I planted three pear trees about two years ago. A pineapple, Kieffer and Leconte.
Had blossoms last year, but this is the time I’ve seen fruit. Pretty sure that this is either the Leconte or Keiffer, is there any way to tell for sure?
The only one of your three pears that I have is the Kieffer. Two items that I have noticed is that my Kieffer blooms earlier than my other pears and in line with the Orient pear. Your zone indicates to me that your pears should be ahead of my area but my Kieffer pears appear to be bigger (assuming this is a current picture). This information will not give you a conclusive identification but it should help. Bill
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Thanks @Auburn, this is my only pear tree with blossoms on it. I’ve been doing a bit of reading and it looks like the Kieffer ripens mid-August to late September, the Leconte, mid-late August, and the pineapple, early August. I know that isn’t concrete, but I’m thinking that this may actually be the pineapple considering it ripens before the other two…guess I’ll have to wait and see…That is if the squirrels don’t get the fruit first…
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Quick update, according to Just Fruits and Exotics my guess was correct. This is in fact a pineapple pear…
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Pears look great Jeremy! It’s very hard to identify pears at that stage. There are some that are very different but many look very similar. Kieffer, Duchesse d’Angouleme etc. are almost dead ringers at that stage.
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thank you…Kind of figured they would be difficult to ID at this stage, that’s why I thought the time of the blooming/ripening would offer a clue…
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Take a look at this the fruit seems to be dying off…not sure if its a result of poor pollination or what. Out of the 4 or 5 fruits that had set there are only one or two left.
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I’d be concerned that the bottom fruit may have been hit by fire blight.
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It does look like fireblight. If the branch starts to turn black below that bud amputate the branch several inches below. It could be blossom blast also http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=14682
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thanks for the information…I’ve already amputated that one, will keep an eye out for any more problems. Reading that link, I don’t see any bacterial ooze which it says is common to fire blight and I did have some infected buds that failed to open and just died, so maybe it is blossom blast…
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Wanted to give an update. This pear tree, sorry no pics must have had something systemic going on. About a week ago I was checking all the trees and noticed this one had a branch with leaves that had turned completely brown. It was a larger branch so I cut it all the way back to the leader and it definitely was dead. I was assuming FB… ot sure if it’s going to be salvageable though. I’ll take a picture and post up later so you can see what I’m talking about.
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How hard is it to ID pears? Is it based more upon the fruits, or leaves, etc?
Because there’s one Pear Tree I’d love to ID - that’s at least 36 years old (so probably fireblight-resistant) and produced large pears that were pretty coarse-fleshed, juicy, and very crisp (sort of like Asian pears). They were hard, and definitely not soft or ever squishy… It was originally purchased from a nursery, so isn’t some wild unknown.
The pears themselves generally looked something like the LeConte’ pictured here:
From other descriptions I’ve read, it sounds like it might be something like a Kieffer or “sand pear” - except they never blushed like the Kieffers shown here.
I can post some pictures of its branches and leaves, but not sure if that’d help? For actual fruit, I’ll have to try to wait until fruiting season this year…
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LOL, Even with all the above it can be hard to impossible unless its a very common variety. Here are things that can help make positive ID a little easier. 1 Make a note of when it blooms in relation to other known pear varieties in the area. Sometimes two look alike pears can be distinguished by bloom time. Fruit ripening time is helpful. Also lots of pears never get soft before rotting if left on the tree, but do soften in brought inside for a while or ripened under refrigeration. Photos of the pears is helpful. Some varieties lie Keaffer have general shape to them that gives them away.
But it’s interesting that you showed a Golden Boy. I doubt that anyone would ever be able to tell a Golden Boy Pear and a LeConte’ pear apart from a photo.
As for Kieffer blushing, most Kieffers I’ve seen in person were not blushed. There are at least two and maybe more pears grown as Kieffers out there. That’s another issue, especially with the widely distributed older varieties. Lots of seedling look alikes have been propagated and sold under the parent’s name. “The real Kieffer please stand up!” God bless.
