When i started growing more pears very seriously, almost obsessively when i was around 20 the best memories of pears i had seen and tasted were kieffer pears from my early childhood. My mom and i picked kieffers when i was 7 or 8. Their abundance was memorable. They tasted delicious to me. There was no interest in pears beside the one or two trees planted outside every homestead house in those days. They were normally seedlings or kieffer or rarely duchess d’ angoulme. The public was growing only apples. At the time i felt we could change that and renew interest in pears to a point they were almost as great or maybe even surpassing interest of apples. That has been many years ago and i saw my dream realized among this group. The next generation of pear growers are just as aggressive at growing pears as me. Maybe more so than me! When many people first started growing pears they said things like we have no pears to post about Clark already posted them all. I know that sounds hilarious today since we know there are over 5000 pears but they really felt if i had grown 500 or 600 total that was about all there was. Scion and rootstocks were hard to get. Nafex helped with that. Once gardenweb sold out to houzz most of us were fed up with all the ads abd clunky interface. Scott opened this website about 10 years ago in 2015. Once that happened the new pear growers began to double quickly. Methods were shared and i documented my success as a grower and my techniques. I certainly wasn’t the first. Stephen Hays , Scott, fruitnut , lucky, konrad, bernie, the fluffy bunny, nick botner, bob purvis, ofcourse the infamous corvallis program and curator joseph postman , Dr. Natelson of texas and many many others all were neck deep in pears! We were trying to save the once famous pear from near extinction. Once commercial growers got involved they grew only bartlett, bosc, anjou and red bartlett. Nothing else existed at all to most people. 99% of people in the USA had never heard a thing called an asian pear existed until i was 30. We have came a long way. The next generation of pear growers can learn from us and be 1000x betteer than we ever were at this. The resources are there now! I bugged every nursery i knew of every year until i started seeing them offer more pears. They all sold half a dozen before but now many nurseries sell 30+ types of pears. Who is going to be the next Clarkinks? I’m not getting any younger. Age was never the factor yet rather it is illness that has held me back from reaching my full potential. I wish i could have ate more pears and great food as a youngster. Dr. Bell did some research to the best of his ability on fireblight resistant pears. Thee new strrains of fireblight have no regard for his research. You all have your work cut out for you. I’m patiently waiting to see thee scion lists grow to 500 or 600 types of pears per person who is trading with others with the same.
before i started to come on here, i had no idea pears would even grow here. about 7 yrs. ago a friend from school showed me a pear tree that his dad had planted 30yrs ago. it was a small slightly astringent pear but not bad. i then started to do research and realized there were pears that were hardy here including Bartlet. blew my mind. i have my mtn. ash grafted over to pear that gave me some fruit. and 6 more trees that i still have a little wait before they fruit. if i had known 10 yrs ago, i would have planted them then. sour cherries also.
I’m in the north country also and didn’t realize I could grow pears until recently. I have a harrow sweet espaliered on my garage and something from the germplasm repository in my front yard. The harrow sweet fruited last year, gave us about 10, and my family enthusiastically agreed it was the best pears we had ever had. The one in the front is very small still, pears for my heirs they say.
that one that i planted as well. will be its third year in come spring.
Mine is planted in an area that the previous homeowner had an above ground pool. They had covered the area in sand. It seems to like it. I hope yours does well! I’m guessing you’re always battling the bunnies as well?
no cottontail here and snowshoe hares stay in the swamps.
If you ever visit you will be shocked by the wildlife on my properties. There are huge numbers of rabbits here.
In my area we plants pears for our heirs and hares it seems sometimes. We have alot of rabbits.
@clarkinks Clark i’ll tell you a true story. One of the youth from our church has taken an interest in growing veggies and fruit. He asked if I could teach him. While gardening over here, I discovered he had never eaten a pear before. So at the right time, I picked a good dozen nice ripe bartlet pears and took them over to his mom and dad’s. He washed and eat the first pear of his life while I was there. You should have seen it. His face lit up, he smiled ear to ear, he said wow, just wow. I grafted him a couple of trees this spring and will be planting them over at his mom and dad’s place with him this coming spring. He’s is very eager learn how to grow pears, more so than apples.
