First report I heard on Dixie Delight. I grafted this pear a couple years ago. Grew very well the first year. Seems to have rested the next on two mature rootstock. Still waiting on pears.
The late Dr. David Griffith, famed Southern pear collector from Tallapoosa Co., sent me Dixie Delight scions many year ago, along with a number of others, such as Sen. Clark, Big Mama, Galloway, Ledbetter. Iāve lost or misplaced all but Galloway and Ledbetter. Good to see that itās still out there!
The Wildlife Group sells several of the pears you mention. Theyāre geared more towards wildlife trees as youād guess. I think there are two different Ledbetters: Arthur and John Ledbetter. I have an Arthur Ledbetter and several Gallaway trees. Gallaway has been a bit slower grower for me. One might have sunscald. Another with lime green leaves. I think the 3rd is fine but still small. Becton has been the fastest to grow and quickest to produce of the ones I have from TWG. In talking with Allen at TWG, he thinks Dixie Delight is the best he sells for taste.
Any idea of chill requirement for Dixie Delight?
Very little online about it. Bob Wells shows zone 5-9.
We had a recent year with chill hrs in the upper 600s and the bloom was strong and compact, so no trouble. Some of my apples and peaches had trouble leafing out and blooming in that year. I canāt speak to anything lower than that.
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My first year with Golden Boy in ground and I grafted āpineappleā onto it also has been fine. Zero issues, zero spray of any kind. Quite a few pear trees in my neighborhood Iām not sure of the variety, one of my neighbors told me to help myself as it seems to be a cooking pear. But I wish he would let me prune his tree. Always hurts me to see fruit trees growing how I wouldnāt let them grow. Dead limbs and poor angles etc haha
Just picked up a nice caliper Monterrey pear from the amazing Enchanted Gardens nursery in Fort Bend (southwest of Houston).
I picked the tree with the most spur buds low on the trunk. Currently my thoughts are espalier.
If you ever get a chance to go to Enchanted Gardens, please do. Amazing nursery with a lot of interesting garden accoutrements.
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Interesting trivia, two accessions in ARS-Grin are named Monterrey, one from Spain and one from Nuevo Leon Mexico.
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Iām assuming the ones running around here are the North American version.
Hi everyone, itās been a while since Iāve back to the forum, but wanted to share that my pear tree was loaded this year and with big fruit. Never had a crop like this before.
Iām in NE FL and I would have expected these to have ripened by now, but maybe itās a later summer pear. Honestly, I donāt remember what variety it is, looks kind of like goldenboy, but it could be a Leconte, is there an easy way to tell?
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Hi, I have both Goldenboy and LeConte. You canāt reliably tell them apart by appearance alone. In a farmers market context I sell both as āLeConteā because there is no point in trying to convinced a customer that there is a difference in that context. Goldenboy is consistently a week to two weeks behind LeConte. The reason to have both is for pollination and to extend the season for āLeConteā in a farmers market context.
Iām SE Georgia, 50 miles NW of Savannah. I picked the last of my LeConte pears of the season on Sunday for tomorrowās farmers market. I will probably pick the first of the Goldenboy pears on Sunday or Monday for next Saturdayās Farmers Market. Given where you are located relative to me, and where we are in the season, I would guess that you have Goldenboy.
As for overall differences besides ripening time, the flavor of LeConte is a little more apple like. When allowed to over ripen in the tree they take on the flavor and texture of a mealy, over ripe Golden Delicious apple. Goldenboy is slightly sweeter and the flavor is a little more like that of a really good Bartlett pear from a sumpermarket. Goldenboy is a bigger, faster growing tree. It has more problems with pests. It gets a lot more fireblight. It suffers mightily from brown leaf spot. Itās the favorite pear for most bugs including coddling moth, the little flying cockroaches we have now, red wasps and yellow jackets.
If I were to try to tell a bucket of each apart, I would expect the LeConte pear to be much riper, and the Goldenboy pears to show more insect damage. Other than that, they are identical to the eyeball.
Thanks
Marcus Toole
Statesboro GA (Hardiness Zone 8b/9a.)
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