The pears you may not have heard of and should consider growing

I got the pears I was going to get for the year. I’m eating Duchess right now. Thankful since the aronia crop is taking all my time.

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Taking lots of chances on my pears this year and eventually I can provide some good feedback and scions. I like my pears to produce fruit before I start assuming I truly know what I have. There are many pears such as forelle, abate fetel, luscious, harvest queen, Tyson, magness, worden, warren, Potomac and many others I’ve not grown more than one to a couple of years. Concorde, Conference, Comice etc. are all exceptional pears but very difficult to grow here so I need to just see how that goes. Pears such as Bosc I’ve not been able to get right yet due to wind and other grafting and weather factors.

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Anyone tried Beurre Six? It looks like it might be a good pear https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=%20PI+617675. The description is "Rather curious that this fine pear, raised 60 years ago, is yet so little appreciated in this country. As a December fruit to follow Comice there is nothing better and it has advantage over Glou Morceau, ripening at the same season, in doing excellently in the open. On cordons here on a sandy loam fruits are annually produced of the very finest quality. Shape distinct, quite pyriform but tapering very sharply to the stem and eye making the shape resemble an ace of diamonds. Colour quite green even when ripe, the usual yellow change being hardly perceptible. The flesh is most deliciously melting, quite as much as Doyenne du Comice and the flavour very good indeed. Raised in 1845 by M. Six, a gardener at Courtrai and first described by Bivort in Annales de Pomologie Vol. III, fig. 53, and also by Decaisne, in Jardin Fruitier, Vol VI, plate 23 under name Six.Growth rather slow in first few years but it makes a good pyramid when established and can be very confidently recommended to all lovers of good pears. – Edward A. Bunyard, Fruit Notes. Journal Pomol. I:2:140-143, 1919.

Beurre Six was raised from seed about 1845 by a gardener named Six at Courtrai in Blegium. Fruit large, pyriform, smooth, pea-green changing to yellow; flesh greenish-white, fine, melting, firm, buttery, very juicy; first; Oct. to Dec. – U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York, 1921

Scionwood of Beurre Six was received at USDA Bureau of Plant Industry from Lepage et Cie., Angers, France on 13 March, 1939 and assigned PI 131842. This may be the same clone. – USDA Plant Inventory Number 138. "

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It is rather strange to see you mentioning this pear. For some reason I have this pear on a list of apples and pears I want to find. I have no idea where I saw this pear mentioned though. Doing my research on different apples and pears I take a lot of notes. However, during my early research I did not either print out the articles or list where I found the information about the different varieties of apples and pears I found to be interesting enough to look for. It does sound like a very good pear to find and grow. Good luck with it if you find a source to try it out.

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let me introduce a few pears of Bryansk selection. With the scent of a rose.

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Variety of pears Bryansk beauty, early-spring, intensive type for quince, normalization and trellis. On a wild pear periodicity. It is stored 2 weeks, in the refrigerator until the middle of November.
p1234

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Pear with an exceptional taste, with a strong aroma of rose. Early winter. Stored in simple conditions until December, in the refrigerator longer, but usually eaten. Variety Present to Petrakov (Red Williams + Local variety).
p1234

