I’ve bought a couple trees from Hidden Springs & they’ve been fine. But sounds like they screwed up your tree!
Moonglow is a complete
waste and I’m top grafting over to Harrow Sweet.
Rayrose, you might want to look at this quote from a description of Moonglow I found online: “MOONGLOW Excellent flavor; smooth flesh with almost no grit cells. Ripens about a week before Bartlett. Medium-large. Good keeper; storage of 6 to 8 weeks required to develop full flavor. Precocious and productive. Very resistant to fire blight. Introduced by USDA in 1960 from the Mich. 436 x Roi Charles de Wurtemburg cross.”
Notice the part of the description I have starred. Moonglow requires 6 to 8 weeks of cold storage to develop maximum flavor. If that’s true, then you probably are not keeping your pears refrigerated long enough to give them a chance. What this also means is that this is a good variety for winter storage. This just might be my storage pear. But we shall see. The local nursery here has just gotten some beautiful Maxine pears. I would love to hear a more thorough description of your Maxine pears and some pictures if you have them.
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Moonglow was very good for me for many years in zone 7B Eastern Shore, hot, humid, fireblight central, Maryland.
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After two years of not letting moonglow ripen in storage long enough I came close to getting it right. Longer storage time appears to be the key it being an excellent pear.
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Thank you. That kind of tells me what I want to do. I have eleven different varieties of pear trees in my yard but with non other than the two Asian pears being reported to have particularly good storage qualities. Tennessee was supposed to be a good storer, but over ripens in the refrigerator just as fast as Southern Bartlett which is fast. The folks that patented Purdue say its a stores a long time, but I have not heard a second opinion on that. The local nursery here has just gotten in a beautiful shipment of Moonglow pear trees along with some Maxines. I can’t find much info on Maxine’s about storage qualities, but given what I’m hearing from your guys I’m seriously thinking of getting a moon glow.
The two pears I’m considering for the other spot are Potomac and Korean Giant. I wonder about my chilling hours for Patomac. I got 716 chilling hours last year. The two previous years I got over 1,000 hours and then in 2013 I got 790 hours. I’m not sure if that’s in the range for Potomac to be reliable or not. Anyone have any ideas on that? God bless.
Marcus
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Bay Laurel Nursery of Calif says the Potomac pear has an 800 hour chill requirement.
https://baylaurelnursery.com/pears.html
It is a child of Moonglow and D’Anjou bred in Ohio.
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I appreciate the research you did, but I did similar research, before I bought
the tree. I bought the tree based on the research and all the write ups and
descriptions in nursery catalogs. My experience is based on 8 years of growing this tree and giving it optimal care and a prime position in my orchard, and trying all of things you mentioned. I still stand by my statements, which have been corroborated by other growers that I know. THIS VARIETY IS A DOG in the South, and I do not recommend that anyone in the South waste their time and money growing a pear that the birds in my orchard won’t even eat.
I don’t have any pictures of Maxine, but it is the BEST pear that I grow.
I like big, hard, crunchy, and delicious pears that are totally trouble free
and hang on the tree very long and store well under refrigeration. That’s
Maxine and every orchard should have one.
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Has anyone here had a chance to try Acres Home side by side with Southern Bartlett? The photo of Acres’ Home looks a lot like my Southern Bartletts did. Nettleson in his description of Acres Home said that they are 1/3 larger than Southern Bartlett. It strikes me as odd that he would describe one obscure pear by comparing it to an equally obscure pear unless the two were pretty similar apart from the issue of size. If anyone has had experience with both side by side, I would love to hear what your thoughts on how the two compare. God bless.
Marcus
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One of the pear varieties I added to my orchard this past winter is Southern King. This is apparently a cross between Tennessee as the seed parent and Hosoui the pollen parent. Southern King has the shape and taste of a European pear supposedly. But it has the Asian pear characteristic of ripening its fruit on the tree. I’ve not heard anything about whether the fruit keep under refrigeration. Based on pictures of it I’ve seen, it appears to be another small pear like it’s seed parent Tennessee and its more distant ancestor Seckel.
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I also added the sister variety to Southern King to my orchard Tennosui.
This pear resembles the pollen parent, Hosui but has much better fire blight resistance. The pear is said to have an excellent European flavor. While Southern King is supposedly crunchy when fully ripe, I’ve heard conflicting reports or Tennosui’s texture. Some folks say crunchy and others soft. Like Southern King and Hosui, if’s fruit is supposed to ripen best on the tree. Another characteristic that gets reported about it is that the flesh does not brown even when exposed to air for a day or so. Dr Nettelson commented that this quality makes it just an especially good choice for salads. God bless.
Marcus
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Just found this website and happy to be here. Looks like there is a bunch of great info here from other passionate growers.
I’ve been a coastal Georgia pear-a-holic since 2009. My property is located about 65 miles inland from Savannah, GA. I’ve 39 pear trees and 9 Fuyu / Jiro persimmons currently. Have lost a few to fireblight- they were Low Country’s and Trophy deer pears purchased / planted in 2009 from Edward Fort Nursery. Lost one other to tractor negligence on my part. Experience is an excellent teacher.
I have multiple varieties planted and have purchased all but a couple of the varieties offered by The Wildlife Group in Alabama. Zero problems with their trees. Highly recommend the Dixie Delight they offer-very close to a high quality Asian pear in taste and appearance. Will be planting another batch of them next month along with Warrens and a couple of their new varieties.
Marcus, from what I’ve read, you are in or very close to Statesboro which is just down 301 from me. I’m just north of Sylvania. BTW, I sent a request on FB to join the So. Pear Interest Group.
Will throw some pics up in the next few days. Look forward to great conversations, learning more and helping others through my experiences.
Regards,
Charles
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Charles,
Welcome to our august group.
Sounds like you have a lot of great experiences to exchange with us.
Just caught this thread. I’ll have more to add later for sure but I wanted to say that for me Moonglow was not a bad pear. At least as grown in central Texas near Austin it would ripen up nicley. It definateley need a few weeks of refrigeration followed by a week on the counter to bring out the flavors but when I did this it was a very nice pear. One of my best most years. More onyou experiences later. This is a great thread!
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X2 on using Azomite for micros. I also use Redmond Conditioner. All but the same thing (HSCAS) except for appearance.
Where do you get your Azomite? I’ve been getting mine in Deland, FL. Quite the drive…
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Hi, Charles, great to have you here. I just approved you for the southern pears FB group. I’m always up for connecting with fruit growers in the area.
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Good to see you here Wildscaper.
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Charles, I do live in Statesboro. I’m always up for connecting with fruit growers in the area. I just have a small home orchard but am always up to learning new things. I want to get into growing persimmons and would love to know more about your experience growing them in our area. God bless.
Marcus, seems like you’re as into growing pears as I am! I’m definitely up for meeting as well.
Really like your thoughts on the pears from Just Fruits. I’ve been contemplating a buy from them for a few years, but end up going back to The Wildlife Group. Rethinking my planting plan now and might add a Golden Boy, So. Bartlett, and Acres Home to my list for planting next month.
Persimmons are easy. No disease, but do get web worms some seasons. I’m growing Fuyu and Jiro. Just finished eating/giving away the last of them today.
Let’s stay in touch and plan to meet sometime.
Regards,
Charles
Is there a PM function on this site?
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Seems I can only post one pic at a time and limited on replies per thread as a newb. More to follow when allowed.
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Thank you sir! I used to do grower reports for Travis for the SPIG for several years. I don’t grow as many pears now but I need to do them again I know. I will find the Facebook page later today. Good to get this thread going.