Anyone had any luck growing Ayers or Red Anjou Pear trees for Middle TN area?
I am in southern middle TN and tried several varities of pear between 2002 and 2014… which all ended the same way… dead of fire blight.
They all did well in year one and two… but once they started blooming good (normally around year 3)… fire blight shows up… i keep cutting it out… extreme at times… and a year or two later they do not leaf out the next spring.
At this point i dont recall all the varieties… a total of 6 were tried.
Bartlet and Anjou … i do recall.
Last spring… i decided to try pears again… hopefully with varieties that may be more reaistent to FB.
I am using callery rootstock… and kieffer and imprived kieffer pear scion.
Once the kieffer get some size to them will add grafts of orient and bell pear to them.
Those are all supposed to be quite resistent to FB.
I am not going for fancy pears… just hoping to get something that will live first.
Good luck to you !!!
TNHunter
1 Like
I’m curious because this is my first year with a pear (just planted last month) and my apple (6 varieties now) is a year old. I paint everything in IV organics tree paint, curious if anyone has any anecdotal evidence of this staving off fire blight. Which leads me to ask if you ever painted any of your trees and they fell victim to fb anybow
I doubt the paint would do anything to prevent fireblight. It is a bacterium that enters through susceptible trees’ flower blossoms in spring (or fall, see “rogue bloom”) during damp conditions when temps are in the 60s. The planting of resistant varieties may be the only way to survival and fruiting depending on where you are. Fireblight is rampant in certain regions of the U.S., including the Deep South.
I grafted Ayers on Callery rootstock last spring. It grew about 8 feet and has budded for growth this year. While I expect to lose many of these to fire blight, I’m giving all of them a chance.
Already growing or being grafted/planted this year:
Ayers
Bell (tree ordered)
Cabot (tree ordered)
Clara Frijs
Clarks Yellow
Daisui Li
Douglas
Drippin Honey
Duchess
Early Yellow
Flame (scion)
Foley’s (scion)
Harrow Delight
Harrow Sweet
Harvest Queen
Hood (scion)
Hosui
Kalle (Red Clapp’s Favorite, tree ordered)
Kieffer
Korean Giant
Ledbetter
Magness
Maxine (scion)
New World
Plumblee
Potomac
Red Li (scion)
Scottsboro fruiting callery (scion)
Seuri Li (scion)
Shenanadoah (scion)
Shin Li (scion)
Shinko
Spalding
Sunrise
Tyson (scion)
Very Late (From Lucky)
Warren
Winter Nelis
Ya Li
3 Likes