North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

I just had a 10 year old chojuro which looked perfectly healthy, just
completely die to the ground this spring.  I never saw any fireblight
on it, but maybe I don't know the way to recognize it early in the
season, the tree never budded out and we had a really mild winter so
I'm sure it didn't winter kill.

~mIEKAL

On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 10:01 AM, Lee Reich <leeareich@gmail.com> wrote:
> Asian pears are relatively easy to grow. They vary in fire blight 
> susceptibility. As I wrote in the Asian pear chapter of my book, Uncommon 
> Fruits for Every Garden,
>
> "The ussurien pear is extremely cold-hardy, native to regions of Korea and 
> northern China where the mercury might plummet to as low as minus sixty 
> degrees Fahrenheit. The species generally does not produce high-quality 
> fruits---they are usually juicy with some tartness and sweetness, but lack 
> aroma and have many stone cells. The fruits are small and round. There are 
> some good-tasting cultivars, though, such as ‘Ta-Shian-Sui-Li’, 
> ‘Chien-Pai-Li’, ‘Sian-Sui-Li’, and ‘An-Li’."
>
> and
>
> "Fire blight disease can be as devastating to some Asian pear cultivars as 
> it is generally to European pears. As implied by the name, infected plants 
> look as if they have been singed with fire: The leaves turn black and 
> remain attached, and the tips of succulent new stems curl over like 
> shepherds’ crooks. One line of defense would be to plant disease-resistant 
> cultivars such as ‘Shinko’, ‘Seuri’, and ‘Ya Li’, or almost any of the 
> ussurien pears. Unfortunately, popular cultivars such as ‘Nijisseiki’, 
> ‘Chojuro’, ‘Shinseiki’, ‘Okusankichi’, ‘Seigyoku’, and ‘Kikusui’ are 
> susceptible."
>
> Asian pears are generally very precocious and bear heavily so often don't 
> grow enough if on very dwarfing rootstocks. So use those rootstocks only 
> where you want to really restrict size, and thin out fruits aggressively 
> when the trees are young.
>
>
> Lee Reich, PhD
> Come visit my farmden at http://leereich.blogspot.com/
> http://leereich.com/
>
> Books by Lee Reich:
> A Northeast Gardener's Year
> The Pruning Book
> Weedless Gardening
> Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
> Landscaping with Fruit
> Grow Fruit Naturally
>
> On Sep 3, 2012, at 10:01 AM, Deb Schneider wrote:
>
>> I really like Asian pears and really don't like spending $1.50 EACH for
>> sub-par fruit in the grocery store.
>>
>> How hard are Asian pears to grow?  Anyone know how they do in southern Ohio
>> (zone 6)?  How susceptible to fireblight?  Any other diseases that hit
>> Asian pears hard in this region?
>>
>> What varieties and rootstocks do you recommend?
>>
>> Thanks!
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