| Ed, et al. I had never considered growing AQ despite having seen it in the old Leuthardt catalog decades ago. Then a few years back I was visiting a friend and she was showing me around her place. She had a pear espaliered to her garage and it was an Atlantic Queen. The fruit just happened to be ripe and we ate one on the spot. I thought it was wonderful. I took one to home to Cammy and she was equally pleased. I grafted it onto a Seckel tree at our place the following year. It has fruited for us and I'm still pleased with the fruit. I have not yet refrigerated any fruit - just eaten right off the tree.
It may be that, like many other fruits and vegetables, AQ likes certain spots and dislikes others. Apparently it likes central Maine-or at least our area of western Kennebec and eastern Waldo counties. A friend in Massachusetts tells a story about growing Spygold. He had two orchards in the same town. In one, Spigold was delightful. In the other, it was awful. Different soils? Even a few miles can make a critical difference. Zone ratings are useful of course but they only tell a fraction of the story.
When someone asks me what to grow in their town, the first thing I always say is, talk to fruit growers in your neighborhood and find out what has done well for them. Local local local. We do a great deal of experimenting and testing here-and often discover great new additions to the collection, but we always remain huge fans of the tried and true. Best regards,
John Bunker Fedco www.fedcoseeds.com PO Box 520 Waterville ME 04903 207-873-7333
On May 9, 2009, at 10:00 AM, Ed Fackler wrote: John...and all NAFEX'ers.....
I must apologize for my recent statement ..... "most catalogue descriptions are weak". Friend John Bunker (Fedco) publishes a very legit catalogue and runs a very legit nursery operation.
The central reason why made the statement is that most "quality" statements (especially flavor descriptions) are extremely difficult to capture in words.
Now that that is out of the way, I'd like to ask all experienced NAFEX members to comment on flavor ratings (good, great, pitiful, mediocre, etc.) on any/all pear varieties regarding flavor off the tree (versus post harvest chilled fruit).
I'll start by saying that most so-called Asian type varieties exhibit near true flavor when harvested/consumed directly from the tree. A few (Olympic comes to mind) will develop enhanced flavors after a couple of months in refrigerated storage but this flavor change is subtle (perhaps a bit more of "butterscotch" than at harvest).
And Seckel is the only European type that I've personally grown that is excellent from the tree.
ed........just curious about other's experiences.
On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 8:48 AM, John Bunker <john.p.bunker@gmail.com> wrote: We have Atlantic Queen up here in central Maine and we like it very much. John Bunker Fedco PO Box 520 Waterville ME 04903 207-873-7333
On May 9, 2009, at 7:03 AM, Ed Fackler wrote: Alan:
It was an extremely weak flavored fruit in S. Indiana (in full sun) for years. Near all catalogue descriptions are weak it seems. Also many, if not most European types require varying degrees of post harvest handling prior to peak flavor development I think.
ed, So. Indiana...lots of rain and cool temps
On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:55 AM, Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com> wrote: It's interesting how varieties of fruit can be publicised in different ways. Some have publicity similar to a mother bragging about her child. I think Atlantic Queen has benefited from this as descriptions of it are taken from the late Leuthardt himself as he described the pear in his catalogue when it was an exclusive for him many years ago. I manage a single Atlantic Queen that was purchased from Leuthhardt Nursery in Long Island, NY about 30 years ago. This doesn't give me anywhere near enough experience with it to qualify me as a critic but I must say that on the tree I manage the pears do not get up enough sugar to qualify it as a fine dessert pear. It is a site that doesn't provide optimum sun but it does get full sun from mid morning until an hour before dusk and the Boscs and Seckels from adjacent trees are sweet as candy. Anyone else out there have experience with this pear?
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