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@yri32 Yurii,
The first image looks a great deal like Abate fetel which is a very nice looking pear. Where are you from I’m assuming Russia? When you say Petrakov do you mean Петраков Piotrków Trybunalski - Wikipedia? I’m a little confused by location because if I zoom out on this map Petrakov, Russia - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates Petrakov is between the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. I only know about Kazakhstan because I grow apples from there. I know many of the newer Russian pears are from the Bryansk region which is the northern most limit of pear cultivation in the Soviet Union. This link shows the city of Bryansk Bryansk - Wikipedia. I also know scion wood was presented to USDA by the Moscow Experimental Station of Fruit Culture in 1963 for several varieties which are now grown in Alaska https://sites.google.com/site/alaskafruittrees/pears. Many of the newer types of the Russian pears are making there way into Canada such as Krazula Krazulya Pear. This is a Canadian company which offers it Krazulya Pear Tree - Developed in Russia - Hardy zone 3a. You might also like to read this thread Russian pears for zone 2 - some info I found. Bernie Nikolai has been working on getting many of these Siberian pears into Canada if these are part of that same group. This is a post from 15 years ago in 2003 [NAFEX] New Ultra Hardy Russian Pears. @hungryfrozencanuck4b & @Antmary may be familiar with these pears you mentioned. Antmary I know when you lived in Russia you grew Chizhovskaya and wondered if you are familiar with either of these pears? The Red Williams aka Red Bartlett x Local cross is a cross of harbin pear? I’m trying to make sure I understand the location mentioned http://www.maps-of-europe.net/maps/maps-of-russia/political-and-administrative-map-of-russia-with-all-roads-cities-and-airports.jpg. @Sue-MiUPz3 & @smsmith I suspect you both will be very interested to know this information based on this thread Euro pears on Ussurian rootstock. Thanks Yurii for posting the pictures and names with descriptions. Do you have any additional information? Welcome to the forum! Back in 2003 this is what Bernie said in the Nafex post in case it gets moved or deleted since it’s getting old
"A friend in south western Siberia, near Barnul told me about very new
Russian pears that have been just released after a very long (several
decades in some cases) breeding cycle. Apparently pears are very much more
difficult to breed if you want excellent quality and excellent hardiness
than apples. Pyrus Ussuriensus, the Siberian Pear which is hardy to -50F
and colder, was always used in the crosses. There were many F1, F2, F3
crosses to get the quality of a european pear but the hardiness of the
siberian pear. The pears are at the “Lisavenko Horticultural Research
Intstitute For Siberia” in Barnul, which is in south west Siberia, and also
at the arboretum at the University of Chelyabinsk, in Chelyabinsk, Siberia.
They were all developed in Siberia, and all apparently take at least -40F
and then some without damage. The newly released pears are so new, that
apparently many people in Russia are not even aware of them.

These pears, according to the descriptions, are impressive to say the
least. A golden delicious apple, which does grow in southern Russia, is
rated 4.5 out of 5 in their taste tests. These new pears are 4.5 to 4.9 out
of 5 in terms of taste, ie fully commercial quality. There are about 20 of
these pears just released. A few of the names, and comments, translated
from the Russian:

Krazulya (Beauty), tastiest of the early pears, ripe mid to late August,
4.7 out of 5 taste rating. A summer pear with excellent sweet taste with a
hint of spice.
Kraznobokaya (Red Skinned)- easily handles -45C (thats about -50F!), tart
when ripe in late September, but stores very well, and becomes a 4.9 out of
5 taste in storage. Large, to 200 grams (a supermarket apple is about 130
grams)
Decabrinka (of December) large, to 180 grams, ripe late September, stores
to the new year, 4.7 out of 5 rating.

These are just 3 of the 20 or so. Others have names (translated into
English) Late, Hanging, Sweetie Pie, Taiga Forest, Rich, Northern Girl,
Fairy, Secular, Oval, Rainbow, Lel, Perun, Swarog, Kupava (names of early
pagan Russian deities) and a few others I can’t recall.

Because of the siberian pear used in their ancestory, siberian pear is
supposed to make an excellent and ultra hardy rootstock for these new varieties.

I personally have contacted the Agriculture Canada stations at Morden,
Manitoba and Kentville, Nova Scotia so they can import these pears to Canada
for testing. Unfortunately, Russia is in near chaos now, and their faxes
and letters remain unanswered. Perhaps some of the US folk on this list,
especially those in the colder areas with an interest in pears, might be
interested in contacting the US authorities to import these trees for
testing to a US government facility for spring of 2004? I have no further
info on phone numbers or addresses other than the info above, so they will
have to do some digging for contacts, phone numbers, addresses, etc. on
their own. It would help if the people calling spoke Russian as well. I
would suggest a phone call by a US government agriculture official who
speaks Russian, as mail and faxes are not being answered, according to the
Agriculture Canada people up here. Good luck on it all. This might be a
worthy project for someone in the US interested in these pears, to get the
trees over to a US government agriculture test facility for testing in
spring of 2004. Our Canadian officials seem stymied, or perhaps a bit too
placid to follow things through more tenaciously, but perhaps “good old
Yankee ingenuity” can get these trees over to North America for testing.
Bernie Nikolai
Edmonton, Alberta
"

