My seckel pear tree has barely yielded crop for the past couple of seasons including this one while other trees of this variety I manage have had heavy crops elsewhere. Mine used to bear consistently and is quite healthy with a lot of Harrow Sweet grafted to it that bears consistently.
In my region pears are quirky and hard to figure. Seckel often are self-fruitful so you can’t assume pollination is a problem when they don’t bear. Seckel is known not to pollinate Bartlett so it may well be incompatible both ways around but at my site there are plenty of other pears around to pollinate Seckel if it needs it. Something else is in play and I doubt I will ever know what it is. It isn’t pest related, I’m almost certain.
Bartlett and Harrow Sweet are my most reliable producers by far. At other sites I manage, other varieties are more consistent, including Seckel.
I used to plant Korean Giant with Seckel in orchards I installed and they tended to produce very well together. KG probably doesn’t need a pollinator but apparently it serves the relatively early flowering (for a Euro) Seckel. Ed Fackler, the NAFEX guru suggested the pair (pear pair).
I’m sure you’ve already had this thought but could it be that seckel buds are more susceptible to the up and down winter temperatures we’ve seen a lot of in the northeast as of late?
Thats possible or just age can be the biggest factor on some rootstocks. Plant viruses are generally spread by grafting which makes them pretty rare overall.
Insects are highly effective spreading plant viruses. Say you have a pear tree infected by yellows virus. A thrip feeds on it and moves to another pear tree where it spreads the virus. Yellows viruses, tospoviruses, tomoviruses, leaf curl viruses, and more are 90% or higher spread by insects. Look up cherry leaf roll virus for an example of a very common plant virus that affects multiple hosts from walnuts to cherries.
It is not a nutrient deficiency, IMO. If a tree is growing well with moderate vigor, why wouldn’t it produce fruit? Nutrient deficiencies great enough to stop a tree from producing fruit tend to have visible symptoms, as I understand it. I suspect it is weather related in that for the last few years we’ve had rain forest level precip during the growing season. It’s a bit like trying to grow fruit trees in the shade.
You noticed i exposed that black seed for everyone to see because many people pick pears way to early or way to late. They are ready when they are ready and no pear cares about the date on the calendar. I have lots of stragglers this year that were not ripe when the majority was. Thats great for me i have really enjoyed them.
Clark, when I cleared the diseased bosc bartlett orchard I went through and picked a couple bushes of bartlett and gave them to a brewer to ripen and make beer out of. The brew was excellent, to my surprise. Like a wheat beer, with punch. He wishes to live next to you after shoung him pics of your orchard. Ditto here:)
If it is any consolation @TurkeyCreekTrees left his home near turkey creek in Nebraska and came here. Im sure he misses some things about home. I suspect Kansas has been kind to him. I question if he wishes he became a neighbor sooner. Your always welcome to come here i suspect you would love it here. @TurkeyCreekTrees and I are to busy to hang out though i believe we are both happy working more than hanging out. He likely drives past some of my land regularly. Some of his land even touches some of mine. I drive past one of his places just off the highway daily. A hard worker like you or @TurkeyCreekTrees are just the type of people we welcome to the area though i never formerly will say it proably. @39thparallel has a standing invitation here and we collabate often.
The few friends I really have are generally botanically ignorant and would rather fish the pond or hunt. Just wait until the pears start producing… They will acquire knowledge by default when the syrup runs down their chin! It’s nice GF offers me community and support.
I always wonder where your oasis lays. LOL Someday I will make it a priority to arrange for a visit. Unfortunately as you have alluded to there never seems to be enough hours in a day. I don’t even get “Home” as much as I would like. Almost all of my family resides in Nebraska, and we try to get up there as much as we can, but its not as much as I would like. KS is a good state, it has its issues just like everywhere else, but I would not dissuade anyone from moving here.
I’ve grown Seckel in a couple different orchards with limited production. Many years have nothing. I have read it is self pollinating, but the few fruit I’ve seen have come from the side of the tree facing a Bosc or other pear. It sounds from many of the postings here that pollination is never an issue. Can anyone explain? Thanks
I’ve had ripe fruit for the past 2 weeks or so. The wasps are eating them now. I’m giving what is up there away. I had almost zero fruit last year. My tree is coming back from a black walnut nearby that was killing it (that i removed). I think they are almost too sweet. Can only eat one or two at a time.
That looks like the real seckle. Very sweet, small, in bunches. That looks right. There are so many seckles that are not seckle it made me wonder if i would see anyone else post pictures this year of them. The majority called seckle are worden seckle i think. Pears are the worst for being mislabeled. Those other seckle variants are as good or better frequently.
