My little graft from last year bloomed , it’s probably to small to carry fruit but I may leave one any way
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Here are some photos of fruitlets I have this year, Ayers, FDML ( can I just call it FDML? I can’t ever say the French words like fondante de Moulins Lille,) shinko, improved keiffer, and more
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Gorgeous fruitlets! They look perfect!
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Last year my FDML ( love your way of shortening it) were small with very russeted/scabby skin but they tasted very nice.
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It’s a small tree , I hope to thin to one fruit and get to try it this year.
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Are there obvious differences between the two (Kieffer vs Improved Kieffer)? I grafted a few Kieffer last spring and I understand Improved Kieffer is often marketed as Kieffer. Just wondering how to confirm which it is once they begin fruiting (noted earlier fruiting above).
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Yes your correct improved kieffer ripens in the summer and kieffer ripens in the fall. The nurseries do label everything kieffer Kieffer Pear . I beleive its the most mislabeled pear! Orient , leconte etc are frequently mislabeled as well.
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Few pictures of my first pear blooms!
This is Korean Giant, I got 2 clusters of flowers!
The third cluster of flowers I have is Harrow Sweet: it’s setting fruit. I’m glad these two varieties bloomed at the same time.
So I’m hoping to get 6 pears on the tree out of these 3 clusters and carry them till maturity.
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I have 8 clusters of flowers on my Harrow Sweet that I planted last year. That is one precocious pear. I don’t have any other pears around it right now, so I hand pollinated.
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HS is a very good tasting pear that is precocious. It should be a choice pear for any starter. ( that their climate allows).
Congrats to @growjimgrow and @Susu.
I am more miffed with the weather here - non stop rain while my trees start to bloom!!!
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I also have three flower clusters on Seckle and two on Shinsui, both of which I grafted last year. I have read Seckle takes awhile to bloom, so I’m psyched for the possibility of having Seckle from here on out.
Hosui has dropped it’s petals so I’m going to put a coat of Surround, Spinosad, and Sulfer on tonight, along with my peach, plum, and Nanking cherries.
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I have a couple questions for all the pear experts here. The two oldest pears I have were planted in 2015, a honeysweet and Blake’s pride. The rootstock is unknown since I got them from Stark bros, but it’s what they label as semi-dwarf. I got a few fruit from the honeysweet last year and it looked like both trees were loaded with flower buds going into winter.
Question 1. These are what I thought were flower buds, is that correct?
These are the only flower buds on that same tree that are showing any life. These are just up the branch from the ones previously pictured. These are on one year old wood.
Question 2. Do pear tree buds open from tip to base or are the ones that are still “dormant” dead (if they are indeed flower buds)? I’m worried about cold injury.
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I have more than 4 pears. only starkhardy giant asian pear showed some flower bud after the -30F cold weather this year. Actually, no peach and apricot blossom either…
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I dissected a couple buds on my older pear trees and they are toast. They are leafing out so at least they made it. The only tree fruit that looks like it will flower this year are my apples.
I replaced a couple of year old peach trees that looked like they died to the snow line. Waiting to see how my 4 year old intrepid peach leafs out. If it’s badly damaged, I might just replace it with an apple.
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Checked out my three pears that are done blooming. We’re mostly at petal fall. Looks like my Orient has set a few fruit, first time for that. Moonglow bloomed also, but can’t tell if any of them got pollinated, still too early, same with Harrow Sweet.
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If it were me, I would remove those blooms. I let my 2 yr old HS fruited, It did not runt out but it set back the growth.
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Totally trust your experience. I will remove them tomorrow. Thanks
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I have been out thinning pears, what a great problem to have. I pinched them off until I realized how many were going to need thinned so I got a pair of scissors that worked much better. Lots of nice shinko and shinseiki pears this year
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I used to have 3 pairs of fruit pruners but I misplaced one. They are great. When you thin in thousands, a good fruit pruner is faster and better than using your fingers.
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