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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Hornet and Wasp damage to Asian pears

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  • From: Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Hornet and Wasp damage to Asian pears
  • Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 08:30:04 -0400

What type of Asian Pear?  There are about a dozen out there.  Certain cultivars are less likely to be mobbed by stinging insects.  

We have been investing heavily in Asian pears, mainly russet style cultivars (Olympia and its equivalents with early bearing for pollination), for the very reason that they do not seem to have nearly the level of insect damage that the other pears do.

That said, we are mainly growing for use as wine and not whole fruit to sell for market so, in theory some percentage would be salvageable.  We hope to sell some at market once we start seeing the right numbers. 

As soon as things dry out and then go into drought is when you see the most insect damage done.  We are in a the middle of a dry spell too, but we are irrigating our other fall crops, maybe the watering is acting a source of water for the insects so they are not attacking the pears?  Who knows.  We have this crazy heat spike after an amazingly wet year…wettest year ever recorded here.  Horrible for fruit production, but the Asian pears are troopers…even untreated with ANYTHING…the reason we decided to go this route is their resilience sans spray regime…you pick the right fruit for the right system.

I would be curious to learn more should we see similar issues…we have seven days of 89+ highs with little chance of rain.  I may pick all the pears that are almost ready to be harvest to beat the curve and let the late season wait as normal and cross my fingers.

I am curious about the cultivar and are they russets?  Or an earlier harvest non storing variety with thinner skin?

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106

You can follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @CarriageHsFm

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