Great review of top-working your pear. Love all the photos and the followup!
1 Like
Thank you! Should anyone be curious odly i’ve eaten pears so far from duchess d’ angoulme only so far out of that group that i grafted in this thread. There were loads of pears from it last year! Douglas would normally be producing by now though tbe unique genetics of the seedling slowed it down. Clara frijs always takes it time. All trees i grafted in this thread are healthy and thriving no doubt going to produce pears for the next 100 years or so.
3 Likes
I was contemplating top working a pear here that’s never produced fruit worth eating. Reading through some of your threads has been informative.
I’m still torn on the idea, we do get cedar rust pretty bad. Last year those pears were pretty well covered in it. If the tree grew decent pears, it would be worth trying to fight it.
1 Like
Rust is ever present in areas where cedar is a problem. Harrow delight pears and others are not susceptible.
2 Likes
Thanks for that info ! It never crossed my mind that some may be more rust resistant. Would you recommend any other varieties for 8a in northeast Texas ? I’m on the edge between humid south and hot dry southwest. The weather can be any combination of both!
1 Like
This might be something to do at the parent’s house. They have an out of control Bosc pear that needs major trimming, and a useless (in my opinion) crabapple. I ought to cut 'em back low and put maybe 3 cultivars on each!
1 Like
Persimmons??
Tennosoui, Southern King and Acres Home are all from Texas. Chilling won’t be as big an issue at 8a as it is in my 8b. For you late freezes and desiccation may be bigger issues. Tennoui, Orient, Scarlett all act like late bloomers. As a group Asian type pairs tend to be late blooming. Check my Southern Pear thread. I evaluate my thoughts on all my varieties there. I really like Baldwin, Goldenboy and Acres Home. But they are all early bloomers with low chill.
1 Like
When growing pears or apples in a Zone 8 climate there are two things to consider. If you are in a humid climate you need to first consider disease resistance, especially to fireblight in the case of pears. But just as importantly you should consider the number of chilling hours. The first thing I recommend is pay attention to when pears break dormancy in your area. Don’t feel shy about asking around. Then go online and find out how many chilling hours you can usually count on for your area. That’s the number of hours between 48F and 32 F. Since pears and plums begin seriously breaking dormancy by Feb 20th, I usually go the weather data calculator at the University of Georgia website an look up the number of chilling hours between October 1 and feb 20th. Look it up for the past ten years and get an average. How many do you get 8 out of 10 years. I would not bother with a fruit tree for which your areas does not meet the chilling requirement less than 80% of the time. Realize that temps are generally getting warmer. So maybe give yourself a 100 hour buffer, especially if you only have space for a couple of varieties, and you want to make sure that the ones you plant will work.
2 Likes
Are any of these rust resistant?
1 Like
@bleedingdirt
I know they look like persimmons to others but they dont to me. Maybe once they are leafed out they will look a little different
2 Likes
Great advice.
Yes, that’s how mine have looked when it’s a bad year. Misshaped fruit covered in spores.
That almost looks like quince rust in a way. The leaves have lots of rust spots im assuming? I would definately try harrow delight/harrow sweet.
No rust on the pear leaves, just the fruitlets. Same with serviceberries. It was the first year that I had ever seen rust on either. Apples only had rust on the leaves, not fruits.
2 Likes
The tree with a dozen or so grafts on it seems like way too much work to me to turn a pear seedling into a useful tree. It wouldn’t be worth more than 2 splice grafts to me. But then, I live in an expensive area and grafting is more business than hobby- and it still probably costs me more money than it makes me in my nursery.
Not because of pears, though. My peaches suck relatively more time (which is money) because my percentage of takes is far worse. Almost every pear graft grows.
1 Like
That is cedar quince rust which can be controlled with a fungicide and by removing either of the two hosts cedar/pear. Where are the trees and can cedars be eliminated close by?
1 Like