Here is the pear version of this thread. I just started an apple thread and decided that pears need one as well!
Just curious what everyone would consider to be varieties that a person “needs” for sure in their home orchard? I have heard of many great varieties since joining here but personal opinions about pears are great A pear can taste great without being the best and it might also be the best in other ways. Perhaps it is the easiest to grow or it is the most disease resistant or maybe it is just worth the trouble to grow because it does taste so good!
I’m grafting pears for the first time this year, so no recs from me, but I’m looking forward to what others say! However, when I was browsing the USDA GRIN listings I noticed the “curator’s choice” notation, and then happened across this more in-depth article yesterday - this seems like a good thread to drop it in.
I will say that I love a good ripe Anjou but never had one from my own tree yet Can’t wait to try some of the varieties that I am grafting this year though!
I’m growing a number of pear varieties, but only Early Gold and Ure have produced. Neither are “must haves”…but up here there aren’t lots of choices for pears either. I am waiting for about another 8 or so varieties to have their first fruit. Maybe another 10 years
Patten (yuck), Seckel (too small), and Summercrisp (birds always got them)…have all been pulled. I continue to hold out hope for Anjou…but Bartlett is the king of my pear crop.
Magness and Seckel, Comice if you don’t have high Fireblight pressure. Forget about d’Anjou and Bartlett, they are second rate compared to the former ones.
Chojuro, Ya Li, Keiffer
Have probably 30 more, but those three are faves
Keiffer is often denigrated as barely edible, by some - but having grown up in the Deep South, where it takes a licking(from fireblight) and keeps on ticking… it is, to me, what a pear is supposed to be… firm, juicy, tasty, and, yes, gritty.
It makes me so happy that someone else loves ya li. I was sad to hear it described as having the taste of kleenex but when mine fruited for the first time last year I thought they were delicious!
Only one pear has been a consistent winner in my orchard, that is Fondante des Moulins-Lille. It bears early and often, is a wonderful juicy tasty pear, and is relatively easy to pick and ripen. The only downside is it is a bit soft and easy to bruise, and that also makes it more prone to stink bugs. I didn’t plant my pears in a good spot, that is why only that one is making it as a consistent winner. There are many that are good except on one of these accounts: Dana Hovey (have not ripened it well yet), Urbaniste (awesome taste and easy to ripen but not bearing a whole lot), Aurora (see Urbaniste), Harrow Sweet (not consistently ripening - I threw out my crop last year), Seckel (not cropping very well, probably due to spot it is in and not the pear), White Doyenne (probably #2 for me, it is good on all accounts but is not as tasty as the best pears), Docteur Desportes (see Seckel), Magness (see Urbaniste), etc.
Overall, make sure to check the three important boxes for any eating pear: “B” - bears well; “R” - ripens well; “T” - tastes good. I don’t have big fireblight issues on pears but that can also be a critical one for many people.
Oh this is for European pears, there are many good Asian pears… they are much better on the B and R and it mostly boils down to T.
For me it a Bonne Louise d’Avrenches. Unfortunately they are susceptible to scab but I grew up with them and now I’m addicted. I’m all for planting disease-resistant trees but a Bonne Louise tree is the exception to this rule. People who don’t have problems with scab: get a Bonne Louise. They are juicy, tasty, without stonecells and the tree produces well.
The next tree will not be an espalier but a freestanding standard, should make a difference for the scab.
A pear can taste great without being the best and it might also be the best in other ways. Perhaps it is the easiest to grow or it is the most disease resistant or maybe it is just worth the trouble to grow because it does taste so good!
Can’t wait to try some of the varieties that I am grafting this year though!
