Pears, Zone 4 & Fire Blight resistant

[ShiverMinneapolisZ4b]

I’m creating a list of zone 4 fire blight resistant pears. For me I plan to multigraft over branches. Summer Crisp (U of MN ussuriensis hybrid on OHxF 97) is what I’ve ordered for the base tree.

Based on the list below, and my base tree, I envision grafting Harrow Delight (early-Aug), Golden Spice (late Aug), Kieffer for Asian crossbreed (Early Sept), Magness or Warren or maybe White Doyenne (mid-late Sept), Comice (Oct). If I have room, maybe Gem (late Aug) – I’m a newbie.

Question: Wondering if anyone has comments on improving variety of flavor while maintaining disease resistance and 8 weeks of harvest window?

Candidates I identified:

Pear (Rosaceae \ Pyrus communis), by bloom times, need fire blight resistance; use OHxF97 rootstock for compatibility, vigor, resistance to pear decline disease. Harvest times are guessed based the internet, which is not always right.

Early group 1 bloom:

• Ubileen: Excellent flavor reviews w buttery texture. Short harvest window and short keep time. Zone 5 but survived U of WI Carandale. Somewhat fireblight resistant. Late July / Early Aug.

• Early Gold (ussuriensis): very hardy. Russian. Partially self-fertile and good pollinator other usseriensis. Highly fireblight resistant. Aug 10.

• Summer Crisp: extremely sweet, crisp, Some reviewers say better cooking than fresh eating. Keeps 2-3 months, use w/o bletting, U of MN. Good early pollinator. Interspecific Euro x Russian. Fireblight resistant. Good base tree for multigrafting. “Early season” Aug 10-15 in Excelsior MN.

• Golden Spice (ussuriensis): small, spicy. Keeps to 3 mo refrigerated. American bred Russian variety. Very fireblight resistant. Late Aug.

• Gem delicious mild pear flavor, long storage. I like. Highly fireblight resistant. A good base tree choice. Aug 30.

• Ure (usseriensis): small, sweet, juicy, Canadian bred, some fireblight resistance.

• Seckel “sugar plum”: extremely sweet, small. Long 5 mo storage. Fireblight resistant.

• Ya Li: Asian pear with some tanginess, pollinated by early European. Fireblight resistant. August.

Mid group 2 bloom:

• Maxine: General use (canning, eating), buttery not gritty, grows well Minneapolis suburbs, stores well, Fireblight and disease resist. Aug 27.

• Anjou. I like. Too many diseases, much more than SummerCrisp, so skip. “Mid season” Sept.

• Magness: Child of Comice x Seckel, some reviews say excellent flavor. Fruit ripens on tree. Keeps 3-4 mo. Z5 so only branch graft. Some reviewers like. Pollen sterile. Highly fireblight resistant. Mid Sept.

• Moonglow: Unique sweet, tangy, floral taste but not too sweet but some reviewers don’t like flavor. Short harvest season in Sept. Keeps 2-3 mo. Good disease resist. Highly fireblight resistant. Early Sept.

• White Doyenne: highly reviewed. Some fireblight resistance. “Mid season” Sept.

• Warren: flavorful, buttery texture, sweet & spicy, many years to produce, keeps 3mo. Only some sellers say zone 4, so branch graft. Pollen sterile. Extremely fireblight resistant. Late harvest = Sept.

• Sierra: new variety, some are trying as fireblight resistant grows on ussurian rootstock. Sep-Oct.

Late group 3 bloom:

• Harrow Delight: intense complex good flavor (diff from Bartlett) and smooth texture. Only keeps 5-7 days. Cross of (Old Home x Early Sweet) x Bartlett, so great base for grafting. Good pollinator. Canadian disease-resistance breeding program product, hence excellent resistance to fireblight + pear trellis rust + pear scab. Excellent base tree choice for grafting. Aug 06.

• Harvest Queen: Rates highly for flavor like Bartlett. Bartlett x (Barseck x Bartlett), so very similar to Bartlett. Fireblight and scab resistant. Aug 13.

• Baby Shipova. Early fall.

• Blake’s Pride: Taste more similar to Comice. Bred to be highly fireblight resistant. Zone 5. Aug 30.

• Kieffer: unique flavor, a cross-breed with Chinese, good pollinator. Keeps several weeks. Highly fireblight resistant. Early Sept.

• Harrow Sweet: Sibling of Harrow Delight with excellent flavor but late harvest, large fruit, long keep. Keeps 10 weeks. Highly fireblight resistant. Sept 14.

• Comice: world-renown rich flavor, juicy, keeps months long storage. Zone 4 at OGW, only somewhat fireblight resistant. Early Oct.

Notes:

• Flavor varies with sunlight exposure on tree. Bartlett is the industry standard and used to measure harvest time.

• Summer ripeners (thru early Sept) are eaten fresh. In contrast, winter ripeners are cold stored until needed, then finished ripening a few days are room temp. The neck on the pear will develop “give” (plasticity to applied pressure) when ripe to eat. Asian, European (communis), Russian (ussuriensis) can all be grafted to 1 tree, >=15 flavors.

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Cross references:

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P.S. Search engines will index this page, so I will update my post for future readers.

[SoMtHomestead]

Not zone 4 here, but the harrow varieties have been highly susceptible to fireblight for me. I dont get any harrow fruit and shoot blight races towards the roots. Moonglow, kieffer, and ayers do way better.

[MF25]

Olympic pear is also fireblight resistant, per cummins nursery

MF