My two Seckel scionwood were grafted on a Korean Giant and a 20th Century, both Asian pears. Last year they both set fruit abundantly. This year one graft went biennialing. The other set a cluster of fruit.
I have a feeling that they will set a lot of fruit again next year. Seckel cross-pollinated well with Asian pears,
When I moved to my present home about 30 years ago there was a 50 ft tall Seckel pear tree up the road whose owner said had reliably born clean fruit for the 10 years they lived there without spray. At first the Seckel pear on my property did the same. Then I started getting scab, pslya and stink bug pressure and so did the old tree.
If I want to keep healthy foliage on my tree along with clean fruit, I have to provide about 3 summer sprays just to stop the scab and psyla. All the leaves fell off my tree about 2 weeks ago reducing the fruit quality. There are grafts of Harrow Sweet on the tree that still have leaves but aren’t nearly as healthy as a nearby Harrow Sweet tree without the pressure of having Seckel rubbing right up against it.
This year excessive rain has been hard on pears not tolerant of psyla. It is amazing the difference with varieties like Maxine, Bartlett, Dutchess, Sheldon, and Harrrow series pears completely healthy right next to defoliated Boscs, Seckels, Highland, and a couple others whose identities I’ve lost.
There are orchards I manage that receive the same spray sched. as mine where the Boscs and Seckel pears are in full leaf with clean fruit. I now believe that my extra pest pressure is at least partially the result of being in a hollow that is “protected” from breezes and holds the morning dew like a sponge.
Orchards more open to air movement have much more consistent sweet cherry crops as well.
The literature often suggests that hillside orchards are aided by good air drainage to reduce frost damage, but I’ve never read about it protecting against the damage of persistent morning dew.
@alan
Your right with everything you said in my opinion it’s all about variety and as they say “location location location” . We will have a hard time proving it but observations suggest the longer an orchard is in a location and the more trees we get the higher the pest and disease pressure.
I’ve observed the tendency for pest pressure build up since my first vegetable garden. Researched data is not required on the more obvious features of nature to establish certainty. Bees sting, rain comes from the sky and pests arrive when new food sources are introduced to an environment at their own speed. That speed can be augmented by windy storms or human transport.
Everyone commented on the seckle this year. Taste attracted everyone because the tree is mature the pears are very good. Some were a little to crisp and needed more time to ripen. 3 weeks is usually plenty of time but seckle can take lots of time off the tree to finish getting ripe. My experience they ripen in groups several different times which makes things more complicated. That’s an asset really because they keep awhile. My mother said she enjoyed them when I asked. When I asked if she wanted more of those she said no 1 tree is almost to many. They produce very heavy.
I don’t think you have to prove it, it’s so obvious to anybody who grows stuff more than a couple of years.
It’s no wonder so many people think they can grow fruit and garden organically. The first year is a breeze -and they wonder why everybody can’t just grow “without chemicals”.
It is especially true in suburban neighborhoods where lawns dominate the landscape. Sod, especially frequently mowed sod, is relatively sterile of diseases and insects that attack dicots- that is the plants we derive most of our food from, besides grains.
The orchards I manage with the fewest pest problems are in lawns with a good distance from land left wild. The hardest to protect from pests are those in annually mowed meadows. So much for beneficials balancing out pests. That is certainly not something that happens automatically.
That said, my own property has a lot of annually whacked land on the edges before forest starts. It does assure me a robust population of native pollinators anyway, along with the pests.
I picked one of the 2 or 3 pears hanging on my Seckel today. It was very good. Yay! Hope abounds and now I know the ballpark of when to pick them.
I could feel some give when pressing near the stem. It was still quite firm though. The one(s) from earlier in the season were apparently premature.
Seems my Seckle pears are doing the same thing they have done the past few years, going to mush before ripening. I thought I had it fixed after spraying lime sulfur in the spring. The spray does seem to have helped the Bartlett pears that are on the same tree, and I don’t see the scab that was there the past two years. The Seckle was grafted to the Bartlett.
I really want to have the Seckle pears. Does anyone think starting over with a new tree would work? Or, should I just move on? My plan would be to remove the grafted tree I have and put in a harrow sweet and a Seckle.
Thanks
Jim,
Your Seckel has no red blush at all? There are so many pears that look similar (to me).
Have it crossed your mind that this may not be a real Seckel?
It has. It was a graft from another member, could be wrong, definitely seems the right size. If I was to squeeze those pears in the picture, they would smash into a fibrous goo. I tasted one, not sweet at all.
I agree, my Seckels were small as is their nature but always were a dark red and dark green.
They can turn to mush on the tree thats normal. You need to pick them sooner let them ripen inside. If its shady they may not have a blush can you photo the tree?
I can when I get home from work. I was going by the maturity chart from Adams county nursey (which lists ripening dates in Pennsylvania, where I live) as the ripening time, which is still a month off.
thanks
Had the same thing happen to me one time. Nothing to worry about they are a bit harder to pick than some pears.
You make it look so easy Clark!
I assume your tree gets more sun and hotter. I would think your Seckel would be reddish.
This is mine.
The coloring and the ripening time is off and that makes me wonder.
Here’s the tree, but it is a bad picture. Sorry, got home too late. There were a few that seemed okay still so I picked them and put them in the fridge. I’ll let them sit in there for a while and see what happens.
The seeds are immature thats very interesting. The seeds should be black so in this case we have something else going on. Grab some more pictures when you get a chance.
@growjimgrow those don’t look like Seckel to me. I am south of you and mine are not ripe at all yet. Those look too yellow and too much lacking in a neck.
