Top 5 european pears

[mamuang]

HI Joe,
Appleseed left the forum almost two years ago.

The thread I created below is about store-bought Europears. I really like Potomac.

Pictures of some European pears for you

Stopped at Cornell Orchard Store today. They have several E pears on sale. I did not take pictures of Bosc or Bartlett, the common varieties. Here are the pic of other varieties. [image][image][image][image][image][image] [image]

[Joe]

Thanks. I’ll come back and check this out later in the afternoon. I’m interested in the Potomac partly due to the Anjou parentage.

[Arhus76]

it’s complicated to answer. Because the period of maturity should be taken into account.
You can ask for the best early, the best in season, the best late, the best long-life and why not the best to cook.
the possibilities are vast. but if you have room. the 5 best pear at the same time will not allow you to eat them.

[clarkinks]

@Seedy

little Forelle tree in the essentially abandoned orchard that she acquired a couple years ago. When we found it (perceiving only that it looked like some kind of a pear tree) it had two healthy-looking fruits on it (and a couple past their prime) and we each grabbed one and bit into them at the same time…we both nearly swooned from the luscious flavor.

Forelle is really good when it is good but most people never had a good one.

[Chiruchi84]

I’ve got a seckel and an ayers I’m looking forward to trying. Has anyone ever tried the pineapple pear? I have one coming this spring but I can’t find anything other than people trying to sell them mention taste or flesh grit.

[DowneastApples]

This thread has been inactive a long time, but perhaps folks have been growing more Euro pears and have more to say on it?

[Trav]

Clapp’s favorite is one of the easiest to graft!

I didn’t know that but try grafting it on hillside hawthorn (very thorny and prevalent here), and maybe it will be a useful interstem for Asian parts and maybe some others, I have a little Clara Fris grafting material now, that’s the must compatible I believe.

[Robert]

@clarkinks Can you name some euro varieties that ripen between bartlett and harrow sweet? Need to fill a gap in ripening. All of my ripening charts have nothing and it’s a 2-3 week gap.

[clarkinks]

@Robert

With 5000 pears total that is a tall order. Here is a link with a place to start. To further complicate it they dont ripen at the same time every year.

Picking times of fruit trees and plant varieties we supply

[Robert]

I don’t think that is very accurate. They have Harrow Delight as a mid ripening pear and Seckel as one of the latest ripening.

Blakes Pride I think is in the gap. Are you familiar with it?

[scottfsmith]

@DowneastApples

This thread has been inactive a long time, but perhaps folks have been growing more Euro pears and have more to say on it?

I’ve mentioned my faves on various threads but don’t see it here.

1. Dana Hovey
2. Urbaniste
3. Magness
4. Seckel
5. Fondante des Moulins-Lille

I think for most locations Aurora also is top but it is a bit too prone to core rot for me. I took it out but miss it. FdML is not necessarily top-5 just in terms of taste but it is a different sort than the others, very sweet and juicy, so it is in the top five keepers for me. Urbaniste is not very productive but my tree has been improving year by year and maybe it will eventually be good. Magness also took a long time to get going. The other three are precocious and productive.

[clarkinks]

I do have a blakes pride tree covered in blooms now. Have not ever harvested good fruit from it yet. @mamuang is familiar with blakes pride. If you want to know the ripening times of many of my pears fortunately i keep good records.

Here comes the 2016 apple and Pear harvest!

Crop is fairly rough but getting a crop is better than not getting one. The harvest is sparse. I picked just over 30 gallons and wound up with 10 gallons of waste apples I worked into the garden. The harvest came off 4 production trees. Typically those trees yield 1-2 bushels each. The small white bowl is a seedling apple I grew from seed… [image]

Pear buds, blossoms, and fruit 2017

The weather has been kind so far this year and I’ve not lost any pear blossoms yet. Lots of trees are budding out and will flower very soon. The individual flower buds are formed. With any luck the cold will miss us and these will wind up being fruit. The weatherman is predicting 26 Saturday but I sprayed copper and dormant oil so I think I bought myself 2 degrees. Its also been extremely windy which on my hilltop orchard may give me the edge I need. I will post an update next week. Fruit gro…

Here comes the 2018 apple & pear harvest!

These red Bartlett’s are small this year but sweeter than sugar! They are more of a red blushing Bartlett. Deer, raccoons etc. have been eating some of them as some pears fall on the ground or on low hanging branches. Expect to still get 20 gallons in the buckets. The windfalls help to keep the wildlife alive during this drought when all my neighbors had complete crop failures with their cereal crops. My fruit crops are a miracle during the most severe drought since the dirty thirties. A dust b…

Here comes the 2019 pear harvest!

Incredible harvest today August 3rd of Clapps favorite! Picked a 5 gallon bucket already! Others are ripe but im getting to them as i can! Clapps favorite is an incredibly difficult pear to pick at the right time. Yesterday they were not ready but the green june beetles attacked telling me the sugar content was increasing so today i did the tilt test again and they are ripe ! These will rot from the inside out so if you grow them be mindful of the timing. The pear will look perfect on the outsi…

[Robert]

I’m looking at the 2019 one. Pretty good chronicle with pics. You should do an overall pear report like Scott does with apples. Put them in order of ripening with descriptions and personal growing notes. No one has done one for pears and I’m sure more than me would find it useful.

[franktrottajr]

Hey Alan - This is a really old post, but……..

I am in NY 6a Catskills, and was wondering what you feel are the top European pear varieties to grow here with little to no spray, or if you have any experience with the varieties below

I am waiting on trees and rootstock from raintree and grandpas. Arriving today and and the next week are:

Magness OHxF87

Potomac OHxF87

Ayers OHxF87

Harrow Crisp OHxF97

Harrow Delight OHxF87

Gem OHxF87

Seckel OHxF87

inground already:

Moonglow

Bartlett

Anjou

Kieffer

Everyone was out, so was thinking I’d like to get next year:

Harrow Sweet

Warren

Karl’s Favorite

Maxine

Bell

what do you think?

[alan]

It depends partially on how much fireblight there is in your region. Forget Moonglow, that is for colder climates where you can accept lower quality. Magness is very slow to bear, but you can speed it up by pulling scaffold below horizontal. When the pears come, they are excellent. Seckel is good as long as psyla doesn’t become a chronic problem. Bartlett and most of the Harrow series are not very susceptible to psyla. Harrow Sweet is my most productive variety of very good quality pears. Harrow Delight is extremely reliable but not my favorite pear in quality- it fruits too early for me.. Dutchess is also resistant to psyla and a true gourmet type pear, but unlike Harrow varieties it tends to be biennial as does another very high quality pear- Sheldon. .

[franktrottajr]

Thanks Alan - Took me a while to read up enough to be able to respond. I just ordered 3 Harrow Sweet from Adams County Nursery…. along with 1 more Potomac and 1 more Magness. Thinking perhaps I should change the order to just 5 Harrow Sweet. I will focus on all the varieties you have mentioned in various posts including this one. Have you seen any success in high density planting on OHxF87? I am on a 1/4 acre, and Adams recommends spacing on 87 of 5 ft in row, and 12-14’ between rows. This WOULD allow me to squeeze in many more trees, and get much needed privacy from neighbors on both sides.