Yeah - but store bought apple def have a better texture, though I do think i’ve heard asian pears in particular don’t travel nearly as well/do well early.
As far as I know, no, they are not self fertile, but they can be pollinated from quite far away, we had a Bradford pear down the road, and we had Asian pears every year even though the flowers were usually gone before the Clapp’s Favorite’s flowers opened up.
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We’ve never had that problem on my Korean Giant (Olympic).
39th parallel is great, I’m not sure what varieties he has this year though.
And no.
Asian pear texture is better than the best apples and juicier too. That “stale” taste is from a pear that was picked green and never ripened properly, or it was starting to spoil.
And Korean Giants easily last 5 months, but eating them before less than one month of storage is not usually recommended.
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Will Asian pears graft to quince rootstock? I put one shinseiki on quince eline this winter and another on a branch of an established euro pear called Cornish gold. No buds yet but they’ve not dried out.
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I think they’re either incompatible or not advised (long term issues), some people advise to use interstem with european pear.
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Hopefully the one on a branch takes long enough to do an interstem later. Thanks!
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Yes, small fruit is not a common problem with Korean Giant (or Drippin Honey). But… many large fruit on limbs causes lots of broken limbs. Ask me how I know.
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I have had Chojuro from the store that were amazing and not stale. The stale and flavorless asian pears are usually picked too early and stored too long, they even start to loose their whatever juiciness they had
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Thanks, it does make sense, i assume they’re way out of season,(got it like a month or so ago), I’ll keep my eye out for fresh ones this season, though i already got a chojuro tree at this point.
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By about the 12th of February some Asian pears in the stores have been sitting around too long. Make sure they are not soft, and that they don’t have brown spots. There is also a different smell to an Asian pear that was sitting around too long, not sure how to describe that smell.
As far as tasty, it’s very hard to tell how much flavor an Asian pear bought from the store will have no matter when it’s bought. I have had both Chojuro, and Korean Giant pears from the store, both can have a great and strong taste, yet not always, it depends on if it was picked too early, if it was properly stored, if it was stored for too long, if the fruit was ripening in the sun, and to some extent the climate it was grown in. Yet to me an Asian pear picked too early is better than a European pear picked too early.
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There is a world of difference between store bought and home grown Asian pears.
I’ve grown shinsui and Hosui and they are amazing when picked when fully brown without any background green. Crispy, with notes of butterscotch and honey. Especially the Hosui, though I’ve heard chojuro is even better than that.
The store bought ones are nowhere nearly as good. The ones I’ve seen mostly are Shinko/Shingo. Maybe it’s the variety itself but I suspect they are picked a bit underripe for better storage and easier shipping. It’s less crispy and less sweet with minimal butterscotch flavor compared to what I grow. Also the peel is tough/borderline inedible but the stuff I grow I just eat the peel.
The ones I grow don’t seem to store very well. They tend to go soft after a couple of weeks in the fridge.
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Shinko are supposed to be very good, how good I am not sure. Our first and only Asian pear variety to produce so far was Shinko, last year, although first some insect put holes in the flowers that were turning in to fruit already, and then I was gone when they were supposed to be picked, and the fruit perished while I was gone. This year I protected one area of the Sinko grafts in time, and there was no holes in them, the other area of shinko that flowered I did not protect in time, and they are full of holes again like last year. I think that the holes are being put there by plum curculio beetles, same holes on the Asian pear tiny fruitless, made at the same time as the holes on the plums. Netting works perfectly at keeping them away. If only I could find a way to net the whole tree right after the flowers are pollinated by the bees, which is about late March. Not only does the netting prevent the holes, it also lessons the amount of fruit dropping as well for some reason. This year I will have a decent idea of how the Shinko fruit are when not picked too early.
That makes sense, I always thought that Asian pears at the store were still being sold long after they could be stored at home.
The only Asian pears I could figure out what they are at the stores where the Korean Giants and the Chojuro. Well those and the very rare occasion that the Asian pear variety is marked which almost never happens, although the ones I have seen a variety mentioned, have been varieties that I have never heard of before, and that I was not impressed with.
I know that the Korean Giant pears and the Chojuro pears I have tried are not as good as home grown, yet if they are a ton better then I will be blown away by how good they are. Some of the store bought ones I have had they tasted like butterscotch to me, and that is why I wanted at least some butterscotch tasting Asian pears.
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Shinko is exceptionally good when tree ripened. My tree so far has had no strikes from fireblight. Other Asian pears in the same location have been hit hard with Hosui taking the most damage.
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You can easily do a one-shot interstem on pears: take the interstem scion and the top scion and do a whip and tongue on them, and then immediately take the whole thing and graft to the rootstock. I’ve done many of these and nearly all of them worked.
Re: Shinko, that one was never good for me. It had thick skin and low sugar and flavor. Chojuro was also often dry and low flavor. I did have some good Chojuro some years. I think both are location dependent.
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It may also be relative to how much fruit the tree is carrying. My tree has only made a few fruit so far. This year looks like it will be a good crop.
Agree. Shinko is stinko grown here.
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It could be for multiple reasons.
Yes, overbearing does lower fruit quality, and Shinko is sure a high production variety, for me it has been. Although since I only made 3 grafts of it on my one root stock that will have upper teens, or maybe even 20 something grafts that one variety it’s self should not stress the Franken tree as much as if it was all Skinko .
I ended up Chojuro - there seem to be widly varying opinions on favorite with asian pears, some people swear by one, a lot like the 20th century/hosui, and some love chojuro. Just kinda went off of description. Can always add another. For now going to rely on nearby bradford pears, of which there’s a lot of.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a factor since I sometimes under-thin. But I do the same degree of thinning on all my pears and the other asians still taste great. I don’t have these two any more but if I did I’d try massively over-thinning and see how they tasted.
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