It’s not melting but it is sweet and pleasant tasting. A pear everyone should grow!
3 Likes
didn’t know a pear could have cellulite–it looks like my thighs! (sorry)
4 Likes
That’s mean! The pear just has a slow metabolism.
3 Likes
Lizzy,
Duchess pears are unbelievably large! They look more stretched and lumpy up close up than the photos can possibly show. That’s one easy way to identify them. Every time I eat one I can’t get my mouth around them so I wind up slicing them up!
1 Like
LOL, I almost wet myself!!
1 Like
Very recently found out about the Charles Harris Asian pear. Scions and information were available on the ars grin site if this is one your researching https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?1507863. I’ve not seen the pear available elsewhere yet. The description they listed is as follows " A very large, slightly oval Asian type pear developed as a selected seedling by Mr. Charles Harris and reported by him in Pomona. Vigorous tree on calleryana - appears to need about 400 - 450 chill hours.
‘Charles Harris - an Asian pear named after myself. It is a huge pear I selected from several Chinese seedlings. The fruits are oblong, extremely juicy and sweet. It produces some fruit nearly every year. This sort begins ripening in late August and will continue maturing through October in Zone 8. It is a heavy-bearer and its fruit reaches a weight of three pounds under the best conditions. It has very high resistance to fireblight.’ – Pomona 24(3):9. 1991
Pear Tree Commemorates Bicentennial Of Bill Of Rights By BILL MCLAUGHLIN Daily Press | December 25, 1991 The Williamsburg Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, recently planted a rare pear tree on the Rawls Byrd Elementary School campus to commemorate the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. The tree is named for Greta Klingon, second vice regent of the local DAR Chapter. It is a hybrid developed by Charles Harris of Griffin, Ga., from a pear tree growing in the Jekyll Island, Ga., yard of Greta and A.J. Klingon. It is marketed for the first time this year by Ison’s Nursery in Brook, Ga. The catalog describes the “Greta Klingon” as a “very exciting European type dessert pear.” (not sure if this is the same as the ‘Charles Harris’ pear)."
4 Likes
The Charles Harris pear may be the late season Asian pear I’m after. I suspect it might even be later than Korean Giant. I will let you know how it does. Hoping its a good keeper.
1 Like
Well, if that tree does well for you this year and you have some scion wood to spare in the next year or two, I would love to graft some of that into one of my existing Asian Pear trees while they are still young. God bless.
Marcus
1 Like
I think Ethan used to grow this one and if I remember he didn’t seem to think it was all that remarkable. It has been awhile since I have spoken to him though and I may well be remembering this wrong. IE beremembering the wrong variety. A three pound pear huh? What a limb breaker.
2 Likes
Marcus,
I will let you know how it does. I’m grafting another you’ve posted about on another website called Tenn… I will let you know how it does in Kansas. Im grafting a fairly large number of other pears this year.
Wildscaper,
It sounds like it would look like a bunch of cantaloupe hanging from a tree! 3 pounds is a very large pear. Duchess pears get big though it’s hard for me to imagine a larger pear. We will see what it does it here.
hopefully Tenn will be more productive up there than here.
1 Like
Marcus,
I know Tenn is not a large pear so this might not be the best place to discuss it. The scion wood of Tenn I received from the USDA looks excellent. The USDA description says " Excellent quality, medium sized dessert pear. Reportedly came out of the Tennessee breeding program with Ayres. Apparently there is more than one cultvar propagated as Tenn in the South. This is the good one. It has a slightly pyriform shape, fairly uniform, and has a nice red blush on one side. About 350 - 400 chill hours (commonly sets two crops in Houston). Tree is very large and spreading on calleryana." - https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?accid=%20PI+617601
2 Likes
It colored up much like it’s parent Ayers although it seems to be more rounded from looking at the picture. Thanks to a generous scion donor I added Tenn to my orchard. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to my Ayers. Bill
2 Likes
That pear hanging on a tree would be an awesome site to see. Good tasting or not it would be worth keeping just to look at. Wonder if the limbs could hold up without breaking. Korean Giant weighing about one pound looks huge but three pounds would be an impressive site to see. Bill
3 Likes
Bill,
If you like very large pears the atago http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=544 I’ve mentioned before is the way to go http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-pear. It holds the heaviest pear record even now at 6 lb 8 oz. That’s a huge pear! I grow duchess pears that are 11/2 pounds regularly but that’s my largest pear. My scions came from a tree that produces 2 pound pears at least every year or two as shown above in a previous post.
3 Likes
My hunch is that it likely is possible for a pear to be too bid. Just as iti bitty pears are a pain to pear and process, I imagine that a six pound pears would be unwieldy to handle and process. I bet one would have to provide extra support for each and every pear if they are that heavy. It would be a sight to behold for sure. the write-up mentioned fire blight resistance but said nothing about chilling requirements.
Marcus
2 Likes
Larger pears might not be practical to grow but to see the look in my grands eyes would make it worthwhile.
2 Likes
I don’t think that I would want an entire tree of these larger pears but a few scions of these carefully place would be interesting.
1 Like
I agree the pears would be way to big. Duchess starts breaking branches due to the 1 1/2 pound pears if your not careful.
1 Like