Why do your potomac have that bumpy appearance? Very nice looking group of pears!
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Potomac is a delicious pear. It’s so juicy and flavorful. Your observations match mine. It’s not the prettiest looking thing though.
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I have no idea. I’ll look back at my old photos to see if the previous fruit were this bumpy but I don’t think so. It is not insect damage for sure. The tree is next to Abbe Fetel and Comice trees. Their fruit is normal.
Here is part of the release note I assume was written by Dr. Bell:
“The fruit of’ Potomac’ is ovate-pyriform or obovate-obtuse pyriform in shape and is assigned an International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) shape rating of 13 (Thibault et al., 1983). Symmetry is regular, with occasional sligh bumpiness. The cavity is obtuse and occasionally lipped. The basin is open, narrow, medium in depth, with a convergent, persistent calyx. Fruit are moderate in size, averaging 68 mm in diameter, with a mean fruit weight of 167 g. The core is small, averaging 21 mm in diameter. The skin color is light green and the finish is glossy with inconspicuous lenticels. In some years, light calyx-end russet can develop. Fruit sometimes have a light red blush on the sun-exposed side. The stem is moderate in length and thickness, flexible, and slightly oblique.”
I also weighed some of the Potomac fruit and most are in the range of 200 to 245 g. Very large this year. Here is quick photo.
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I used my penetrometer for every pear and apple before I pick.
9-6 Bosc 13-14 psi
9-6 Abbe fettal 13-14 psi
9-6 Harrow sweet. 16-17 psi
9-8 superfin 12-14 psi
9-8 golden russet 16-17 psi
Keep in mind the more firmer they are the longer lasting they can stay in storage up to a point.
@mamuang here is a pic
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Interesting, Penetrometor is supposed to measure the object’s resist when insert it into the object. How does it measure the fruits’ ripeness?
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Thanks for that information. Let us know how they ripen and how long you keep them in the cooler. I almost never seemed to pick Superfin properly. They almost always got core breakdown promptly. I lost my tree two years ago but have it topworked to another tree. The only year I managed to pick it at the proper time, it won our fall pear tasting.
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First year for superfin for me and was not expecting it to be that low either. I’ll pick harrow sweet tomorrow and retest as well. Everything’s at once plus honey do list! Did come across some harrow ripening and pressure info so will use that on harrow crisp next year.
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Do you have a link to that Harrow information? I have Cold Snap, Harrow Delight and Harvest Queen in addition to Harrow Sweet which I picked most of earlier and the last yesterday.
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Thinned pears well this year. Fewer but larger.
Yoinash, 303 grams
Dripping honey, 405 grams so for. There’s more larger ones on the tree.
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I have Hosui and Chojuro on the same tree with one another and I find them not easy to tell apart by appearance. This year the Hosui, which were fewer, ripened a bit earlier.
Chojuro tends to set better.
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Lovely pic with the colorful basket.
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Yes, up to today, I still can’t tell Hosui and Chojuro apart. My original 4-in-1 tree became 1-in-1 tree. The question is which one left, Hosui or Chojuro that both were grafted. Some years it looks more like Hosui, some years it looks more like Chojuro.
The appearance influenced by the weather, the taste influenced by the weather, the ripen date influenced by the weather and there is no same weather each year to compare with. So I sometimes call it Hosui, sometimes call it Chojuro
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Thanks. That is a great article.
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Clark,
Are your Ayers small this year? Mine are quite small also but usually larger. Should be ready to pick this week.
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I lost my Chojuro tree many years ago. I can’t remember if it was gophers or blight. Here is a link to an old thread that may be helpful: Hosui vs chojuro how to tell apart? - #8 by PharmerDrewee
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They are about normal sized this year. The more there are the smaller they are.
Charles Harris are very tasty!
Abate fetel are delicious! Thought i lost them all to the wind storms but two survived @mamuang
Ewart aka Karls favorite
Hoskins or Carrick i need to look which one. They are good this year but were terrible last year.
Many others to numerous to name eg. More potomac, ayers, meenie, maxine, ya li , pai , drippin honey etc…
Many of my pears were smaller or larger than normal. It has been a strange year.
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