Marcus
In answer to the original post. Of course we can’t be sure given the immaturity of the fruit. But about 90% of the fruit on both my LeConte’ and Goldend Boy loose all their sepals by the time the fruit is at the stage that yours are in the photo. Given that, my guess is that the photo is not of a LeConte.
I am about 90% sure that there are at least two totally different pears out there called "LeConte’. The original one brought to the LeConte plantation as a sand pear seedling that had happened to have a Bartlett pollen parent is a high quality soft pear. The LeConte pear growing in my yard fits the original discretion of the pear recorded by the LeConte family quite well. However, the description in Pears of New York describe it as “very similar to but inferior to Kieffer.” My reaction to that is: “In your dreams!” LeConte and Kieffer are nothing alike. Anyway, lets be generous and assume that Pear’s of New York wasn’t bad mouthing the LeConte pear out of prejudice against the south and that the description in Pears of New York was based off of an impostor to the original LeConte pear. God bless.
Marcus
Marcus
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Here are pictures of immature LeConte and Golden Boy pears side by side. On both the sepals of most of the flowers fell off about a week after the petals fell off. The fruit distinctively lack the flower parts that hang on most pears into maturity. As you can see from the picture of Golden Boy, not all the young fruit of either LeConte or Golden Boy are like this. But the vast majority of them are. God bless.
First photo is Godlen Boy.
The second photo is LeConte
^^ Thanks for the reply!
1. I don’t have the mother tree here to currently observe, but one of the cuttings I took from it bloomed about a week ago on 1/27.
2. From what I recall, its pears never softened - even when stored in the fridge. That’s why I liked them so much - as I much preferred their crispy, sweet, slightly gritty, watery flesh - to soft, mushy, commercial pears…
3. Well as you said, identifying exact varieties may be very difficult. But, is there a general spectrum/gradient - say from European (softer, mushier, & more teardrop-shaped?) to hybrids (Kieffers, etc) to Asian pears (crispier, crunchier, harder, and rounder?)?
Based on the description below, its pears were definitely not European (too hard and gritty) or Asian (not round and a bit harder) - so were more possibly “sand” pears? But, what is a “sand pear” exactly - a Japanese pear (pyrus pyrifolia) or a hybrid? And are “sand pears” cultivated/categorized by any varieties at all…or just essentially all uncultivated like crabapples?
There are 3 types of pears. Hard pears, often called sand pears, have firm crunchy flesh and are best for cooking or preserves. Soft or European type pears have buttery flesh and are best for fresh eating. Asian pears are round with sweet, crisp flesh and excellent flavor and are also eaten fresh.
Yes there is a gradient. If the pear course and never softens its probably not LeConte, or at least not the type of LeConte I have. It might be the kind of LeConte that the pears of New York’s description is based on.
Yes there is a gradient. For example Bosc pears are slightly crunchy even though they are fairly soft. My understanding is that the same is true for Acre’s Home. Orient will soften up, but they are much better when they are about the texture of an Asian pear. To me there is something off putting about their flavor when they are soft ripe. God bless.
Marcus
I’ll have to post an updated picture of this tree. Thought it was a goner after the major surgery I did to it last year. Still not sure if it was FB or bud blast, but it got hacked down pretty far. In any case there is some new growth on the tree and we’re right around the corner from when I expect some of the buds to start opening up.
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OK, I just tried some Kieffer pears from a farmer’s market recently - and I think that’s what my mystery pear was! The general shape, skin texture, and (crispy, gritty, watery) taste all seemed to match! Which would all basically attest to its suspected Eurasian (European Pyrus communis + Asian Pyrus pyrifolia or ussuriensis) heritage:
Thus this new hybrid, thought to be a chance cross between a [Chinese] sand pear and a Barlett, became known as the Kieffer Pear.
So, mystery finally solved now (I think)!!! 
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Photo below is of a very good pear I would like to identify. It was on my property when i moved here 22 yrs ago and at that time it was at least 20 yrs old. It is very susceptible to fabrea leaf spotting which inhibits fuiting . I finally understand controlling that and starting to get some fruit regularly. It ripens early season i would say. Flesh is white and soft when ripe. There is a gritty feeling to the skin when eating. Any ideas?
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