Early to mid Oct. here.
1 Like
-22 degrees. AF was a z6 pear from raintree. Too much of a zone push,I knew it would be hard.
1 Like
@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.
1 Like
Second winter, last year survived -19.
4 Likes
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!
2 Likes
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!
1 Like
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
7 Likes
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
1 Like
Our temps are smilar
1 Like
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?
6 Likes
I have a pretty good idea what peach blooms can handle, do you think pears are less sensitive?
1 Like
@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
5 Likes
@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!
2 Likes
No wonder you have so many pears each fall! 
1 Like
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?
1 Like
@subdood_ky_z6b They fruit faster if the branches are pulled down but i have plenty of pears so early fruiting is not a big deal for me i like a full sized tree. Some pears eg. Harrow sweet you cant hold back it fruits quickly! You will get a bunch of pears from that tree just dont let it break the branches! They wont completely runt out. My trees are older and eventually all pears fruit if your patient. My oldest pear i planted around 25 years ago. Great job on your pears! Thanks @mrsg47 not all the pear trees are in the photos! I dont want to say how many i have!
2 Likes