Strangely as I was looking up 20th Century characteristics on Fast-Growing-Trees, which happened to be the first result in my search, they have an agricultural ban on shipping to Louisiana.
That can’t be right. I’ve purchased Asian pear trees from two different nurseries no problem.
Regardless was thinking about my grating onto OHxF 87 I could go for one variety like 20th or put two on.
Ideally I want to grow out the '87 thick enough to do bud grafts for the laterals.
I’m sure there’ s a reason Fast Growing trees can’t ship to LA.
Probably has to do with lack of inspections or failed inspections.
I’m always wary of those SPONSORED ads at the top of the search engine pages…be they nursery items or some climate sensationalism.
You want to look for Asian pears with yellow skin (thinned skin). Hosui and Korean Giant are russeted skin.
Opposite to @Podunk, I prefer Shinseiki to 20 th Century.
Shinseiki - sweeter, better overall, a bit larger in size
20th - milder/not as sweet, a small pear.
Both are crunchy and juicy. Both are productive.
However, 20th can set up to 10 fruit per cluster and it has thousands of flowers on a mature tree. It is a thinning nightmare.
Unfortunately, my Shinseiki got fire blight and I will not graft it again.
I don’t know any self fruitful Asian pear. Cross pollination is usually needed. You can grow one tree and graft as many varieties you want on it.
@PharmerDrewee grows many Asian pears. Hope he can give you suggestions on thinned skin Asian pear he likes.
Agreed. 20th isn’t a very good pear and thinning is dreadfully bad. Even if one thins bloom very early it still sets way to many pears. THe small pears hide in the leaves.
Korean Giant is way bigger fruit, much less thinning, and sweeter. To me the biggest downside of KG is it’s a hard pear, not crisp, hard. Maybe if I let them get ripper, they’d soften up a bit.
You can always graft a 2nd variety onto your tree for pollination. It’s really not hard, and I feel the intimidation is why a lot of people aren’t open to the idea initially. Hosui has rough skin, but you can always peel them. A lot of people peel fruit. It’s no more time consuming than what some people spend on their phones. Drippin Honey is thin skinned and pretty tasty. It does get softer as it ripens and isn’t what I’d call crispy unless picked during a very short window. Shin Li is much more crispy and I like it very much, but it seems some folk on here don’t love it the same way. I have no idea about self pollination as I have a myriad of pear cultivars. I’m sure you could go to a farmers market at this time of the year in your area to try locally grown varieties to decide for yourself.
That “try it in the local market” doesn’t work for all of us unfortunately.
Apple is the only stone or pome fruit that has any variety at all in the stores here.
I MAY see a KG at Whole Paycheck, but I don’t shop there. I could drive an hour to a small Asian market but I still doubt if see more than KG there.
There are usually 2 or 3 varieties of European pears, but none of those can be grown here so That isn’t helpful.
There may be a peach or nectarine, but I don’t even think is states the varieties and they aren’t worth buying anyway.
That’s why I may be one of the forumites that asks a lot of questions. I have no way to try anything without growing it myself.
So I have a 3 on 1 Asian pear with 20th, Shinseiki, and Hosui. Got 1 hosui (picked too early) and 1 shinseiki which didn’t ripen. It’s a wee little tree so I’ll know in a few years.
I have a larger shinseiki in a bad spot for sun that has never flowered. I grafted Raja, KG, and Hosui. I had a few more but the grafts either didn’t take or broke off (tsu li and Yakumo).
I can relate with you. I hadn’t ever tasted most of the varieties I grow before they fruited. That’s why some trees ended up being chopped. Fortunately for Someet, they live in an area with lots of farmers markets that label their varieties if you’re willing to look for them. I love visiting the markets in the SF Bay area when I’m around.
I love going to markets anywhere in the world (except where I live appear) to see and smell everything. It’s astounding how much there is to see and also realizing it’s such a small fraction of what is actually out there.
Brogdale National Fruit Collection in Kent, England has over 2000 varieties of apples alone, two per variety. They are all labeled by variety, discovery, location, who brought them to England, and who financed it. Amazing history as well as variety info.
Did you know why the crew mutinied on the Bounty? Because the captain was giving the drinking water to the breadfruit tree he was bringing back in preference to the crew.
I plant to graft a few more varieties this year. Maybe Shinko is one of them.
Darn, that reminds me Mel Gibson in that movie.
For me it is small in size and has a good flavor, but it is not one of the best
@PharmerDrewee I also planted just a few weeks ago a dwarf mulberry and a small (tree size) variety of persimmon.
I’ve never tasted or even seen a mulberry. I’ve seen persimmon in local markets or roadway stands, but I’ve never eaten one.
I guess I’m not a practical gardener… I’m more of a romantic gardener.
If that makes sense.
For whatever reason I’ve always been fascinated by cherries. I think when I was 6 we went to northern California and I had some local ones and they were amazing.
Fast forward to 2004 or so and I visited Brogdale in England and got to pick cherries and eat them off the trees as we toured the 300+ cherry varieties they grow. I was in heaven.
Fast forward again to this spring when I planted several low chill sweet cherry trees. Of the 5, 3 are dead already. Not having a choice of rootstock that will better suit my soil and climate, I had to try making due with what I could buy as a retail consumer.
So the dream of eating my own grown cherry is very much up on the air.
Look up where there’s local farmers markets near you:
Thanks for the work.
I have been to several local markets. I’m sure I could find persimmon (later this year) and perhaps mulberry, but I’ve only seen local citrus.
No apples, no plums, no pears. It’s just not a part of the country that if people grow they don’t present at a local market.
So you see I am a fruit tree romantic still!
I would love to grow some Dasui Li. I live in Texas, zone 8a, chill hour avg 700-800. What’s the estimate chill hour for Dasui?
I grew it in zone 9 in the California Central Valley so you’re not going to have a chill hour issue.
Agreed. Most Asian countries don’t cook pears as far as I know. Those were eaten fresh. However, Korean people use pears to make some kind of Kimchee ( there are many different type of them), which is very delicious.
South Koreans use pears mostly for two things that I’m aware of: juice for drinking and use in meat marinades like for bulgogi to tenderize the meat and add some sweetness.
Why cook when you can have it fresh and crunchy, maybe a waste of energy.
