Sounds like a good plan. I’ve read a lot of good comments for Harrow Sweet.
You will have two Euro pears that you don’t need to worry about refrigeration.
I picked Seckel around Sept 10-20.
Harrow Sweet Sept 24- 30
Korean Giant Oct 5-15
My Chojuro graft has not but it seems to be earlier pear.
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Thank you for the info. Looks like they have a nice sequential ripening times so no pressure to pick more than one variety at a time. Now to decide where to get the HS and KG from. So far I have purchased everything from Starks, but it doesn’t look like they carry HS and I’d like to try another nursery anyway.
I’m down to Bartlett and D’Anjou for pears…D’Anjou has still not produced yet.
What were other varieties you used to have?
Cummins Nursery carries both KG and HS. It is a good nursery.
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I am so glad you like them. They were always a favorite in the fall and they do set really well! Yayyy
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I had grafted Seckel Pear on top of my Bartlett three years ago from a scion @joleneakamama gave me . It has grown great buy last year it make two pears that turned to complete mush by August. This year it had 5 pears that did the same thing. I understand two years don’t make a trend, but I am concerned by the pattern.
Bad year for pears all around for me.
If you can out when Seckel ripen in your area, you may be able to find out if your Seckel was mislabeled.
You are a zone warmer. My Seckel can be picked as early as Sept 7-10. Your should be at least 2 week earlier. So around August 15-20?
When you said it was mushy by August? When was it in Aug?
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about the middle of August. Not sure the exact time. They were clearly balls of mush surrounded by pear skin. I didn’t spray them with anything. Next year, if there are any, I’ll be sure to pick some early and see if they ripen inside. Thanks for the reply, @mamuang, always value your input.
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i have nova, patten, summercrisp and stacyville pear on my mountain ash. several of them are almost 3’ of growth since i grafted them in may! seeing this tree fruited m. ash berries this year for the 1st time. I’m hoping that might mean i get a pear or 2 next spring? is that how it works?
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This sounds like rot. I picked excellent Seckel pears from Morgantown, PA the second week of Sep. Try spraying a fungicide next year.
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This season’s first fruits from our Seckel pear. Soon I’ll start my least favorite orchard task, thinning.
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I thought I thinned Seckel well last year but it was obviously not enough. This year, one of the two strong and long Seckel branches, has two clusters of flowers. The other has none!!
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Good set on my seckels as well. One of my favorites. I have tasted some that were like straight sugar.
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Seckel can be an good pear but if most people realized the fruit would be small most years in a dry climate how many would grow it? With the same space you can grow a pear like my small yellow pear which out produces seckel. My small yellow pear has more medium sized fruit. Harrow sweet is a great choice as well for production and flavor. All that said i grow seckle for a reason and i have 2 trees. Harrow sweet is later and my yellow pear is earlier. Seckle has its advantages , flavor is very good. Seckle is so good most consider it when breeding a new type of pear.
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That happened with my seckle graft as well. I found no reason to thin them ever, as they are a very small pear to begin with. That is part of its charm. Tiny, crunchy and very sweet!
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And hold up very well to canning.
Keep their crunch and because they are so sweet already, I can use a very light sugar canning syrup
Mike
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My Seckel which is now over 10 years in the ground has become biennial. Last year it had no crop, this year looks to be a good crop//year before it had a huge crop. I have noticed dead branches here and there so i think my climate is pushing it at times. Some of the fruits are decent size, but it also produces a lot of smaller fruit. The wasps in the fall love them. I try to water it if we go too long without rain,but i do that with most my trees–this is sand soil and it dries out fast. I’ve nevr thinned because it would take forever. I also have never sprayed the tree with anything.
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Does anyone know who sells improved seckel? Supposed to be the same taste as seckel, but bigger. Is that true?
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