To: "Anton Callaway" <marillen@earthlink.net>, "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Dabney and Michigan 437
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:42:25 -0500
Anton,
I've been looking back thru emails I missed, and wish that I'd noticed
yours when it arrived. Do you have Warren or Magness? According to the
original press release on Dabney it was a fairly early pear, but Chris
Inhulsen in central GA says it comes in about the same time as his
Warren/Magness crop, and that they like the latter so much better that they
mostly process the Dabneys. These varieties appear to come in many weeks
apart in Corvallis, but their dates are sometimes pretty screwy..... I'm
waiting impatiently for my Dabney tree to crop, scions from Corvallis. One
thing I wonder from scrutenizing the original literature and the photos
online is whether they mixed up the seeds or rows on Dabney and Ayers.
Dabney was supposedly Seckel x Garber, while Ayers was supposedly Anjou x
Garber. Ayers looks and tastes a lot more like Seckel, and while I have not
tasted Dabney it sure looks a lot more like Anjou. In fact, I don't see any
way that something as boring as Anjou crossed with Garber could produce
anything as rich tasting as Ayers. I'm looking forward to a "small
spreading tree" as Dabney is described, it would make a pleasant contrast to
most other pear trees. Chris has something that has made a small tree and
is so late that he picks them in Oct down there in GA. I have just one
small twig of it, but I have to wonder if it will prove to be Tse Li, known
for growing very slowly and being a very late fruit. It has the great big
spectacular leaves of a pure oriental pear. I gave a tree to a neighbor so
will get to watch it over the years I hope.
Where did you get Michigan 437? I don't see it listed in Corvallis.
What kind of pear is it? Thanks. Donna, TN z6
[NAFEX] Dabney and Michigan 437,
Kieran and/or Donna, 09/18/2010