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What are good Asian Pears for Portland / SW Washington area?
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DanielW
Clark County, WA
519 Posts
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1
October 26, 2015 - 8:52 am

I love Asian pears and want to add another tree to my Battleground WA home orchard.

Currently I have an unidentified tree, apple-size yellow crisp pear, and a multigraft that started as Hosui and I added Shinseiki, Hamese, and Mishirasu.  Those came from a multigraft tree that I bought from Raintree 10 years ago and grew in Vancouver.  I have not had disease problems on these.  Mishirasu has not been productive.  Shinseiki is the most productive, so far, for me.  They all graft very, very easily.  Deer like eating the branches, so I cage them

I want to add another, either extending the season - best - or adding a different flavor from the others.  I am not a good describer of flavors, just know if I like one.

I want a tree that resists Pseudomonas and Fireblight.

Burnt Ridge has the following listings:

Pseudomonas resistant:  Yoinashi and Shinseiki

Fireblight resistant:  Korean Giant, Shinko, Shinseiki

Susceptible to both:  Hosui - mine did get some fireblight last year but not this year.

They also give some flavor descriptions.

Butterscotch flavor:  Ichiban, Yoinashi

Aromatic:  Chojiro

They also have Maxie, a cross between Nijesseiki and Red Bartlet, with a reddish skin and sweet juicy fragrant flavor.  Nothing said about disease resistance.

I don't know about pseudomonas in this area.  Since fireblight occurs here, I'm leaning toward Shinko or Korean Giant.  I will probably multigraft with others for pollination.

Any local experiences with Aisan pears, production, disease?

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Rooney
Vancouver SW Washington
780 Posts
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October 27, 2015 - 1:51 am

My examples in Vancouver. Yoinashi is very unproductive , being too early to bloom in the year. And to figure out why other test panels rate it high and mine stay long on tree and still hard? Confused

Nijesseiki is prolific and my all favorite one. A second choice might be (my first to ripen) Ichiban as it is also productive, but in my tastes I never like anything resembling the hint of watermelon or cantelope flavor.

I can't grow Hosui because of cropping issues but wish I could. Also I wish I would remember to pick out Shinko at scion exchanges, large fruit and excellent the way I know them from other local places I have been including HOS.

other note: How can we find out how to get me a scion of your Toka plum that sounds so good on your other thread?

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DanielW
Clark County, WA
519 Posts
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3
October 28, 2015 - 9:44 am

Rooney, based on your comment, I should stay away from Yoinashi.  Although, it's a little cooler at my Battleground place, which might make for later blooming.  I haven't figured that out yet.  I multigraft my pears for pollination reasons, and if one variety is not effective it's not 100% loss.   I could go with the Nijisseiki - I wonder if that is my unknown tree that came with the place.  The pears look similar to the images.  It has not had problems with fireblight.

I haven't had much from Hosui but the tree is still young.  The Hosui branches got fireblight last year, while the others did not.  I am avoided nitrogen boost this year to avoid making the fireblight worse, and there was no fireblight.  The Hamese graft on that tree also has not fruited, but Shinseiki did.   Deer ate the Mishirasu branch, which was lower.  It looks like there are more fat buds on the Hosui now that I interpret as flower buds for Spring.

When it comes to grafting time I can share some Toka scion.  I have to say, the tree has a problem I think is in the rootstock or the lower trunk, and not looking great.  I'm planning to use some scion and start a new Toka tree or multigraft another tree.  It's also described as a good pollenizer for hybrid Asian-American plums which can otherwise be a challenge to pollenize.  Maple Valley Orchards has Toka scion, but I can't figure out how much it costs.  I was thinking about ordering Underwood from them, which multiple sites claim is a good pollenizer for Ember.  I will work on a separate topic there, I have several references.

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Rooney
Vancouver SW Washington
780 Posts
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October 29, 2015 - 8:32 pm

Daniel,

So when it comes time to preserve your declining Toka plum for a different graft I think I would worry a bit about what the forecast is calling for. After midnight tonight the next 3 days will dump over 4 inches. I have a few things I'm worried about that I need to shelter tonight such as the new patented Nadia cherry/plum cross which is untested here for disease. If I can't cover it I would save a scion now and another in a month or so to save my chances in case I lose the whole tree that I can save the investment for another day from stock sold at the scion exchange. I have been doing it that way for my late blooming Zard apricot for over a year and I will get it covered tonight as it has been paying off so far.

Of course take special measures to prevent rain from wetting any cuts from scions your saving that would otherwise introduce bacteria into the wound. I will use toilet bowl wax after I go to HD tonight. What do you think?

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DanielW
Clark County, WA
519 Posts
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5
October 30, 2015 - 9:00 am

Rooney, I'm guessing the problem with my Toka is voles.  The tree is small and there was a lot of bark damage on the lower trunk.  It still bore a lot of plums, and some branches grew but mostly not a lot.  I'm not taking any measures to protect it, just watch and see how the steps look in late winter.  I don't think the rains will hurt it.  If I lose the tree, several internet nurseries have it.

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Rooney
Vancouver SW Washington
780 Posts
(Offline)
6
November 1, 2015 - 1:38 pm

DanielW said

I haven't had much from Hosui but the tree is still young.  The Hosui branches got fireblight last year, while the others did not.  I am avoided nitrogen boost this year to avoid making the fireblight worse, and there was no fireblight.

I have had a tree of Hosui that also had severe lack of production and have removed it. I had made a guess it was due to pseudomonas syringae bacterial in nature and not the bacterial fireblight. Fireblight information on asian pears here are lacking but I'll remember yours now. Thanks.

One other tree in my asian pear collection is also an early season pear of high quality. I mention no name because it came as a selection from Peter's old pumpkin patch farm on Vashon Island where it produces slightly more. (Possibly no fireblight there). Confused (and should both Hosui and the other early have same in common)?

For the last 2 blooming seasons I had at least been able to determine on Peter's is that it is something external getting into the pear flower as I have been able to "greenhouse" the flower to protect my crop. That was year one when the bud covering delayed the bloom that much to open after a rain period of time. Year two (this spring) the bud cover put blooms into a rain and consequently no fruit formed other than from branches that had never had buds been latexed. With any more luck I might get the application of latex better timed and experimented with so that in the future I might recommend Hosui as an excellent early one for us to have.

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