Southern Pears

What happened to harrow sweet in the bags? Sunburn?

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Iā€™m not sure but some appeared to have scab or rust. They didnā€™t appears to be able to deal with the extra moisture inside the bag.

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You guys get scion wood for Leona from one of us next year. It looks like it will work for me here in Kansas. Leona is nearly unknown but you can see more here Leona Pear - #34 by clarkinks. I know some of you are familiar with it but i believe we need to get more of them out there asap. We dont want this variety lost.

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No flowers on Anjou again this year because it budded to early. I am glad I grafted a couple different varieties to it now.

After I finish cleaning that field up in my front section of land I will be able to see better how many trees can be added up there. I am thinking it will be many! I really would love to start adding several different pear varieties and may be asking some of you for scions this winter. I will also be asking more questions about rootstock and so forth :grin:

My grafts are all coming along nicely so hopefully I will also be able to send scions out in a couple years myself :+1:

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Beautiful pears

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Greetings all: I got a good fruit set on my Tennosui and a small one on my Scarlett pears this year. I should be able to give my first first-hand review on fruit quality on those two. What I can say now is that they are pretty late blooming. They started as Goldenboy and LeConte were finishing up. There was a little but not much overlap. I had an immature Savannah pear to bloom one flower cluster with them. My Korean Giant began its first small bloom right after Scarlet and Tennosui finished. Savannah and Korean Giant both have one little pear on them. Meanwhile I have sizable crops on the way for Southern Bartlett, Winnie, LeConte, Goldenboy, Acres Home and Baldwin. It should be a pretty good pear year baring any unexpected disasters.

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Iā€™m not sure when Tennosui is supposed to ripen its fruit. I hope itā€™s late, but the fruit is already bigger than any of the early ripening types despite itā€™s late blooming characteristic. As far as the European X Asian types I have go, only Savannah appears to be later. (I got a grand total of two flower clusters on my very young Savannah pear this year, and I think itā€™s going to straddle Tennosui and the true Asian types such as Korean Giant and Shinko.) Given that Tennessee is itā€™s seed parent and Southern King is a full sibling, Iā€™m really quite surprised at how big Tennosui pears are turning out to be.

I ordered my Tennosui about a year after the trees became commercially available through Just Fruits and Exotics out of Florida. Iā€™ve seen very little anecdotal commentary about what to expect from the tree. I expected it to be a late bloomer simply based on when the young tree broke dormancy. I have not been able to find anything on the internet that says when it ripens in comparison to other varieties. I know that Tennessee, itā€™s seed parent, ripens early July here in Statesboro Georgia. My Southern King pear, itā€™s Tennosuiā€™s full sibling ripened the few pears it made in mid July last year.

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My Southern King Pear will be making itā€™s second crop this year. The seedling originated from the same Tennessee Pear tree at the same time as Tennosui, and like Tennosui, Hosui is thought to be the pollen parent. Last year the pears ripened in mid July here in Statesboro Georgi, at about the same time as LeConte and Goldenboy. The fruit was super sweet, as sweet as Tennessee which is almost cloyingly sweet but without the astringency and underlying bitterness that Tennessee has. In the flavor department, Southern King may end up being my best tree so far. However, the pears are kind of small. Last year the tree only made seven pears, so I did not get to see how well they can. As you can see from the photo, most of the pears are blushed, have smooth skin and are very pretty. Here in Statesboro Southern King is a mid season bloomer and blooms with LeConte and Goldenboy.

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@coolmantoole, those look deliciousā€¦Iā€™m remaining cautiously optimistic that I might finally get some pears of my own this yearā€¦canā€™t recall whether this tree is a Kieffer or Leconteā€¦whatever it is has produced some decent sized fruit that the crtitters have yet to discoverā€¦how do I know when these are ready to pick? Is that the lift and pull method?

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Those look way more like LeConte pears than Kieffer. When they start to turn yellowish just tip them up a bit. When they are ready to pick, they will pop right off with no pulling. Iā€™m not seeing any of the color change that you should expect in the pears in the photo just yet. Itā€™s usually about the second or third week in July here in Statesboro, GA.

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Good to knowā€¦Definitely not seeing any of the color change you describe, Iā€™ll keep a close eye on them the next couple of weeksā€¦

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FYI, I did purchase three pears trees in 2019 from JFE. Leconte, Goldenboy and Scarlet are the three I selected. Leconte has put on a load of fruit this year while Goldenboy set a nice amount. Scarlet has yet produced any pears. I also have Shinseiki, Tennouisi, FL 58-45, Hood and Pineapple grafted to my Kieffer tree but only one branch remains of Kieffer.

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I am getting my first southern bartlett here in central AL. @coolmantoole, your comments about the juiciness are spot on. Mine have been refreshing but bland after 1-2 days in the fridge. It would be nice if they would get sweeter in the fridge. Do I need to store them for a week or more? I am picking when they start to turn to a lighter green/yellow and easily come off the tree then putting in the fridge. How do I tell when they have reached peak ripeness in the fridge? Do they turn a lot more yellow at that point? Thanks.

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Unfortunately they will never get sweeter in the fridge. Leave them on your counter.

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In researching whether or not to add a Potomac pear tree (as I am), one should note that rayrose is in USDA zone 8a/7b border.
At this link, AC Chatham grew Potomac in zone 7a in North Carolina and highly recommends Potomac pears. SE Pears (chathamapples.com)
So, I am supposing that 7a is the southern limit of where Potomac grows well and that it does not like too much heat.

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Iā€™ve never heard of Potomac, and donā€™t know any
Southern nursery that sells it.

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Potomac is one of my best pears here in 7A/B Eastern Shore Maryland.

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Iā€™m in 7b/8a. Have Potomac in container. Pretty vigorous so far in 2nd yr.

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Anyone have luck with any pears or apples in central Florida? Iā€™m in Tampa, so even less chill than Orlando.

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I have on Pear in Far N. FLORIDA. I believe itā€™s a Stark Bros. Breed. 3 years old and fairly leafy a d thick ish but no fruit yet. I had a Bartlett but it died. I have several crabapple and they do just ok. I have a Pink Lady 3 or so years old but no fruit from it yet either. Not much luck with either pear or apple there yet. I keep caring for them and hope to fi d the right mix.

I havenā€™t tried citrus up there. Weā€™ve had a dozen or more frosts and Iā€™m not up for that much work

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