Harvest Queen just finished up around here. They were fantastic for the past 3 weeks.
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I particularly would like to hear from you re. the taste of Blake’s Pride. I have not read about it from anyone’s personal experience, only from a catalog.
I have not had an optimal Blake’s sample yet – the ones I have tried so far over-ripened on the tree; they were still good tasting, pretty much right down the middle of the pear taste spectrum, but were going mealy. Today I picked all the remaining pears, at what seemed like close to optimal point. I will have a better sense of the variety when I try those pears in a few weeks.
My evolving opinion on European pears in general is any pear I can ripen well is coming out good and not radically different than the others - as a group they are relatively close genetically compared with e.g. apples. The only exception to this rule so far is Superfin, its not very good in my orchard even when ripened well. For the modern pears the similarity is even more pronounced, nearly all of them seem to be Bartlett-related or at least Bartlett-inspired.
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Just saw the article about HW623, it said
" Taste and Flavour Preference
The HW623 pear was significantly preferred to all other pear varieties evaluated for overall
liking based on blind tasting. It was described as sweet, flavourful, and juicy:.
They compared it to Bosc, Anjou and Bartlett. Make HM623 very interesting to me. Its production is supposed to arrive to the market in the fall of 2019.
I am more interested in finding this tree.
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@hungryfrozencanuck4b had mentioned it on another forum I was reading last night. Hw623 looks like it will be a big hit. If you guys find one I would love to know where to get it.
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I wouldn’t get too excited- the taste test was executed by the people seeking a license agreement (the Harrow Station) and part of their promotion. They could easily tilt the test in favor of any pear they wanted to, depending on when it was harvested. The determining difference is likely brix level. I would like to see an independent evaluation. I agree with Scott’s opinion that there really isn’t much difference between Bartlett type pears beyond juiciness and brix and lots of pears are juicy enough when ripe and several get just as sweet as I would want a pear to be.
I expect ACN will carry it if and when it gets to the U.S…
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I am excited about it, Alan. Of all the Harrow pears they reviewed, they only cited Harrow Sweet and HW623 as having excellent taste/flavor. I happen to agree with them on HS. I am likely to agree with on HW623 as well. Just waiting.
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Following up on Blake’s Pride from above, I am eating some with a bit of aging in the fridge. Its a fine pear. The skin is thick and somewhat annoying, otherwise perfectly fine. I am liking Magness and Aurora more this year, they are more flavorful. BP is more mild and light in flavor; plenty sweet.
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Mamuang, but the only difference in season is a week or two from HS and I have a a few other pears that TASTE as good as HS but none that share all its other positive traits.
It is to their advantage to push the most recent release- much longer period of patent royalties and what really sucks for breeders is when a variety catches on just at the end of the patent- which Honeycrisp pretty much did…
But we shall see if this pear is truly exceptional. .
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@scottfsmith,
How long did it take for your Blake’s Pride to start producing, please? Mine has been in ground for 4 years. Just wonder how many more years I have to wait.
@alan - good point about HW623 ripens close to HS. I just want good tasting pears. The more, the merrier. I’ve never had enough of any fruit to put in storage.
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Mine fruited this year for the first time, its 5th. Maybe next year is the lucky one for you! My tree is on quince which has an advantage over other stocks.
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I think mine is on OHxF 97. Probaly more waiting years.
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I’m surprised that Blake’s Pride is slow to fruit. I grafted several and they don’t appear to be overly vigorous which I would normally associate with early bearing. After letting the scions grow I pulled them down. Time will tell how they do.
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Picked first two Harrow Sweet. I bagged them and found that it caused russetting. I took the bags out a couple of weeks ago. Today, I saw a few holes on a few pears. Oh well.
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Thanks
What makes those black holes, anywayhow? I always thought it was codling moth, but that’s probably wrong
I throw away any fruit where I find them, it’ll always rot
Not sure what cause it, more like wasp type.
Saw ant inside on of the hole. I bagged since the fruit were very young and quite sure CM did not get a chance. It was these past two weeks that I took the bags off, hoping to stop russetting.
ltilton,
Typically ants going after the sugar eat the shallow holes like that. Coddling moth do make a hole that goes deep into the fruit. That dimple was likely an early wound from a feeding insect but if you see dimples that are corky but do not go to the core it could be a boron deficiency http://www.postharvest.tfrec.wsu.edu/marketdiseases/pearboron.html. Boron deficiency http://www.entomology.oregonstate.edu/system/files/u1473/pnw0121e.pdf should not be confused with stony pit virus http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/8830/tec_bul_93.pdf?sequence=1. Boron can also cause deformities Deformed Pears - Ask an Expert and a soil test is recommended to confirm that http://msue.anr.msu.edu/resources/soil_test_kit_self-mailer. These are other deficiency symptoms Pear Deficiencies - Fruit & Nut Research & Information Center . Many people fertilize because their pear tree is carrying a heavy crop of pears but the fertilization should occur the year before http://www.goodfruit.com/calcium-deficiency-is-costly-in-pears/ and any imbalances should be corrected the prior year. If you wait to correct imbalances or to fertilize until the following year it’s to late with the exception of nitrogen. Nitrogen is for leaf growth not fruit growth so goes on in the spring because you don’t want fruit trees growing now. This fall I will apply 10 year old cow manure and wood chips around my trees which does not cause growth typically but is for Phosphorus & Potassium Fertilizer - Wikipedia.
“Phosphorus §: Development of roots, flowers, seeds, fruit
Potassium (K): Strong stem growth, movement of water in plants, promotion of flowering and fruiting”
I will also apply a boron foliar spray this fall http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/ca6002p100-69232.pdf. Now is when I concentrate on getting a larger fruit set next year. I would not worry about that one dimple but if you see a trend with that I would investigate. I posted about the dimple on the other fruit for people that might be wondering the possible causes of that. @mamuang the shape of those are beautiful! Harrow sweet are a pear I’m definitely enjoying growing though I’ve not grown them very long. Mine will not fruit for several years. Every thing picks on the late fall pears here but the ants seem to be the worst. I had some sort of a weavel cause damage like that this year.
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At my site I think the wasps start them and the ants exploit the openings, but I could be wrong. This year the wasps have been all over my fruit and I see them working on figs and find chewed wounds before the ants move in- which they shortly do. I also had the same types of wounds on pears- some without ants yet.
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Makes sense the wasps do that to my grapes Alan so that would not be a surprise on pears.