Pear identity and traits

I added some categories of information to collect. Here is the additional data I think might be useful.

Ploidy
Bearing (heavy, medium, low)
Bearing type (spur, lateral, tip)
cold Hardiness
High Temperature
Flesh color
skin color
Fruit size
Precocious (we want pears that produce withing 3 years of grafting!)

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I like this idea. Maybe if there was a way to make it some sort of form that would populate a spreadsheet or something it would be easier? I might be able to help with data collection once term is over.

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I need a good list of nurseries that sell pear trees and/or scionwood. I’ve seen a nursery list on the forum but suspect it is out of date. Do you have a few favorite nurseries for pears? Please post a link to the website if there is one.

Stark - https://www.starkbros.com/
Cummins - https://www.cumminsnursery.com/
onegreenworld - https://onegreenworld.com

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Pear scionwood - I go with Bob Purvis.

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https://www.treesofantiquity.com/collections/pear-trees

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@Fusion_power

Here in Kansas we have many types of pears floating around. Here is 500+ Hard to find apple or pear? Check Kansas

Here is a database with thousands more “pomologie” Question the History of a pear or know some history? Post it here! - #74 by clarkinks

Communis Europe would be a good section to look in. Here is some of the sub categories LESCRETS FRUITS ET POMOLOGIE LISTE des variétés de poires existantes .

Nick botner was growing 500 pears Nick Botner’s place is For Sale! | Seattle Tree Fruit Society

Preservation of varities was taken over by this group Botner – Temperate Orchard Conservancy

This site is great reference Chathamapples pear information - it's worth reading as the author has an extensive knowledge of pears

Please also see the pears of new york digital version The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pears of New York, by U. P. Hedrick.

Here is the latest nurseries list we have

These are common types of winter, summer and asian pears Varieties – Pear | WSU Tree Fruit | Washington State University

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I’m up to 4600 entries in the pear list. At a rough guess, 500 of them are commonly propagated. The rest are rarely if ever mentioned. There are still many duplicates to be resolved. Some are from misspelling of names, others are from multiple names for the same pear. I have descriptions for about 100 varieties on the list. The rest are just a name and a USDA reference if found.

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Here is another list from HOS to cross reference pears
Master-Scion-List.pdf (459.3 KB)

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This is interesting just because there are so many.

Bartlett PI 105170
Bartlett PI 153117
Bartlett PI 267940
Bartlett PI 300693
Bartlett PI 302521
Bartlett PI 307508
Bartlett PI 403914
Bartlett PI 403915
Bartlett - Bagley Russet PI 541121
Bartlett - Blakeleys PI 617604
Bartlett - Browns PI 617671
Bartlett - Eller PI 541308
Bartlett - Improved PI 541340
Bartlett - John Muir Gravesite No. 85 PI 665756
Bartlett - Low Chill from South Africa PI 617605
Bartlett - Lowry Red 4n PI 541447
Bartlett - Max Red PI 541249
Bartlett - Nye Russet PI 541236
Bartlett - Red PI 258948
Bartlett - Rosired PI 541255
Bartlett - Russet PI 637998
Bartlett - Sensation Red PI 255600
Bartlett - Southern PI 617603
Bartlett - Striped PI 541267
Bartlett - Striped PI 688172
Bartlett 4n PI 541328
Bartlett 4n - Max Red PI 541344
Bartlett 4x x self (4x?) PI 541367
Bartlett French Compatible PI 617536
Bartlett OP PI 541375
Bartlett OP PI 541376
Bartlett x P.communis OP PI 541743
Bartlett, Max Red
Bartlett, Red
Bartlett, Red Blushing
Bartlett, Rosired
Bartlett, Sensation Red
Late Bartlett PI 102387
Green Bartlette ScottSmith
Winter Bartlett PI 155946
Winter Bartlett PI 541284
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@Fusion_power

Sports of the original in most cases.

From the presidency of Lincoln to the 1980’s, the USDA and land-grant colleges with USDA funded programs kept repositories of agricultural stock. Some consolidation occurred over the years at individual sites. When the USDA germplasm repositories were established in the late 80’s, the crop sector was consolidated at sites around the country. In this process, the records from original sites were preserved even if the specimen was no longer present. Hence the many PI numbers that can be found in the GRIN accession records. Since that time, further culling of clonal specimens has occurred. Clicking on them, you might discover they are designated as “historical record”.

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Add that many accessions in GRIN have been lost over the years. I’ve ordered cowpeas, melons, and beans from GRIN in years past that are no longer available. Some of them were very useful to have a backup source. I am currently growing Alabama #1 pole bean from ARS-GRIN with intent to bring them back into commerce. I have grown a version for the last 20 years that was not pure. The beans I am growing this year will be appreciated by many growers who know and remember them.

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@Fusion_power

Unfortunately, it is true that many varities of things are lost every year forever.

Discontinued – sometimes for poor reasoning, and other times for faith in a genetic marker system that researchers in human genomics will not use.

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Blake’s Pride is on the list as a highly fireblight resistant pear. I also see “Blake” in Scott Smith’s list of pears. @scottsmith, could you confirm that this is the same as Blake’s Pride? I’m cleaning up the database and this is an outlier.

@Fusion_power

@mamuang also grows this variety. She does not care for the taste. I grow the tree and it has been completely free of disease.

I wonder if I got a real Blake’s Pride. So far, it tasted somewhat bland (after refrigeration) but the its texture with some grits that disappoints me.

I ordered Blake’s Pride and Harrow Sweet on OHxF 97. HS is true to label.

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Here is a link to Tatiana’s tomatobase with information on a few thousand tomato varieties as well as other vegetables. Category:Tomato Variety List - Tatiana's TOMATOBase

Please take a look and reply if you think something similar would be useful for pears?

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@Fusion_power

This may help Pear Pollination - Warren Porter Tufts, Guy Lockhart Philp - Google Books

That text points out that all pears should be considered self-sterile when considered in terms of producing a commercial crop. The only decision to make is which variety(ies) to use for pollination.