I have a very poor pear set this year. My Luscious has some, but not enough that I will have to thin. Not sure if there is a single pear on my large Clapp’s Favorite or my Flemish Beauty. The Summercrisp has a light crop. Waiting to see if anything is going to happen with the grafts I made.
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Was that poor fruit set due to bad weather during bloom?
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I wish I knew. Probably, or maybe the cold winter.
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I had poor blooming on most of the trees. I think the squirrels got the bloom buds on the two big trees (Winny and Granny Durden). Tennessee acted like it did not get enough chilling hours. It eventually produced a small crop, but it bloomed in dribs and drabs. Goldenboy had the best crop, but I pruned it heavily this winter to shape it because it had lost two major limbs last year. One was lost to a fire blight lesion low in the limb, and the other broke due to the fruit being too heavy. In the pruning I pruned most of the bloom buds off. LeConte has a good crop given the size of the tree. It’s just a small slow growing tree. Southern Bartlett over cropped badly last year and did not produce many blooms this year. I also pruned it heavily thereby cutting off many of the pears that it otherwise would have made. Baldwin is just slow maturing. It bloomed and made a light crop on the South facing side of the tree but not the North facing side. I should have some ripening pears in about two weeks.
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We had the opposite problem this year and did not lose enough blooms. Our pear crop is way to heavy so we have lost half the branches.
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That is horrible to hear. Pear tree branches are not very flexy with that much weight on them. .
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Is anyone growing Devoe at this time?
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I just got a catalog from gurneys and they are currently having a 50% off sale on select plants one of those plants is an Asian pear by the name of Chojuro Asian. Has anyone had any experience with this pear? Is it worth spending the $20 for the plant?
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It is a great tasting Asian pear. I enjoyed it along with Korean Giant
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@Silverfoot
It tastes very much like butterscotch. @39thparallel and I ate several chojuro one day from his tree that were exceptional.
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Tyson is blooming this year finally but do not expect it to bloom fast. 6 years+ is normal even on a dwarfing rootstock like 333. I used a unique callery pear im testing with to get blooms and hopefully fruit faster.
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Thanks for the warning. I am in year 3 I think.
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Our Tyson took 7 years, but it was worth the wait. Glad we planted it in 2004.
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For the fun of it, I grafted one of the Comice scionwood on a Tyson tree. I will be in my retirement before they both fruit.
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Nice!
Out of the pears I grafted my first year out, Tyson was the only one that survived (barely), and in spite of several setbacks (most recently getting munched by rabbits), it’s still hanging in there. If I ever see blossoms on mine, it will be a happy day!
By the way, Clark, am I right in remembering that you were giving St. Andre a trial? Curious if you have any news - that’s one that looks intriguing to me.
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Saint Andre was on my list but I do not believe the grafts exist now. That may be part of the orchard that had damage from storms. I.will look for it again out there What Pears will you grow this year? . There have been times I graft a variety multiple times and don’t wind up with a single tree. This happened twice with Napoleon.
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Buerre Giffard is our favorite pear of those we grow. First pear of the season, productive most years, and deliciously sweet.
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The Beurre on Beurre Gifford means butter so they named it a buttery tasting pear. That’s always a nice thing to call a pear. In this discussion i mentioned this as one of the things i watch for on high quality French pears Very thankful for ARS GRIN programs! A plethora of pears & apples! - #65 by alanmercieca
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Glad to know. I love melting, smooth pears. That will be something I will look forvscionwood next year.
just grafted Buerre Superfin as I heard good things about it.
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I grafted Beurre Superfin two years ago, I think. Good to know that you’ve heard good things about it. We now have:
Beurre Superfin
Clara Frijs
Dana Hovey
Des Urbanistes
Harrow Sweet
Harvest Queen
Honeysweet
Korean Giant
Magness
Tyson
Winter Nelis
And this year I grafted Louise Bonne de Jersey, Cabot of Vermont, and Beurre Clairgeau (which I had actually gotten mixed up with Beurre Giffard, but oh well). I’ll have rootstock ready for a few more next year, so I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread…
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