I’m trying to add to my winter pears. I currently growing Winter Nelis, Kaspar’s Winter pear and Santa Claus. I was looking for advise on Pound pear or any other varieties. I should add that I’m not just growing these pears for people, but as feed to supplement animals in the winter.
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One area where my pear spreadsheet needs improvement is in “uses” for each variety. I only have 2 pears listed specifically for storage. Winter Nelis is one and Lucky Pittman’s Very Late is the other. Lucky knows it is a named variety but he lost the label. One day we will get it DNA ID’d.
I did a deep dive on long storage winter pears and found very little information. I found the below list but nothing indicating how long they can store. I’m going to define long storage as 3 months or more up to 6 months which appears to be as long as a pear can be stored while retaining high quality. Douglas is listed as up to 3 months in one source. Concorde is listed as 3 to 4 months.
I see a few problems in this list such as an Italian pear which has Beurre (French spelling for butter) instead of the Italian spelling.
Beurre Bachelier
Beurre Diel
Beurre d’Anjou
Beurre d’Hardenpont
Colmar Nelis
Beurre de Nivelles
Doyenne du Comice
Doyenne d’hiver
Duchesse d’hiver
Figue d’Alencon
Grand Soleil
Jules d’Airoles
Leon Gregoire
Orpheline d’Enghien
Passe-Colmar
Royale d’hiver
Saint-Germain d’hiver
Saint-Mathieu
Tardive de Toulouse
Triomphe de Jodoigne
Zephirin Gregoire
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Thanks for the list! I really appreciate it.
Gem as noted can remain in cold storage for 28 weeks without core breakdown or superficial scald.
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Maybe Turnbull? Dont have any personal experience with it, but it is later.
Just to add to this, I’d read the newly released “Cold Snap” (aka Harovin Sundown) is at least supposed to keep quite well (at least 6 months of memory serves).
That said I have no experience with it and am guessing it will be at least a few years before home orchardists have gotten the chance to better evaluate them, so take this statement with appropriate skepticism.
Don’t forget Shin li and other asian and chinese pears:)
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Okusankichi 6-10 mo.
St Remy 5-8 mo.
Packham’s Triumph 5-6 mo.
Passe Crassane 6-7 mo.
Easter Beurre 5-6 mo.
Rogue Red >6 mo.
Devici 7 mo.
Suij 5 mo.
Royal D’Hiver 4-5 mo.
Bosc 4-6 mo.
Winter Kyrgyz 6-8 mo.
Vicar of Winkfield 4 mo.
Daisui Li 6 mo.
El Dorado 7-8 mo.
Abbe Fetel 5-6 mo.
Korean Giant 6 mo.
Taylor apple pear 8-10 mo.
Kenko 8-10 mo.
Anjou 4-5 mo.
Shin li 5-9 mo.
Pai li supposedly the longest storing Asian pear
Tsu li 6 mo.
Ya li 6 mo.
Chojuro 5 mo.
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Thanks for the list. I didn’t realize these Asians could store so long.
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Back before my Ya Li Asian pear succumbed to fireblight, those pears would store well into April, with no appreciable loss of quality.
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I have one that I found in Tallapoosa Co., AL, that was still loaded with fruits hanging on Jan 1, and many on the ground below it. I’ve grafted it mainly as a wildlife soft mast , but always forget to sample it, so i can’t attest to its edibility from a human standpoint.
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I was thinking about Pai Li (Pa Li) but other than here its hard to find many positive reviews… Ya Li seems worse.
Curious how long Santa Claus keeps? I’m still waiting for mine to fruit.
I bet these 2 need full, full sun and be up on a hill to avoid freezes. Lol
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