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  • From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] pear pollinators
  • Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 06:10:39 -0400

I've always read that pears are not attractive because their pollen is not very nourishing but at my site in southeastern NY the smaller, fly-like flower foragers love my pear blossoms and are all over them, at least this year- I really should start taking notes to compensate for this declining memory.
 
The one fruit I fail to get good pollination for is my Rosanna kiwi, which flowers slightly earlier than my males and other females to begin with but I saw no bee activity around the fragrant flowers this year and expect the usual almost total drop of unpollinated fruit.  I need to find a male that blooms at the same time because when this kiwi has been well pollinated it bears amazingly well and provides the best kiwis I've tasted.  It definitely has much more profuse blossoms than any other variety I've grown.
 
As far as those hard spots on pears, I get hard spots that can deform pears completely from stink bugs.  I have tarnished plant bug here but they damage my peaches only.  The stink bugs are particularly attracted to Seckel pears and do most of their damage later in the season when I've stopped my insecticide sprays.  But these are not single spots, the pears are bumpy all over and useless for eating.  Half my Seckel pears are often destroyed this way.  Most other sites where I see this problem the damage isn't so bad.
 
It is a great pear year in southern NY as well.  All the earlier flowering fruit such as Jap plums, Asian and Euro pears set very well- the apples are a little spotty and cherries and Euro plums are thin. 


  • [NAFEX] pear pollinators, Alan Haigh, 06/07/2009

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