About 25 years ago I started growing more pears and started to get further away from some of the things we’ve traditionally grown. I’ve never regretted my decision because since I started growing pears the land gets richer , there is less erosion, we get more yield per acre, there is more wildlife, and I’m not using a fraction of the spray I did on row crops. Pears I believe are making a come back and will someday be as popular as apples. The longer I grow them the more I like them. I’m hopeful some of the farmers in Kansas will see me growing them and start their own pear orchard.
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Clark, do you have any views on where the top pear breeding program(s) are at the moment and what they are focusing on?
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I had a green de Anjou the other day and it just reminded me how good pears can be
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So, I may have asked this question before, but how many pear trees do you have, and how many bushels/pounds do you get in a typical year? And the really tough question- what is your favorite pear?
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Well I’m totally jealous of all the pears that can be grown in climates with “real” winters – although of course I take solace in the more tropical plants that can be grown at my location.
Thank goodness I can grow the “Hood” cultivar – a D’Anjou type which works in my climate.
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I tried to graft hood here but both times it failed, the only pear that I haven’t been able to graft
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Corvallis has a list of accessions tagged with a “low chill” trait for those interested in knowing what may work in more temperate areas.
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I notice that DWN has zone 6 at the lower end. At the moment I’m not sure what rootstock it’s on.
Good luck with that list and cultivars that work in zone 10 with fireblight. 
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Vohd,
I think Canada has put a lot of work in the harrow pears and they are far from done. In the United States focus is a little different but new cultivars such as ‘gem’ are coming out all the time A New 'Gem' of a Pear Released by ARS, Cooperators : USDA ARS.
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Many of my trees are small but I have around 500 trees. My small yellow pear is my favorite or maybe Drippin’ honey. I’m typically getting less than 10 bushels now but in 5 years I will get 100x that amount I hope.
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Derby I grafted it again today there are a few pears that work better with an interstem and I suspect it could be one of them.
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I should follow your lead on that one
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A friend of mine grafts about a thousand trees a year and he observed not all cultivars work with ohxf . I’ve seen the same thing with callery. Kieffer and duchess d angoulme are pears you can graft many other pears on . My small yellow pear is what Im using now as an interstem when needed. I’ve used Douglas and Clara Frijs also.
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Is the shinko pear easy to take care?
Shinko is supposed to be disease resistant. When I had it for a few years, it had no disease issue. However, it tasted very bland. I removed it.
People on the east coast who grow this variety tend to say that it’s bland. People further inland say it is their best.
Don’t know where you live. It really depends on your climate/location…
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I live in central valley California.imo shinko is the juicest sweetest pear i ever tasted.surprised its not a good seller in stores.i rarely see it.
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