Richard, an
interesting publication that you might find useful is "Growing Temperate Tree
Fruit and Nut Crops in the Home Garden" by Paul M. vossen and Deborah Silver (http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/varieties.pdf).
That same site -- http://hmeorchard.ucdavis.edu/ --
has other good references for California amateur fruit
growers.
The publication
above says that the following pears are adapted to the low-altitudes of southern
California because they have winter chilling requirements lower than 300 hours:
Baldwin, Carnes, Florida Home (Flordahome), Fan Stil, Garber, Hensan, Hood,
Kieffer, Orient, Pineapple, Seleta and Spadona.
You may want to
contact the UC Davis farm advisor for San Diego County for varietal
recommendations. His name is Gary S. Bender (gsbender@ucdavis.edu,
858-694-2856). He may know which of these pears are extra-low chill and
fireblight resistant. -- Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn.
-----Original Message----- From:
nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Frost Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 4:07
PM To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [NAFEX] Low-chill,
blight resistant pears?
Hi,
If possible, I would
like to plant a pear tree in my garden. My home is in San Diego, CA.
Fruit trees with < 250 chill hour requirements do well here.
Fire-blight is pervasive -- there are miles of city streets planted with
flowering pear, etc. and all of them are moderately to severely infected.
I have read
on nafex about the Southern Queen pear, but cannot locate information about
chill hours, or availability. The "Hood" cultivar is known for low chill
hours, but I have read conflicting reports from arborists and nurseries about
its blight resistance. Some enlightenment would be
appreciated!