@Chikn
Phil,
A perry pear might add some excitement to my orchard! Looking forward to trying it! Do you remember when it ripens? Ive got my backup graft and a very small tree. Glad you saved the pear because whatever it is most likely would have dissapeared had you not intervened. Last year was devastating to my new varities due to the drought with not a single graft or tree surviving. It was long overdue to have a drought like that and i made a bad deal a good hand so to speak by doing a bunch of pond work https://growingfruit.org/t/ponds-are-a-great-investment/7033. Like the orchard the pond has been a long project and a rewarding one!
Early to mid Oct. here.
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-22 degrees. AF was a z6 pear from raintree. Too much of a zone push,I knew it would be hard.
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@Chikn,
I looked it up. Raintree lists AF for zone 5-9.
It was possible that your tree was very young so it could not handle -22 F its first winter,
Sorry that you lost both trees. I have eaten both and love both. They were delicious, sweet, and melting. If you could, you may want to try grafting them.
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Second winter, last year survived -19.
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Abate fetel is called zone 5 by a few nurseries but cold tolerance is the reason most call it zone 6. It was a risk growing it but i recall when you decided to try it. We zone push in kansas as well. If you do try it again i would graft it to a cotton easter or aronia that is low to the ground you can cover in the winter with wood chips. You will be able to grow anything with enough effort but the question is do you want to? The southern side of a house or building gains some warmth also in the winter. Sometimes it takes all your tricks to grow things Grafting compatibility for pears - #41 by clarkinks
Try again? Naw, too old, too grumpy, and far too lazy!
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Reading through this thread has made hungry for a nice juicy sweet pear! I planted out four last year, and I have two six year olds going on 7th leaf of 20th Century and Shinseiki with some asian varieties grafted onto them, Hosui, and Korean Giant. Those have big buds on them this year. I made Harrow Sweet, Bosc, and two Koren Giants a couple years back that I planted out last year. One Korean Giant I planted at my sisters, but the rabbit got it. The rootstock is still good for six inches so I cut a foot off my other one to graft back onto it. I’ll cage it this time!
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Lots of blooms this year and though we are in the 80’s already i would still expect one last cold cycle. All the trees are covered in buds
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What are your low temps looking like the end of this week? Some of my pears are just ahead of yours and I think I’m going to be right at 32 or maybe colder
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Our temps are smilar
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Some pics of our pear blossoms.
Moonglow, not too many clusters, but still a bit early.
Orient, this tree is in fourth leaf, not more than 6ft tall, and has a bunch of vertical branches, but is really blooming.
The much larger Pineapple, with many more wider angle branches, but nary a blossom. I thought trees don’t bloom as much on vertical branches?
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I have a pretty good idea what peach blooms can handle, do you think pears are less sensitive?
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@Derby42 Pears are tougher than people think as long as bacteria are not present that make them more susceptible to the cold. If you sprayed with copper it will likely go well or if the bacteria are not present in high numbers. See this thread from 2016 Strange weather - Will it get our blooms and fruit?. Pears are my best bet in Kansas! Here is a photo from 2016 which may make you feel a little better
Recall the 2016 harvest was still good Here comes the 2016 apple and Pear harvest! . The more technical answer can be found at the link below but at 32 degrees farenheit no problem unless copper was not sprayed and a large number of bacteria are present which reduce cold tolerance by as much as 3 degrees in my understanding https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://extension.usu.edu/productionhort/files-ou/CriticalTemperaturesFruitTrees.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjRoZKM_cbhAhUBbq0KHZ1TCMUQFjAMegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3BlPRtssrOlhFfutACBnDC
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@tonyOmahaz5
Those buds are perfect your still in really good shape. Ya li is blooming right now Tony so i wanted to thank you for that recommendation.
@subdood_ky_z6b
Thats a beautiful site! We can practically taste the pears those are going to produce! Nice work!
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No wonder you have so many pears each fall! 
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Thanks, we’ll see, but I think the tree is still too small to grow a lot of pears. If it does, would I have to worry about runting it out?
I was showing the Doodette the blooming trees, and she said did I see that the Harrow Sweet pear blooms, so that’s another. But it’s way too small to allow those to fruit.
I notice a lot of your trees have a bunch of upright branches that are blooming. I was under the impression that fruit trees need lower angle branches or need them pulled down to induce fruiting. So, does that just apply to apples, or to pears as well?
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