Okay, this one is a bit more complicated than it seems. If you were advising a commercial fruit and vegetable operation on which varieties of pears to grow, what would you suggest?
Considerations:
Need extended harvest period similar to the way several peach varieties can be stacked to provide 3 months of fruit.
Some pears for fresh eating and some for storage.
Must be highly tolerant of fireblight.
Medium to large pears preferred where Seckel is borderline too small
Maximum of 12 varieties, will only plant @100 trees.
Please name a variety and give pro/con why you think it would work. I already have my list but want to hear what others think before posting.
From early to late
Ayers
Harrow Delight
Tyson
Magness
Blakeās Pride
Maxine
Potomac
Seckel
Harrow Sweet
Warren
Dana Hovey (daughter of seckel with seckel-like resistance) (per SE Pears): Diseases: In a very rare case of my experience showing LESS fireblight than Hedrick suggests, my āDana Hoveyā trees were remarkably free of blight. In more than 15 years and multiple trees and rootstocks, I only saw small blight strikes, which were easily controlled by pruning alone. Resistant to pear leafspot and pear blister mite.
Another seckel descendant is Mericourt (seckelxfaulkner) SE Pears
Bottom line: Recommended for both home and commercial growers. This tree may challenge the commercial growers, but the fact that some trees are quite productive suggests that this one barrier to profitability can be overcome. The fruit is attractive and delicious. People who try these pears want more. This may be the University of Tennessee pear breeding programās crowning achievement. Growth habit: Pretty decent growth habit on both dwarfing and calleryana rootstock. Spreading and mostly wide crotch angles (for a pear).
Bell probably deserves a place but not sure when it ripens
As you know, I have Beurre Alexander Lucas but not really close to fruiting so hard to comment on it or when it ripens
we are z5 so I would defer to @mayhaw9999 for late and very late season pears with resistance
Here is my list almost all of which have good to very good fireblight tolerance.
Ayers
Bell
Blakeās Pride
Clarks Yellow
Drippin Honey
Harrow Delight
Harrow Sweet
Hood
Hosui
Korean Giant
Maxine
Potomac
Shenanadoah
Tyson
Warren
Total is 15 varieties which means I still need to figure out 3 more to eliminate. This highlights the limits of my current knowledge because I can figure out several to include but donāt know crucial flaws which would help exclude a few varieties.
Answering a few questions, I went by the farm in question yesterday to purchase a basket of peaches (delicious by the way!) and asked why they did not have any pears. They donāt grow them was the answer. It is about 50 miles south from where I live. Heat and humidity are a given along with winter lows around 0F. Fireblight can be severe which is why resistance is crucial.
Here in Georgia they rate pears for 5 divisions of the state. I take it due to high climate variability in each region. They really do not recommend a variety for the entire state.
Which perhaps highlights that climate is not everything, but it is pretty close. Hosui has been trouble free and fireblight free for me so far. Granted I only have a few years experience with it. Iāll know more in about 3 years. My oldest Hosui is only 20 feet tall.
Clarkās will likely never make it to the sale, and your belly will ache for a week, then you will want more of them. They are not really a commercial pear. No one can afford what i would charge them on a good year.
You can eat Clarkās āright nowā which would work in this guyās business. Some people go to his place just to get peaches and other fruits and veggies for daily use. Also, if I really like something, I plant 100 of them. Can you picture 100 Clarkās Small Yellow pear trees?
Iām selling them and the cold storage aspect of it plays a large role in variety selection. For pears that you intend to sell unless you have a very large cooler to supply the cold storage period some varieties need Iād stick to varieties that do not need any. I made that mistake when I first planted and had to graft many trees over later to ones I could sell without any cold storage requirements.
Here are my thoughts from growing pears in northern Mississippi and California one hour north of San Francisco.
Ayers a good pear but too small
Bell- no experience
Blakeās Pride - lost my tree - not from fireblight, the few fruit I had were good
Clarks Yellow - new graft last year
Drippin Honey - new graft last year
Harrow Delight - yes, good early pear before Bartlett
Harrow Sweet - yes, a very good pear and as everyone knows, very precocious
Hood - very low chill and, in my opinion, grow it only if you have to.
Hosui - very fire blight sensitive but an excellent fruit
Korean Giant - it will get blight. I lost a young tree completely and a later planted one lost over a quarter of the tree from blight but it survived with excellent fruit
Maxine- I grew it in MS. As I recall, it was not a taste test winner. I have never wanted to grow it again.
Potomac - yes a good fruit and after a couple of years sets heavily. But this year it has scab.
Shenandoah - iffy. It gets a lot of blossom blight that does not seem to progress into the terminal twigs. Very nice large fruit with tartness - a good cooking pear.
Tyson - small, early, which takes a long time to start fruiting. A good pear in its season.
Warren - Absolutely! No refrigeration needed but may taste better with a week or two in the refer. And if you have refrigeration, it will store until Comice is ready to eat!
Someone mentioned Dana Hovey - That is one of the family favorites but is not much larger than Seckel. It will get fireblight. I lost an entire tree to blight in 2015. A graft on another tree has not had any problem and I have it grafted in two other places now.
One of my very favorite pears is Beierschmitt. It is not listed as being fire blight resistant but I have grown it for over 30 years in two climates without a strike. It ripens Bartlett season or a little later and will ripen to an outstanding pear without refrigeration. So itās a good pear to proceed Warren, Harrow Sweet and Potomac.
I have suggestions for later ripening varieties if you want more choices.
I already have Hood as an exclude because it is susceptible to internal breakdown if allowed to ripen on the tree. I also found it recommended for deep south gulf coast growers but not further north which matches your statement of low chill.
I could use some suggestions that ripen in late October and November. December is too late as his business closes around mid to late November.
Keep in mind this guy grows and sells to a very local clientele. He has use for pears that can be picked and eaten fresh and for pears that require chilling. Cooking/canning pears will be low on his list though he might grow a few.
I would try Duchess Dā Angoulme it does very well for me. It needs extra time to ripen. It is more of an October / November pear here. Few talk about it but experts like @alan@scottfsmith are very well aware of its value and good resistance to disease. I have around 20 trees of Duchess with no disease issues. It does have more brittle wood than some pears and much larger fruit. I have a hard time some years fully ripening it. It can taste very good if given proper time on the tree.
I have two very fast growing Duchess and will probably add it in place of Hood. I had not included it earlier as I have done very little research on it, especially when considered for commercial production. Same for Clara Frijs
Clara frijs is a very high quality pear but a fireblight magnet the last several years. The older my 3 trees get the more i realize it is very hard to grow here.
Iām in East central AL. Iāve grown southern bartlet, Ayers, Harrow sweet, warren, Korean giant, pineapple, golden boy, Dixie delight, Tyson, and senator Clark. I have not seen much blight on Dixie delight, Warren, southern Bartlett, and pineapple. Everything else has been hammered by FB. Spraying strep helps but I still lose scaffolds. My Tyson branch never got FB in 6 years because it never flowered. Senator Clark is too early to make a determination. Iād say southern Bartlett and pineapple are poor quality for the general public. On Ayers it seems easier to prune out the FB without recurrence, but the blossoms will get it bad and will spread if no action is taken. At least that how it is in my blight infested area. Ayers and harrow sweet have been incredibly good tasting and Warren not far behind. Dixie is also very good Asian pear type but smallish.
