Asian pears
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URL: http://rainyside.com/forum//forum_posts.asp?TID=4628
Printed Date: May-21-2013 at 5:34pm
Topic: Asian pears
Posted By: teepeejohn
Subject: Asian pears
Date Posted: Jan-20-2009 at 3:45pm
We have a spot in our backyard where we are thinking about 2 asian pear trees. We removed a 35+ year old apple tree there that hadn't been taken care of by the previous owners and want to replace with something edible. The arborist who took it down suggested 1 or 2 asian pears.
Looking for advice, suggestions, etc.
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Replies:
Posted By: JeanneK
Date Posted: Jan-21-2009 at 8:51am
Welcome to Rainyside, teepeejohn,
I don't grow pears as I have old apple and plum trees that are still doing well. I would like to. I love pears. Hopefully one of our members will chime in with some advice for you.
Check out http://www.raintreenursery.com/ - Raintree Nursery . They've got lots of beautiful fruit trees for you to research.
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Jeanne
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Posted By: teepeejohn
Date Posted: Jan-21-2009 at 9:21am
i guess i should also add that we are not committed to the pears. we just want something that will fit in the space, look nice, and provide fruit
tpj
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Posted By: haika
Date Posted: Jan-21-2009 at 9:33am
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At my old place, I had several Asian and European pear trees. All did well, but I have more trouble figuring out when to harvest European pears! After August or so, I was eating the Asian pears right off the tree. Yummy! At my new place, I'm planting ONLY Asian pears. I got them all from Raintree. This is in addition to lots of apples (picking disease resistant, early harvest varieties). Planted 14 trees last year...maybe more this year. Asian pears planted: Chojuro, Shinseiki
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Posted By: silver_ creek
Date Posted: Jan-21-2009 at 6:46pm
Asian pears are pretty easy, but you do have to thin most varieties to get good sized fruit. And you should have 2 varieties, or one Asian and an early blooming European like Conference, to get good pollination. (BTW haika, pick European pears when the stem breaks cleanly from the spur, while still green. You can't ripen them on the tree or they will rot inside.) Since you gave a plug to Raintree, I'll give a plug to http://www.cloudmountainfarm.com - Cloud Mountain Farm (where I work); I think the tree quality is better (yes, I have ordered from Raintree, occasionally- the trees live, but....). And we do alot of fruit tree testing right at the farm.
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Terry M.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73254522@N00/sets/72057594110422453/ - Silver Creek Garden
Zone 8a, Sunset Zone 4
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Posted By: haika
Date Posted: Jan-22-2009 at 7:42am
Even if you harvest European pears 'by the book' as you recommend, wierd things happened to mine. Or I just don't have the 'touch'. I just figured that I'd stick with Asian pears, which keep longer for me. But that's just one person's preference. And maybe entirely different things happen with pears in the Portland area??
JeanneK mentioned Raintree first in this thread (smile). Thanks for the link to the new source. Looks like this nursery is even further north in WA than I am. Hopefully you have some of the summer pears from Italy etc that I've been thinking about trying again. I had one at my old place (Bella di Guigno) but it was planted in the same pasture the chickens used during the day and they got the fruit before I did (sigh). Like my 'Rescue' pear, the fruit set well but all the fruit basically dropped at once (chickens and geese LOVED that) in August - early September. If you could catch some of the fruit, it dehydrated fantastically. So SWEET! And you could eat it out of hand.
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Posted By: AmyPNW
Date Posted: Jan-30-2009 at 12:43pm
Any number of fruit trees will do nicely. Check the potential size of the tree for your space. It is easy to do some research on the various rootstocks. Some large commercial nurseries like C&O Nursery in Wenatchee still sell and ship to the public on many rootstocks. I usually grow fruit that is hard to find commercially. For example, it is very difficult to find ripe enough plums at the market. Or I will grow a variety that is not often available. I grew Honeycrisp apples long before the markets were brimming with them. At the time I planted Honeycrisp I could find only a couple of growers selling the plants and I bought from a nursery producing for large commercial growers. Raintree is good, Cloud Mountain Farm looks like they have a good selection too.
Take a little time and do some taste testing to decide what would please you the most if it were growing right outside your door. If you can wait until fall or next spring to plant there are many tasting festivals to try a multitude of fruit.
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Posted By: Joy C
Date Posted: Feb-10-2009 at 12:19pm
We have had 3 Asian pear trees for about 10 years. They have all been good producers of fruit, and their size is easily maintained with minimal pruning. By that I mean you can pick all the fruit without a ladder. It is important to thin them to get the best sized fruit. They should ripen on the tree for best flavor, then can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 months. We got our trees at Raintree nursery, one is a 4 grafted tree, including Chojur, Nijisek, Shinsek, Kosui. the others trees are Nijesek and Chojur. I would recomend a double graft or 2 single trees.
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Joy
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