Russian pears for zone 2 - some info I found

Very nice collection! Cant wait to see the post on the fruit!

My Beedle and the two Krazulya came thru our terrible winter with flying colours. No tip die and we had weeks of sub-30C weather.

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Since there is interest in these Russian pears I thought I’d update the “bad news” from last winter. These pears are very hardy and have not exhibited damage down to around -40C. HOWEVER, they are bred in areas without winter thaws. Normally my area does not get winter thaws to any large degree (central Alberta). But this winter it was +9C at my site (about 48F) and then one week or so later -40C!!!) This was record cold for February and I think record warmth for that day in late January. All the Russian pears really took a beating for the first time. For example some that take down to around -50C were severely damaged with many grafts dying and others barely leafing out in a feeble manner. They are supposed to recover well from winter injury, so I’ll see next year I guess. There is almost no fruiting this year. We may have had the worst winter in 50 years for fruit trees due to the enormous range of temperature in only about one week. Many apricots, plums, and pears are severely injured, but the apples generally seem fine. So these pears are not for areas with warm thaws in winter followed by very cold weather.

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Then I would assume they should be good for me, we don’t get winter thaws.

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Interesting!
Here in central Montana, we had a very similar winter. The trees that were regarded as slightly LESS winter hardy seemed to fare a little better than the more rugged ones.
I lost both of my Romeo Dwarf Cherries, and a couple Chestnut Crabs. My Golden Spice and Cabot Pears seemed to thrive as well as my Adirondack Gold Apricots. The Juliet and Carmine Jewel Cherries looked OK but none of them nor did any of my surviving apple trees bloom this spring. The fruiting tips must have been nipped! These trees were in their fourth or fifth year and most had fruit or at least some blooms a year ago. I have had trees die back to some extent in the past, but this year they either looked perfectly fine or were dead! The wild temperature swings from last winter was followed by a summer of repeated hail storms knocking leaves off and bruising the bark. We will see how many make it to next spring! Sometimes I think my orchard is little more than a tree torture expiriment!

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I planted a Krazulya 2 years ago and a Vekovaya this past year…both from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery. …their trees start out small but seem to be quite healthy with decent grafts

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Yep, Eric is a good guy. I’ve got 5-6 of the Russian pears grafted so far. The Lucious I got this year was AWESOME though.

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2020 update from Bernie:

RUSSIAN PEAR BAD WINTER DAMAGE!

Sadly I have had MAJOR damage on about all of my Russian pears. I have had TWO test winters in a row. Last year it hit +9C and about a week later -40C. This year on Jan. 15 I recorded -42C, the coldest in over one third of a century! Winter damage is “cumulative” and if the trees don’t get a few years of normal or mild winters to recover, bad things happen.

Basically I’d say these pears all take to -35C with no problems, but then start to get significant damage as the temperatures approach -40C. My thinking is they are good for the big cities and the microclimates in them, but not for outside the city, at least not most varieties. In a nutshell if you can grow and fruit Honeycrisp apple and Mount Royal Plum, any of the Russian pears should do well for you. But if those two varieties have winter damage problems at your location, you will have challenges growing the Russian pears. I have not experienced any hardiness problems with them until the last couple of winters. They were all basically hardy to the tips.

The only three varieties that showed no damage and are blooming are Bolshaya, Larinskaya, and Zarechnaya. The next hardiest group with some damage but not too bad are Successful Falkenberg and Favoritka. All the rest seem severely damaged and many are simply not leafing out as a general rule as of today, May 25. And most of them are topworked to hardy pear trees in my backyard, not on their own trunks.

Its not just the Russian pears either:

Southworth pear…seems totally dead

Patten pear…seems totally dead

Julienne Pear…seems totally dead

Northbright Pear…seems totally dead or very minor leafing just above the graft union with 95% of branches dead.

KinderKrisp apple…the grafted branches are either dead, or half the ends of the branch are dead.

Petite Soeur plum, dead to the snowline or slightly above the snowline.

So “life ain’t easy” if you are a fruit tree in Alberta. But on the positive side anything that survives and does well is certainly “hardy” for Alberta. Almost all my apple varieties showed no damage, except for Honeycrisp/KinderKrisp/Honeycrisp seedlings. Plums such as Ptitsin #5 and Pembina did not show any damage. And two European plums from Russia called Delicate and Eurasia 21 not only survived, but are blooming so they may have excellent potential for us!

The below photo is pretty typical of what I see this spring. The green leaves with blossoms are Bolshaya pear. The dead branches besides it are various other Russian and non-Russian pears.

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2020 Posting from Quebec based Hardy Fruit tree nursery

Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery

January 21, 2020 ·

In search of the Perfect Pear….

A couple of weeks ago, we shared the results of our taste testing of apples. However it’s not only apples in our experimental orchard! We have also been testing hundreds of varieties of many other fruits and nuts. This week, it’s the turn of the pears! It was an exceptionally good year for us in our pear harvest, and we were able to taste many cultivars that we never had the opportunity to test before!

