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45.9747° here. We hit -30 most winters. The coldest I’ve personally recorded was -38 a couple years ago. -35 was the coldest this year. The year I recorded -38 a number of folks in the general area recorded -40 to -42. We get many, many days of -20 to -28 regularly. What kills many fruit trees here is when we get temps like those without much snow cover.
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Our winters sound comparable. And that’s what I forgot to mention, in recent years our snow cover is very, ah, “robust” by the time we experience anything like -10, so typically I’m not too concerned about the roots. There were recent years we’ve received 18" of snow in mid-November before the ground took any frost at all, and then plenty of snow after that, and as a result the ground remained mostly frost-free through the winter. This year, the ground took some frost because we had a mild fall and not any meaningful snow if at all until after mid-December.
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Is it possible or likely these two trees I’m asking about are Shipova, the Sourbus/Pyrus hybrid? I’d think the Sorbus parentage would provide more cold hardiness, they supposedly don’t self-pollinate well, seeds are rare, and the fruit is blushed, bunched, sweet, and relatively small.
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I believe Seckel also has white spots, small fruits, red blush, and also grow in bunches.
Seckel Pear Tree | Fruit Trees | Ison’s Nursery & Vineyard (isons.com)
I believe Fedco sells Seckel (but not Ayers)
edit… Seckel European Pear - Fedco Trees (fedcoseeds.com)
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I don’t know where the trucking run was from or to, but I was told it was as many as 15 years ago. The late owner/planter would have remembered, he was a potato farmer and operated a truck brokerage as well as being a very good man. He had a tendency to keep parts on hand, things he or someone else might need, and planting some rejected trees so as not to waste them was definitely something he would have done. I don’t think he would have made too many very long trucking runs, but I can’t say for sure. I’ll ask his wife.
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Maybe Luscious could be another possibility
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Thanks! I have some Luscious here to compare them to but they’re young, and haven’t fruited yet, but have fruiting spurs on them that might mean blossoms. When they flower and leaf out I can see if they’re similar. I’ve never had a Luscious pear, so I can’t compare the two, yet. Hopefully this fall.
Donny
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hit -40f here 2xs and unofficially -43f on Long lake 1x last winter yet my z5 7ft. red gem goumi suffered no damage above the snow line, yet it died to the snow line 3 years ago at -30. figure that one out! those were records for those dates. even my z4 pear grafts survived above snow with no damage. maybe there wasnt much wind on those days but i remember alot of wind last winter.
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I’ve been trying to figure out why the Golden Delicious I grafted 5 or 6 years ago is still alive. I grafted it (GRIN scion, I don’t recall exactly which GD I got from them) because I wanted the variety but figured all along it would never survive our winters. It doesn’t grow quickly, but it keeps waking up every spring. I figure sooner or later winter will kill it, but maybe I’ll get lucky and get a few fruits before then.
I think a lot of it has to do with just how deeply asleep (dormant) they are at the time of the worst weather. Charts from a research department can’t register that in a dependable or repeatable way.
Same to Steve’s comment.
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seems like any plant that has alot of vigor is more prone to winter injury regardless of hardiness zone ratings. i had a king of the north grape thats z3 hardy die on me last years mild winter yet z4 marquette grape right next to it was uninjured. only difference was king was 2xs as vigourous.
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