Almost identical. In my experience, it is not as fruitful most years. It would be nice for you to trial it in your climate so you can report the results to the group.
Not fruitful is good to know. Maybe not a whole tree, but I’m willing to add a branch to test it here in the east. I have Regal Red and it is a fantastic Comice variant. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Crimson Gem is just a darker red sport of Regal Red making it basically the same pear? So would Crimson Gem be worth adding?
Doyenne du Comice
Doyenne du Comice - Crimson Gem
Doyenne du Comice - Crimson Gem #2
Doyenne du Comice - Regal Red
Doyenne du Comice - Spur
Doyenne du Comice - Sweet Sensation
Doyenne du Comice - Taylors Gold
Doyenne du Comice 4n
I have not fruited Crimson Gem. I top-worked it along with Regal Red and Comice Spur in
April 2022 to a well-established tree. This is its second leaf and no fruit yet. Spur had one fruit that was picked last week and is now in the refer with my other Comice and a couple of Taylor’s Golds.
You have a lot more experience with the red sports than I do. I’m hoping to have fruit next year.
Sweet Sensation is only in europe.
4n I have never heard of. Anyone have any info or if it can be found?
Here is information about Dana Hovey. It is a family favorite and similar to Seckel but ripens later and keeps longer. In another post I stated that my original tree was killed by fire blight.
New scions were obtained from Corvallis and grafted on a big tree in 2011. It has never had blight. I grafted it again in April 2022 on an established tree and this year it produced several fruit - most are much larger than any of this variety I have grown in the past.
Here is part of the narrative from GRIN - my fruit are not russeted this year.
Raised by Francis Dana of Roxbury, Massachusetts and named in honor of C.M. Hovey. Introduced about 1854. Added to APS catalog list in 1862. Believed a Seckel seedling. Fruit resembles that of Seckel in size and form. Skin greenish-yellow at maturity, russeted, not blushed. Flesh somewhat granular but buttery and very juicy. Much like Seckel in flavor, equal to Seckel in dessert quality. Keeps longer than Seckel in storage and holds up well after ripening. Less susceptible to core breakdown than Seckel. Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, productive, fairly susceptible to fire blight. – H. Hartman 1957.
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Comice 4n is just a tetraploid Comice. Previous experience with other species suggests tetraploid mutants are not likely to be beneficial in pear.
Sweet Sensation patent expires in 3 years. It was applied for on Sept 13, 2007 and lasts 20 years.
Bigger fruit possibly? Or maybe just bigger leaves/faster growth? I might be thinking of watermelon.
I picked the remaining Abbe Fetel and Comice pears yesterday 9/28 and picked up a Cold Snap that had fallen. Today the remaining Shenandoah was picked. and another Cold Snap.
Also today I picked the only three pears on Beurre Madame Henry Lamey. Last year I had only one pear. It is pictured in post 266 of the 2023 Pear Harvest thread. Last year’s fruit was beautifully blushed. Not so much this year.
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Here is a new pear for me. Patrick Barry. Raised by BS Fox who also introduced Col. Wilder. I fruited Col Wilder in 2021 and found it to be an excellent winter pear for late Dec or Jan. Unfortunately, the tree died of fireblight in our 2022 epidemic. I have it regrafted and hope for fruit next year.
Patrick Barry is supposed to be even later ripening and I was hoping it would hang on the tree into at least November. I top worked a tree to it in April 2022 and it had a huge crop this year. They started falling a few days ago and all were easily picked today - about 20 pounds. So much for hanging on the tree until November!
Full description and color plate in Hedrick (1921). Said to be a seedling of Belle Lucrative. Raised by B.S. Fox, San Jose, California in 1873. Skin dull, deep gold at maturity, overlaid with thin russet, fairly attractive. Flesh medium fine, semi-buttery, moderately juicy. Sweet, aromatic, slightly acidulous flavor, at least good in dessert quality. Very late in season. With proper handling this pear has been known to keep 10 months or more in cold storage, and actually requires a long period in cold storage before ripening properly. Fairly susceptible to blight.
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I removed the last of the Aurora’s from the fridge yesterday. A little over a month later the texture was what I would call perfect, with an abundance of juice, but the flavor changed to a floral, sub-acid sensation. Not sure what the other parent of this variety tastes like, but the Bartlett parent is not noticeable at all. It’s a stark contrast to the Potomac’s I’ve been eating. Never imagined these would need that much fridge time to ripen.
Another surprise that I noticed on another Aurora I cut open was no seeds in the core. This one didn’t have any seeds either.
The tree is loaded with fruit buds for next year, so fingers crossed there’s a second crop.
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Yum. Looks great!
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Thanks for the information about Aurora. Being such an early-ripening pear, I didn’t think it would require so much chill to ripen properly. Those I tried to ripen without chill didn’t do well. So, are those parthenocarpic???
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Multiple fruit with no seed is a strong indicator of some form of parthenocarpy.
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How did you decide when to pick?
I had my first crop of about 30 this year. I noticed a few drop off at the end of August, so I started checking for loose ones every 2 days. I collected them in cool area of the basement. I didn’t wait more than a week to start eating and they were great. I convinced myself that they need any special storage time.
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I’m envious! I picked when they started falling off, which started around 8/22. The very last 2 fell off in my hand prior to Labor Day if I remember correctly. My crop size was a much more modest count of 7 or 8. Did yours have seeds?
My Seckels had a wide picking time this year too, where as everything else wanted to come off all at once.
I’m running into a similar problem with a first crop of Honeysweet that started dropping around 9/17 but does not want to ripen.
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I don’t recall seeing anything in the descriptions about these being seedless. I found a small deformed Aurora in the fridge that I didn’t know was there. Will have to do an autopsy to see if there’s seeds.
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Perhaps this image should be posted in the thread about stony pits in pears, but this distorted little Aurora has seeds.
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