Do you grow fan-stil pears?
No but I was recently in an online online NEFEX meeting where it was pointed out that genetic research indicates that Fan Still is actually a misnamed LeConte. When I asked if it was the real LeConte or the low quality one mentioned in Pears of New York, he didn’t know.
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I take it Golden Boy, Ayers, and Scarlett have been hit bad by fireblight for you then?
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For those growing Baldwin, any comments on FB?
It’s a variety mentioned by my state Ag department.
Thanks
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Extremely resistant for me so far. But it is not resistant to leaf spot.
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Scarlet has been killed by it. I don’t have Ayers anymore on account of not getting enough chill hours for it. Goldenboy is hanging in there. I did a major summer pruning to make it easier to keep fire blight cut out.
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Thanks for replying @coolmantoole
I’m zone 9a, so it Ayers didn’t work for you I doubt it will for me… Unless it just takes many years to bear and you hadn’t gotten there yet.
I am getting a Hood tree this spring but I’ve been looking to start a 3 variety espalier as well (on OHxF87). Ideally the most vigorous variety is grafted first. These need to be varieties I can buy scion for (besides the obvious low chill and fireblight resistance).
This was the list I was looking at initially:
Ayers
Potomac
Hood (will have tree to grow and harvest scion)
Warren
Spalding
Orient
Keiffer
Pineapple
Fan-Shil I couldn’t find scion and whether it’s truly under patent.
There are others for sure, but ideally I get 3 varieties with different harvest times and flavor / appearance / use profiles.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
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That is a good list indeed. Fan-stil pear is not under patent
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1574234
Here is more information than you are likely to find elsewhere Fan-Stil pear new variety or old variety? .It will need 400- 500 chill hours.
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Yes I did run through that thread. Thanks.
I just can’t find any nursery selling the scion. I’d say the home growers interest is minimal as I’d say more people in this forum live in higher chill areas.
I can’t really afford space wise to buy a whole tree for every variety I’m interested in trying out.
If I can decide and find the 3 varieties I can graft one on my rootstock and park the wood of the other two onto my new Hood coming in 2024 or try grafting to an Asian pear. As long as it lives until next spring I can harvest and graft over.
Or if this next year gets good growth on the first graft I can try chip grafting of the second variety in the same year.
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Ayers, Potomac and Warren all require about 800 chilling hours and won’t work here in Statesboro Georgia (HZ 9a).
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Therein lies the problem. There is no consensus from nurseries on what chill requirement they have.
For Ayers as an example one site has it at 150 hrs. Several others have it at 300-450. Others at 600. One had 900 hours.
It’s my fault for wanting what perhaps I shouldn’t even be looking at.
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With a few exceptions, most of the information you get from nurseries about fruit in the South is a bunch of crap. If you think information is bad with pears, try plums. It’s better to talk to people who have experience growing in similar climates.
Marcus Toole
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Got me a Goldenboy from JFE on the glowing recommendations in this thread. Thanks for all of the info everyone. You all seem to say it’s mostly self fertile, but should I put a graft onto it to help much?
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Good luck with it. My long term experience is a little more mixed than my early experience. It’s not as fireblight resistant as I initially thought. It will want to get big. I recommend keeping it pruned back small enough so that you can easily control fireblight with a pare of clippers. When it hit my tree, the tree was so big that it had gotten completely out of control before I made the decision to cut it back by about 2/3rds so that I could reach all parts of the tree with loppers. It required a chain saw. Thanks.
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I don’t have anything that I let get big so that will work, it’s good to know though
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Ayers never bloomed but in spits and spats here. I get between 500 and 600 chilling hours most years.
Well, we may have some reliable data to add for Ayers. It has bloomed fine here in West Central Georgia, recently reclassified to 8A. 650-850 chill hours most years.
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Unless I have a mislabeled couple trees, Ayers is so early and has a very thin fruit set
but really big pretty fruits of the blooms that do set fruits.
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Ayers makes a very small, but super sweet fruit. The skin is red on one side.
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Ayers can have large fruits until it begins to overset. It is like harrow sweet which has a tendency to do the same thing.
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