Been keeping a close eye on my pear trees…the pineapple had a few blossoms in December, probably a result of it being a bit warmer, not sure…strange to start thinking about spring, but for me in another 4 weeks or so I’ll start seeing things come to life…interested to see which pear grafts are the first to wake up.
‘Hood’ would remain evergreen and flower for me in flushes throughout the year back in Hawai’i with no winter chill whatsoever. However I think it’s only partially self-fertile as it would produce lots of flowers but without pollination with another cultivar, very few would become fruit.
I have lots and lots and lots of Baldwine scion now. I thought that I would let everybody know that I just gave my Baldwine tree a heavy pruning. It has suddenly become a very vigorous grower, and it’s very vertically oriented. I have been going back and forth for a year about how tall I want to let it be. I’ve finally decided that I’m not going to let it get any taller than what I can reach with the loppers because if I do, it will start attracting squirrels to itself and to my Goldenboy. Consequently lots of wood came off today. Pray that I don’t have issues with fire blight this year because I imagine that it’s going to respond with even more vigorous growth. I expect that it and Goldenboy will get annual summer pruning starting this year as soon as their crops finish.
If you still have the tree, let me send you some Goldenboy and some LeConte to see if they will do the same and pollenize your tree. They just might since they try to bloom in late summer and fall every year. I know that Goldenboy is self fertile because it bloomed alone in August the first year I had it, and every single cluster made two or three pears. Frost got the pears of course, but it might stay evergreen and grow in flushes, so might LeConte because both pears have a fall flush of growth every year. All that said, Tennessee is now my most vigorous fall bloomer, and it for sure won’t tolerate not having a winter.
That’s if its legal to send scion to Hawaii, which it may not be.
Here is a YouTube video featuring my Baldwine and Goldenboy Pears.
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Marcus, those pear trees are nice. And that Golden Boy was loaded, no doubt I’m going to get one. Thanks for sharing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Notice the wound on the Goldenboy, that’s from it over cropping and breaking a limb. Despite overcropping the pears when ripened inside became syrupy sweet. It’s a soft but heavy syrupy texture pear when ripened inside. It’s a rich complex flavor. I like it many times better than a grocerystore Bartlett. Bugs love it. And you may have to be vigilant about fire blight with it. FB does not seem to spread fast on it, and I have not heard of anyone loosing a Goldenboy with FB. But this spring I had to amputate a main limb because a fruiting spur low on the limb got infected and the infection spread into bark of the lime in an area about the size of a quarter around the fruiting spur. I might have been able to just cut out the infected areas and spray with water with a tiny bit of unpasteurized vinegar, but I decided not to risk it and took out the whole branch. Be careful with vinegar because it will burn a plant, but if you mix a tablespoon of unpasteurized vinegar into a gallon of water, the vinegar is too dilute to have any effect on the plant. But the microbe that made the vinegar will grow in any sugary fluids coming out of the plant and emit an antibiotic that will kill the pathogen that causes fire blight. That’s the only truly organic remedy I know for fire blight. Copper can help prevent an outbreak spayed on the flowers. And there are antibiotics you can apply but those are expensive, and I’m not sure how easy it is for a lay person to get them anyway. God bless.
Marcus
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Thank you for the weath of advice and information. Driving over to just fruits Wednesday to get my tree. Then I guess I’ll plant it next to kieffer. Thanks again.
Sounds like a fun road trip.
Have fun.
LOL… yes but the wife wants to go with me so it’s changed to Friday afternoon and spending the night in a hotel with Saturday shopping for my tree. Hopefully I’ll find a good one there. I’ve never planted a dormant tree during winter, I thinking it’s safer in ground than pot.
In Florida winter is the best time to plant one as long as it’s not citrus or something that needs protection from frost when its young.
I’ve got some interesting observations on my pear trees. Specfically related to grafts I added to my Leconte last year…The Leconte itself is in full bloom…looks like I’ll get some pears this year…Of the 3 grafts, Ayers, Moon Glow, and Orient, the orient is the only one leafing… nothing on the other two.
Curious what will happen once the grafts completely leaf out. Will these ever produce fruit or do they need more chill hours? Doesn’t cost me anything to leave them on for another season or two, but if they don’t produce I’ll try something else.
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How many chilling hours do you get? You need about 800 for Ayers. I’m not sure about Moon Glow.
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I don’t know how many chill hours I got this year but my Ayers and Moonglow bloomed out better and set a good crop. Over a few years I have reduced the limb area of these two because of the inconsistent fruit set and or because of the difficulty to properly ripen them. These two in my area tend to have good resistance to fireblight.
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I’d have to go back and check but my guess is we barely broke 400, if that…
Hi Marcus, which is more resistant to fireblight, Leconte or Golden Boy?
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It’s hard to tell. I’ve gotten more damage on Golden Boy, but one of the reasons why LeConte fell out of favor back in the 30s is because its fireblight resistance was broken. It seems to be back. My understanding is that there are different strains of fire blight bacteria. My guess is that this variety is sufficiently rare now that the strain of fire blight that gets it has become rare as well. Both varieties are merely resistant, not immune.
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Thanks, I’ll plant one or the other next year, fb is always a factor here in Dallas
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Generally my trees are doing OK in SE Georgia, and I doubt FB pressure is worse in Dallas than here. Both are excellent trees, but I probably like the Golden boy Pears a little better than LeConte pears. Both are excellent though.
Marcus
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