North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>]

Thank you Lucky!

My tree is less vertical, more spreading. than the Kieffer I bought a 
few years ago from Century Farms. My first is severely infected with 
blight but thrives. I generally live in a blight box (river valley) so 
there is no escaping exposure here.

That second Kieffer tree has not borne yet, but is extremely vertical 
and free of blight (different site though). The pears on my first tree 
are big, look correct compared to photos of Kieffer I have seen. The 
fruit is sweet, juicy, sandy, best cooked or dried. A neighbor has an 
old Sand Pear (no idea of the origin) but it has a better fresh taste, 
less sand, juicer and the fruit is smaller.

As you suggest, maybe most sand pears get labelled with Kieffer.

Elizabeth

On 1/11/2021 2:23 PM, Louis Pittman wrote:
> Betsy,
> There's an 'Improved Kieffer' that someone(Clark DeLisle, maybe?) sent me a
> few years ago.   Is it different from the original, a budsport, or a
> seedling with similar but ?better? quality? ... I don't know...
>
> There are other 'sand pear' hybrids out there - like Garber, and, I
> presume, Orient, Pineapple, etc.  - and offspring of those hybrids crossed
> with 'more desirable' European or Asian pears... like Ayers, Douglas,
> Dabney, Mooers, etc.
>
> Here's the NCGR Pyrus catalog of fireblight resistant varieties:
>   https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20721500/catalogs/pyrblres.html
>
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 10:33 AM Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > My Kieffer pear has not borne fruit for years due to a lack of
> > pollinators. But this year, Carpenter bees and some miner bees helped us
> > out. Our Kieffer tree bore a bumper crop in 2020.
> >
> > But this is my question: Now that I seek to buy a second Kieffer, the
> > variety descriptions all state that they ripen in October, some say into
> > November.
> >
> > In my orchard in 2020, the pears ripened in August-early September right
> > after Harrow Delight and before Potomac.
> >
> > What gives? I bought this tree from Stark Brothers about 17 years ago. I
> > had not noticed this discrepancy before.  Are there different varieties
> > of 'sand pears' called 'Kieffer' circulating out there?
> >
> >
> > Thanks for any insight on this.
> >
> > Elizabeth Hilborn
> >
> > Zone 7a, central NC
> >
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--
Elizabeth Hilborn, DVM
Bee Well Mobile Veterinary Services, PLLC
beewellvet.com