My taste are different i enjoy pai li and ya li very much but consider Drippin Honey and Korean Giant and others to be better. I’m very fond of European pears as well. Personal tastes are the luxury of us as the grower. Ya li has a unique light fresh taste. Pai li is good as well. Kosui gets many fireblight strikes though the pear is one i enjoy. It is pleasant, somewhere between the tastes of all of these. Hope all is going well in the orchard this year.
3 Likes
I noticed that Pai Li leafs out before any of the other asian pears. And it’s an aggressive grower.
3 Likes
I attached some photos of it above. The small round yellow pear above Tony took a photo of is exactly what they look like. They are not ripe enough to turn yellow yet in this photo. Please see the description from ARS grin it matches which is where the scion came from What Pears will you grow this year?
The part about large has never been true for me the rest matches
" 541998 - COR - Pyrus ussuriensis pai li
Description: Pai Li originated from Honan, China. The fruits are large, pyriform, and greenish yellow. The flesh is granular, juicy, with a fair quality. The trees are vigorous. In Chico, California, Pai Li season begins early in August. – Pu Fu Shen. 1989.
Pai Li is probably the most popular pear among the Chinese in north China, and is it is also very highly regarded by all foreigners. The sweet flavor of this variety especially appeals to the Chinese, and it must also be added that most Chinese do not care for the tart and sub-acid fruits which we regard so highly in this country… The Pai Li is medium in size, usually 1.5 to 2 inches, although occasionally 2.5 inches in diameter. It is roundish or slightly oblate in shape. The color is a light lemon yellow, with many small inconspicuous cinnamon dots; and the skin is smooth, shiny and quite thin. The calyx is deciduous in about 80% of the fruits and persistent or partly so, in the remainder. At picking time, the flesh is firm, but becomes mellow, tender and is juicy whent ready to eat. No grit cells are noticeable except around the core as in the European pears. The flavor is sweet and very agreeable. In quality, it compares very well with the better European pears. It is an excellent keeper and can be obtained on the Peking market from October to the first of March.
In north China this is often known as the ‘Peking Pear’ as it is very papular at Peking and many other markets obtain their supply there. It is also extensively grown in the neighborhood of that city. This should prove a valuable pear for home use in local markets in America. It should also prove of value in breeding work, as it is of excellent quality and a splendid keeper, and possibly also in breeding blight resistant varieties as it appears to be a hybrid with P. ussuriensis as one of its parents. – F.C. Reimer. 1919. Report of a trip to the Orient to collect and study Oriental pears.
‘Pai Li’ scions were collected by F.C. Reimer and received at the USDA Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction on 16 February, 1918 and assigned PI 45848. Chenganssz, near Peking
See there description one contradicts the other but one description matches mine on fruit size.“The Pai Li is medium in size, usually 1.5 to 2 inches, although occasionally 2.5 inches in diameter”
3 Likes
Grafted many branches on a full sized tree which fruited very soon. It is one of the fastest to fruit.
Once my Pai Li fruit, I will see how different it is to Nijisseiki.
1 Like
Amazing mature trees, Tony. No wonder you get so much fruit. Are these on standard roots?
1 Like
I just dig up the Cleveland flowering pear seedlings and grafted them years ago. Callery make good pear rootstocks.
3 Likes
I can’t imagine the amount of fruit produced from these mature trees 
2 Likes
500 plus pound of fruits per tree. I gave them to the whole neighborhood and family members. Lol.
5 Likes
How do you reach fruit on the top? Pole picker?
1 Like
Yes,
20 feet long pole picker.
2 Likes
Take a look at this attached pdf document i think you will find it interesting. Here is a clip from it below. Specifically see the last line pai li.
Then take a look at this thread
And finally this thread
New-Fire-Blight-Resistant-Pear-Cultivars-MAFVC-2013.pdf (1.2 MB)
1 Like
Pai Li is the only Asian pear that can ripen like the European pear. You can eat them sweet and crunchy or let them ripen in the fridge like a European pear.
Tony
5 Likes
Bumped these to my scion list for this spring after seeing your posts. They look fantastic. Got about a peck of asian pears this fall, mostly Chojuro and Korean Giants. They were sweet but somewhat insipid, but I think it was partly the year, and partly the youth of the trees. Thank you for bringing this variety to attention.
1 Like
I got my Pai Li scion from USDA at Corvallis. It grew to like 25 feet tall with out pruning with at least 250 pounds of fruit per year because it was too tall to thin. Some fruits on the top of the tree can get quite large. I moved to the new acerage home but I managed to graft one. It picked a few buckets of fruits and stored in the fridge since October and they are ripen like an European pear now with sweet melting flesh with not much grits.
Tony
7 Likes
Do these bloom at the same time as other asian pears?