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Thank you!
Bryansk selection has nothing to do with Moscow or Siberia. Chizhovskaya is a derivative of the Ussuri pear.
Bryansk varieties were derived from the Kokino Agricultural Academy, which is still known for raspberries and strawberries. You are absolutely right, the Bryansk region is the most
northern for the range of pears!
The selection was carried out from the crossing of local winter hardy varieties and European pears-Williams, Cure, Nikolai Kruger, etc.
Since 1953, 3 hybrid gardens have been laid, and only in 1988 the first grade - Bryanskaya Krasava - was obtained. Then there are events when scientific activity was suspended
and the lands of the collection pear garden were given for the construction of cottages. However, it was possible to keep some hybrid fund and from it some interesting forms are allocated.
One of them is a variety. A gift to Petrakov. There are a few hybrids that I will talk about in the future.
I must say that the Bryansk selection of the pear is very much appreciated, but it is completely unknown to the world.

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@clarkinks: In the variety name “Gift to Petrakov”, Petrakov (Петраков) is the last name of a person, probably a friend of the person who selected the pear and likely not somebody you would find on Wiki (and definitely not the name of a town).

@yri32, when you translate the word “сорт” the correct translation in this context is “variety” or “cultivar” rather than “grade” [Юрий, когда вы переводите слово “сорт”, в данном контексте правильный перевод — это variety или cultivar, а не grade].

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Yuri, where in zone 3 are you located? I’d sure like to get my hands on some of that scionwood. Seems Russian pear scions are darn near impossible (for me anyway) to obtain in the U.S.

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@smsmith: Yurii is in Bryansk region of Russia. According to this map, Hardiness Zones of Europe, this is actually Zone 5.

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Yuri,

Welcome to the forum!
It is nice to know we’ll have members living in Russia. I lived in Moscow region for many years until my family came to US. Reading Russian garden forums it looks like there is an explosion of new cultivars of winter hardy fruits, so I sometimes feel jealous about them. @clarkinks there are many new varieties of pears were selected. Previously when I grew up, pears we not popular and very rare, mainly because they were not hardy enough (yes, Briansk was considered the northern border for them) and Chizhovskaya was one of the few pears that grew easily in Moscow region. Now it is different, and there are varieties that are grown near Ural mountains at zone 3. They also selecting winter hardy peaches, sweet cherries, persimmons, walnuts, etc. A lot of work is done by the fruit enthusiasts, gardening is very popular hobby in Russia.
@yri32, we will be interested to hear back about the other varieties that you have.
@clarkinks, in the context of the variety name Petrakov is not the city, but the last name of the person, i.e. the variety name is A gift to Petrakov.

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Thank you all for the great explanations. The location & names makes perfect sense now. Pears look like very good varities!

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Another interesting form of the Bryansk pear. There are only two copies of the tree, including my own.
Home Late (Домашняя Поздняя).
Presumably a derivative of the famous variety Nikolai Kruger. This is not Nikolai Kruger, namely another hybrid.Pears are very large. The hybrid is yielding. Autumn maturity. Winterproof. Compatible with the quince. Because of the disadvantages - the rounded shape and sagging when ripening with a variety is not recorded.

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Autumn hybrid without a name. The origin is not known. Very tasty pear. Early autumn ripening. Very yieldless without periodicity. With a quince is not compatible which is a disadvantage.

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I would graft something like Anjou to quince and then the incompatible pear you called Autumn hybrid to Anjou What pears are quince compatible?

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How does it taste?

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Very beautiful.

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