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.
The document recommends interplanting which to this day is unfortunately still not always done. In cases where it is done a 200% increase in production can occur! Many people getting fruit never considered they could be getting 100% more fruit. What does that add up to over 100 years in a pear orchard on standard rootstock?
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Iâm working on Hosui and canât find direct info about fire blight. My experience growing Hosui is that it is resistant. Anyone seen it get FB?
40 Bartletts! Iâm wondering how many growers can accurately identify their Bartlett.
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I added several hundred more pear varieties. For example, the list now includes 137 varieties specifically for Perry.
I need to work on eliminating duplicates. Many varieties are listed 2 or more times with alternate spellings and more are under multiple PI numbers in the USDA database.
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Iâm cleaning up information in the database and ran into a couple of problems, mostly from ScottSmithâs information, wagonwheel, and a list Clark posted in 2015. The list of pears has so many spelling errors that I sorted out just the list and cleaned up the spelling problems.
Not really a problem, but if you ever decide to go through it, be aware that the spelling is rough. Is Cornice perhaps Comice?
She genotyped all the pears at Corvallis and made a spreadsheet (I think 31 Bartlett duplicates)
Table S1
If you download the free visualization software Helium, you can see the pedigrees
Iâm back working on the database and am embarrassed to say that I omitted one very important field from the list of characteristics that should be documented. Chill hours is a critical piece of information to determine if a variety will grow in a given area. I did not have it in the list of fields. I have been using the Genomic data linked above to update many of the varieties. For example, Bartlett - Browns is a pseudonym for LeConte. Here is my current list of fields.
Variety
Nursery?
PI#
Synonym(s)
Origin
Species
Bloom date
Pollen Group
Self Fertile(SF), Sterile(SS), Pollen Sterile(PS), Prolific Pollen(PP), Parthenocarpic
Incompatible Vars
Harvest(early, mid, late, very late)
Fruit use (fresh, storage, preserves, perry)
How long can be stored/refrigerated
Fire blight susceptibility (HR, MR, LR, Susceptible)
Other diseases
Pests
Has Growing?
Status (Extinct, Current, Available)
Ploidy
Bearing (heavy, medium, low)
Bearing type (spur, lateral, tip)
Cold Hardiness
Chill Hours
High Temperature tolerant
Flesh color
Skin color
Fruit Size
Precocity
Parent1
Parent2
Description
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Letâs not forget about our great modern phone helper, the spellchecker. They result in some hilarious changes if their alterations go unnoticed. My eyes arenât the best, and when I post from my small screen phone mistakes often get by me.
I just finished a large update of the pear database adding data from âBook of Pearsâ and then deleting several hundred duplicates.
I decided to award Scott Smith the honorary award of Worst Spelling of Pear Names Ever. If I had any money, Iâd send him a dictionary, thesaurus, and lexicon so he could improve. Seriously, 2/3 of the several hundred pear varieties he once listed on the forum were spelled wrong. Interestingly, the Book of Pears has 7 or 8 spelling errors though they did far better than ARS where the research facility has about a 4% error rate. See BOP Beurre Dubuissson for an example. ARS primarily fails when translating French to English for example dAvranches instead of dâAvranches.
I decided the pear list is good enough for a first âkick the tiresâ look see.
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I just finished my first read through of the variety list in Book of Pears. While the cover says 500 varieties, the actual list is only 467 varieties. I am not counting mutants in the number of varieties though at a rough guess, about 40 mutants are in the list. My next run-through will be to actually read the book and see how much truly new information it adds to what I already know. I have already nearly doubled what I previously knew about pears.
Some interesting trivia from the book: About a dozen varieties define the concept of pear world wide. Remove those dozen from the list and what is left is almost all regionally adapted varieties. Examples include Conference, Doyenne du Comice, and Williams Bon Chrieten (aka Bartlett). A few unique varieties have achieved world-wide fame such as Kieffer primarily for fire-blight resistance. Combining the Genome data from ARS-GRIN with info from Book of Pears, parentage of many of the varieties can be determined.
One of the most disappointing findings when studying the genomic data is the very limited number of varieties from which most European pears derive. White Doyenne is an ancestor of almost all the âbutteryâ pears. Line breeding on this level constricts the genome in a very unhealthy way.
Mutants play an important part in cultivar development. As an example, Kalle - a red sport of Clappâs Favorite - has become arguably better known and more often grown than Clappâs Favorite. Bartlett/Williams has about 20 mutants a few of which are improvements on the parent. Doyenne du Comice has several mutants one of which - Sweet Sensation - I very much want to grow. Sweet Sensation is noted to be more productive than Comice and is red flushed. Clark probably doesnât have it so he is likely to go bananas trying to find scions now Iâve mentioned it.
Oh, and if you are interested, I found the book for $32 on Ebay.
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I know there are several European groups that will do genotyping studies similar to what Corvallis did, so more information will be forthcoming
I emailed Corvallis about doing a handful of genotypes (including clarkâs small yellow) and they put me in touch with some researchers in Europe
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There are German, Austrian, Czech and Slovak intiatives mapping local varieties and their genome, that Iâve heard and read about. And continuing research for example on how the movement of troops before 20th century influenced local varieties in âexoticâ places like Scandinavia (not just Clarkâs Napoleonic armies). Lots are apparently crosses with wild stock or local pears or seedling selections that did well in higher altitudes, cold winters and short summers and other conditions not ideal for commercial growers.
Maybe itâs just me, but from a brief browse through the varieties listed in the 500 selection, there seems to be a marked bias towards the prettiest, largest, butteriest, easily transported, reliable pears with a longer shelf life. Many varieties fall through the selection, but also history as many used to be popular for distilling, cooking or drying (even grinding into meal or paste to be used as sugar/honey substitutes in baking - no sugar cane on this side of the pond) and hardly ever mentioned even in old pommologies, if then as a peculiarity or something popular with poor folk. Which is all very logical, if youâre after draft horses, you look for draft horses and definitely wonât breed new ones mixing in small hunters (or ponies), however good they are for riding⌠The pommologies and most current âatlasesâ(?) are not curated with the intent of catering to collectors of fringe varieties which are of less use these days.
I think those European initiatives looking at more local/obscure pears and their genetics will take some time, though. Most are NGOâs or doctoral students and their time and funding moves at a different placeâŚ
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Looking through wiki and found this list. It has 164 of the most common varieties.
I have a feeling you will really like this link https://vimeo.com/85826984 on this old thread
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I watched the Napoleon pear video a few years ago. if you look at the history of Persian walnut, you will see a far more compelling story of seed carried along the silk road and planted where there was a place for them. Walnut is not a 200 year old history of traveling, it is over 2000 years of travel and being planted.
Wherever people go, they find plants to grow and eat. 9000 years ago, what we know as maize was a branching grass with tiny exposed hard-shelled seed. Today, maize has been turned into a food crop outranked only by potatoes and rice.
Humans are incredibly effective at changing plants to sustain ourselves.
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Iâve seen it too. But then in our neighbouring village, there are sweet chestnuts that were brought in 16th century during Turkish invasions, some planted by the Turks themselves. Grapes were brought here by the Romans 2000 years ago (before they did, the Celts and Quadi drank cornelian cherry wine). This area is like an inn at the crossroads. People come and go, but the plants they bring along stay for posterityâŚ
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