I grafted a couple callery pears in the back yard this year. A strong wind storm came and took out an Ayers grafts (and the neighbors shingles). Later, i think a bird landed on the Korean Giant grafts taking those out. Both were about 2 feet of growth by June. A plumblee graft started then fizzled. I still have Dixie Delight and Becton. I’ve tried several T-grafts with the broken varieties since then. Ayers has taken and im waiting to see if the Plumblee makes it.
The other larger callery pear is all Dixie Delight at the moment.
We’ve been having lots of fruit dropping deer keep feeding so we are harvesting - hopefully they are good to ripen inside now! One Moonglow and lots of Ayers. A few are insect- eaten so I’m hoping that’s a good clue that they’re ready.
I disagree. I have a lot of trees and this year I’m taking a beating. Their breaking branches and everything. I finally got rid of all the ground hogs and now I’m being invaded by racoons. And that’s not counting the regulars like deer.
What do you think about wrapping thin sheet metal around the trunk to keep them from climbing? I see people doing it on non fruit trees. Just a 2 foot strip nailed around.
Actually @alan did that to keep squirells out of his trees it does work but i will let him tell you more about that. The racoons and deer and i all get along noone breaks down my trees. When they did i took the necessary actions to persuade them to stop. They broke a pear off once fighting over the pears i still laugh about that. Those were some of the worst pears but my mom planned on eating them but the racoons ate them green. If i remember right i electrocuted them over that with a fence charger and they have not done it since then. That was a long time ago.
We’ve harvested all we could reach and got maybe 30lbs or so of fruit!! We ate as much fresh as we could, and (since?) I never chilled the pears they softened in 5ish days. I just put 3.5 quarts of pear butter in the fridge. Here are a couple of the prettier, larger remaining ones- Ayers on the right and one of the only two Moonglow(?) that the tree had on the left. I can’t believe it! Now I want to figure out what other varieties we could graft! Maybe it’s just these two as far as disease and fungal pressure go. The Moonglow(?) definitely has something blackening the leaves. Not sure if it’s FB.
I just saw your post about your Duchess D’angoulme. It seems like a tasty, very late pear from what I read. Would that variety work for me? I’m trying to decide on a few scions to try grafting next early spring. Any recommendations as to where I could buy just a few scions come March/April or so? I know I see folks willing to trade but all I have are Ayers and Moonglow. So I think I should just look at purchasing.
Yes it would be a good late season pear for you. Lets see how im feeling this year i have several good pears i can send if im feeling ok this year. There are several nurseries like https://39thparallel.com/ that have most of my pears.
39th parallel trees sell within a day. Very fair price. I put in a larger (20trees) order several months before they were listed, but missed out on a few others that were sold quick.
Those are good choices. Dont have the best luck with quince here but most people do ok with it. Everything else you mentioned does exceptional here. Ohx87 rootstock will do good for you. Keep the rabbits off with some rabbit guards made of hail screen etc. they love it. Magness, Harrow delight and potomac are great pears.
Yup:) Theres a big rabbit my hound and I are gonna hunt. I scared him up and he ran 300yds in no time! My friend has a Vizla that loves running down rabbits. Maybe Monday when things warm up to the 20’s. Im putting the quince in my deeper choice loam soils
Thanks, Clark! I see “Duchess”- guessing that’s a different (but very similar?) variety from Duchess D’angoulme…? I’ve got Maxine, Magness, Duchess, and Seckel (Extra Large) in my cart. Warren seems to be sold out and they don’t have any Harrow. How do those four sound for rust and fireblight resistance?