I guess i fall into this category with about 150 pear trees about to start producing next couple years… I just dont like the tone of the original post, it gives me the feeling that clark is going away.
When we sold our home and orchard, 11 yrs ago, trees were begining to hold a crop. Bartlett produced the best tasting pear ever, my rows of yoinashi and kgiant were in full bloom. Never tried one. Fast forward, i have more trees than ever and am looking forward to eating and propagating pears next year. Some of my property Im not in it only for the money necessarily, but the experience. As an educator and pear promoter Im more interested in the oohs and ahs, the really? I didn’t know…I can do this?..
As a self taught pyrus maniac I find GROWING FRUIT app invaluable.
My neighbor apple grower had a back hoe over yanking his honey crisps out. Peak production. No regraft, no nothing. One of the saddest things.
Plenty of wildlife here in the wilderness of New England but the bun range ends around S NH/ME. I’m in C NH and have never seen one. Biggest issue for my young pear trees in the field are voles and chipmunks. The older trees have to deal with porcupine and deer damage. And of course the other critters stealing fruit like squirrels, raccoons, and possums.
I use the spiral wrap tree guards and have never had any bark damage from rodents.
I like those too. The ones I have I check every fall for insect egg masses. Ive gone to 1/2" galvanized hardware mesh. A lot cheaper . I unroll a 4’ roll, cut it lengthwise with grinder, then desired width, usually 14-16", enough to wraparound, spring loaded and bent to hold in place, if that makes sense.
I started out with sprial tree wraps. Yes they work well for rodents and rabbits. But they also are prime enviroments for molds and borers. I’ve since switched to hardware cloth. Trunks get enough air flow now and I can spray the lower portion of the truck to contol borers.
Just a thought for your consideration.
Indeed hardware cloth would seem best overall. Also use burlap ribbon on bigger diameters but that could trap mold also.
Clark, I just signed up to this forum while researching fire blight resistant varieties. I am a commercial grower from Western Colorado (mostly peaches). My 3 blocks totaling 10 acres of Bartlett is 60 years old and very much in decline from FB and, to a lesser extent Psylla. I have access to some virgin ground to plant in the effort of replacing my existing blocks. My customers are very satisfied with Bartlett and I like the timing fairly well. What varieties would you suggest?
We’ve had a similar discussion re fireblight resistant varieties. I’ll wait for Clark to respond but meantime, here is a list of varieties you can research. Bell and Warren in particular are likely to work in your climate for your customers. And welcome to growing fruit!
Ayers*
Bell*
Blake’s Pride
Clarks Yellow*
Douglas
Drippin Honey*
Harrow Delight*
Harrow Sweet*
Harvest Queen
Highland - caution, may not be adapted to your area
Kieffer - fruit quality is meh
Magness - slow to bear
Maxine
Potomac*
Seckel
Shenanadoah
Spalding
Tyson
Warren*
- means more likely to work in your climate
I fall into the crazy hobbyist category. 20 trees and at least 14 varieties. I don’t grow Kieffer or bartlett. There are some really good non commercial varieties like Morettini that are fantastic. I always looking for suggestions. Fireblight and time to fruit really limits interest in pears.
I am always interested in swapping scion wood. Just north of Chicago
Thanks for the response. To be commercially viable, the variety must be early bearing, great flavor/texture, good size and appearance, precocious, and FB resistant. I, truly, appreciate you scientists/hobbyists who have tested a lot of varieties. I am at the other end of the spectrum. I would like to plant one or two varieties (with appropriate pollenizers) in a high density orchard on trellis and start making money by giving folks what they want.
What rootstock would you prefer to use? Also trellis can be difficult with some pear varieties. Have you looked at arched pears as an alternative? Basically, plant 2 trees and pull the tops toward each other and tie them in the middle. It keeps the fruit low enough to pick while using the trees as a natural trellis.