Most of our pears fall into two families: the family of Ussuriensis (hybrids between Pyrus Ussuriensis and Pyrus Communis) and the European family (Pyrus Communis.)

The pears in the Ussuriensis family are generally more cold resistant, but their flavour is different to what we are used to, more pronounced and complex, often astringent. The European Family pears are those that are mostly commercialised; they include pears such as the famous Bartlett. They are generally mild sweet, with a more subtle flavour, and most are not very resistant to cold.

So here without further delay are our results for 2019!

USSURIENSIS FAMILY

Krazulya (russian origin) keeps its place at the top of
our list for its flavour, sweetness and early harvest.

Vekovaya (russian origin): We had a good harvest of Vekovaya, which gave rise to interesting discussions and some divergence of opinion! It is an absolutely magnificent pear, large with a smooth skin. Its texture is also rather agreeable: very juicy, firm and crunchy. Its flesh is quite sweet and has a balanced flavour, a little floral - some really like it, others not so much. Its weak point is the astringence in the skin.
Verdict: peeled, this pear is excellent to eat fresh and in tarts, and also would make a good addition to salads! Hardy in zone 3, worth trying in zone 2

Ure: The variety that showed the least insect damage! This pear also received 5 out of 5 for its sweet taste.

EUROPEAN FAMILY

Julienne: one of our overall favourites this year, receiving 5 out of 5 for overall appreciation, with an agreeable melting texture and a lovely sweet flavour with a hint of aniseed in its skin. It also keeps very well for 3 months after harvest. Hardy to zone 3!

Patten and Southworth: The Best in Conservation. Both keep exceptionally well, Patten, in particular actually improves significantly in flavour after about 2 months in conservation. Both are hardy to zone 3

Poire de Semenaire: (a variety that we don’t yet propagate) received the distinction of Most Interesting Flavour: - it has an unconventional flavour for a pear, reminiscent of litchi! However, this pear was also very much affected by insect damage.

BEST NEW PEARS

Many new varieties started to produce for us in 2019, and were submitted to taste-testing. We made several interesting discoveries!

Our favourites were Louise Bonne d’Avranche, So Sweet, Waterville, Northbrite and Cabot.

We continue to evaluate these and others over the course of the seasons, and are certainly considering propagating some of them; but we will also consider their hardiness and disease-resistance when deciding which ones to add to our selection.

We can’t wait to see what new varieties 2020 has in store for us!

Have you tasted any of the pears listed above? Do you agree with our marks? What are your favourites?

Interested in growing pear trees in Canada? It is possible and it starts here! [Pear tree]

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It’s been some time now since we had a new update about some of the Russian pears. @smsmith how are yours doing this year? There are additional cold hardy pears mentioned on this forum.The pears you may not have heard of and should consider growing - #148 by clarkinks. I’m very glad @Bernie has been able to give us a few updates lately on some of the Canadian fruits. Konrad provided these updates on houzz https://www.houzz.com/discussions/lets-talk-about-hardy-pears-dsvw-vd~4134934 . @hungryfrozencanuck4b was able to give us many updates. @yri32 have there been any new updates in Russia on pears since you originally posted? @Stan have you received any new information? We get to where we have several threads going Early cold-hardy pear varieties? - #4 by hungryfrozencanuck4b and Krazulya Pear - #2 by clarkinks to name a few.

Nope.

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None of my Russian pears are still alive. A bad winter took out the young grafts.

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Very good to know! Thanks for the update.

@Bernie originally when you brought these pears into Canada from Russia it was a difficult time there in Russia but did they mention how cold hardy they are?

This spring was the first time I dipped my foot into the pear pool. I planted a Beedle and a Favoritka from Prairie Hardy Nursery. They are an hour or so north east of Edmonton in a zone 3b. Their offering of Russian pears increases every year. Pear Trees – Prairie Hardy Nursery

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I made a post today with an update on these Russian pears. Bottom line hardy to about -35C, but most have died in the last two winters I had, -42C and -40C.

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Fedco has some z3 hardy trees and scionwood you might try also. i have 3 grafted on m. ash. nova, patten and stacyville. theyre on year 3 . we havent had a test year in 5 yrs though so time will tell.

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Thank you for the update @Bernie

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Yanvarskaya pear variety. A very good pear variety for an intensive garden. Yielding and no periodicity. Incompatible with quince, need an insert.

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Behind on write ups.

So far NOT impressed. I have found they are hard to time, core rotting very fast even though outside looks not ripe. Flavour is subpar, most having some degree of astringency. Not many of my pears ripened yet but the Russians were vekovaya, Krazbonokoya and Krazulya (all spelling from memory on my phone). I had beedle and did not like but was first year fruiting. Cracked easy and not great flavour.

These were all say 2/5. Lucious was 5/5 for flavour and melting texture. Northbrite was 3-4/5 for flavour but gets points for being great when crisp and staying great and hanging on tree for 3-4 weeks with no rot (never fully softened and needs more experience) excellent as a backyard tree or u-pick. Harrow delight excellent but was first fruit and I think I liked Lucious better due to flavour.

This is all zone 4b canada, usda 3b.

Will try to post later when have more time.

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