Keep in mind that Ooharabeni is a cross of Max Red Bartlett X Nijisseiki. It demonstrates an unusual combination where an unstable mutation was directly passed to offspring.
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I just wanted to find out. After six years of trying to grow me some pears so that I could eat and make preserves if I want to. I am very pleased. I always peel my fruit any way and if you do a combination of putting them in the refrigerator and store them out on the counter I find them just as enjoyable as Bartlett or any grocery store pear I have tried so many different types and failed. Any more of my trees die I am replacing them with Orient. I am 72 now so why not grow something that works thanks
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I found a low hanging cluster on one of my Potomac’s with similar scab. I won’t be picking these until mid-September here. From what I’ve seen so far, this doesn’t seem to be widespread. Not sure how much of the wild spring and early summer weather was a contributor to this.
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Ooharabeni pears didnt had any problems but others did.
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Being a hybrid do they soften like Euro’s or more like an Asian?
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I always let fruit to rest a bit. I will report when i try them.
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The crunchy characteristic of Asian pears in my experience is always expressed. In a direct comparison last year between Shinko (Asian), Spalding (hybrid), and Warren (European) the crunchy trait of Shinko was very evident. Spalding was not quite as crunchy, but definitely had a generous dose of Asian traits. it was juicy, moderately crunchy, and distinctly mild flavored. Warren by comparison has typical European buttery/melting texture along with a distinctive rich flavor. I like all of them and am eagerly waiting for a few more pears to ripen.
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First Korean Giant pear from my garden, from a 2 years old graft. I think I may have picked a little early but it broke off when I lifted up from the branch.
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If it pulled off like that I’d think it’s gotta be ripe?
I’ve changed my technique. I now spin the pears like a top and if it’s ripe it will come off.
Doing the the pull up method was too inconsistent. Sometimes the whole fruit spur would tear off.
My Hosui were finally fully ripe this past weekend. Of course the brown background makes them look a bit more green. Even a little underripe still pretty good anyway and I imagine they store better.
I anticipate shinsui to be ripe in next 7-14 days.
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Now that’s a handful of pears. I only had a few of the larger Korean Giant pears. I should have thinned out more but they all have a good sweet taste.
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Last year I was able to cut some of that off, but when it’s that bad, I usually toss it to the goats. The goats are getting a lot of Potomac the last couple years.
I’ve been thinking about this now for days.
Is this other people’s experience too? My oldest pear grafts on mature trees are 3 years old and some have not flowered. I have multiple grafts of sekel, douglas, duchess, and harrow sweet. I have a couple clara frijs and a couple dana hovey grafted on a mature tree.
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As it happens, I have minimal experience with pears – 1-2 grafts onto well-established trees. But then there’re a half dozen or more grafts on apples. And there’re a dozen or so grafts on persimmons – including Virginiana, Kaki, and Hybrid. In the vast majority of cases across all species, a graft on a well-established tree produced fruit the next year. But I have to clarify that my weakest evidence is from pears.
Pears typically take 5 years before bearing fruit on a transplanted tree. Grafted high on a mature tree, they can produce some fruit in 1 year and a decent crop in 3 years.
Then there are pears like Warren that insist on 10 years to bear first fruit. I grafted onto a 6 inch diameter pear tree and got a few fruit in 4 years.
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I’m surprised how early peoples DHs ripen. I tried one today and I enjoyed it but it was at the lemony stage as opposed to the honey stage .. like a crisp version of a D’Anjou. I think they still need two more weeks. Just don’t wait too long on them, when they are strongly yellow they can be mush balls yuck.
The only pear truly ripe for me now is Kosui. They are suuuper sweet!
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Fortunately that’s the worst scab I’ve seen so far. I was assuming (hoping!) the skin could be removed and the flesh would be fine.
My bigger problem is on another plot of ground (shale) where the pears are cracked from what I blame on dry conditions followed by heavy rains.
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I found this to be true with my plums and plum hybrids grafts. Pear grafts more often take 2-3 years to fruit for me.
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If it’s badly cracked it might be a boron deficiency or another mineral deficiency. Some pears are more prone to that. There are some fancy pears at Home Orchard Educational Society with astonishing cracking due to low boron.
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