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["ROBERT W JUDY A HARTMAN" <hartmansfruit@msn.com>]

Hi Bill,

 

I am curious as to what rootstock your Asian pears are grafted on to to make them dwarf.  A number of years ago I had grafted some Asian pears onto quince with an Old Home interstem.  They tended to stunt out at a young age.  The last few years I have put the Asian pears onto Pyrodwarf and they seem to do fine although Pyrodwarf is a relative new rootstock.

 

I have Korean Giant and Olympic.  The pears from the two varieties visually look the same but when I cut them open and taste them the Korean Giant was sweeter, at least at my location and the environment was the same for both.  I've heard that they are different strains of the same variety.  I just know that there is a difference in taste.

 

Bob

Western Washington

----- Original Message -----

From: William C. Garthright

To: North American Fruit Explorers

Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 11:03 AM

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Asian pears

> On a separate topic, I have found exactly one Asian pear. All the other flowers and young fruit got zapped by the freeze.  On a more positive note, all the plants seem to be in good shape.
>  


My two Asian pears were only planted last year, so of course they aren't
yet producing fruit. But after the freeze, they looked about the worst
of anything. Neither was too big - the New Century or Shinseiki
especially, since it really struggled in our heat last summer - and I
honestly wondered if they'd survive the freeze at all. But they're
looking surprisingly good.

The Starking Hardy Giant (or Olympic or Korean Giant - every nursery
seems to call the same Asian pear cultivars something different) started
leafing out again, um... fairly quickly, and seems to be really taking
off this year. It just seems to be much more vigorous in every way than
the other. As I say, the New Century (or Shinseiki) really struggled
last year, so it was pretty small and scrawny even before the freeze,
though it had been sprouting out very strongly in March. Afterwards, it
took a long time to green up again, but it seems to be doing fine now.
It's not growing anywhere near as strongly as its neighbor, and it
remains quite small, but it seems healthy enough. I'm just amazed at
what these things can take from Mother Nature and still recover.

PS. I also planted a Hosui Asian pear this year. That's probably more
than enough, if they all make it. (Note that these are all on dwarf
rootstocks.)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in
his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed
before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. - Marie Curie
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