Kiefer Pears in Northern Climate

Looking to order few pear trees for next spring......see lot of you talk about Kiefer pears for deer, curious as to how think they would do in north here zone 4a, so winter's can be little tough and Kiefer seem to be a borderline zone 5 tree from most places i see.

Suppose tree might thrive as a tree, but as far as setting fruit might struggle or just be late in the season

If don't think they would do well any suggestions of pear varietes w/ good DR for this far north.

Great question BoneCrusher. This property is defined by the Govt. as being in zone five yet we mostly annually see minus twenty-five and some years minus thirty-five degrees actual temperature which are clearly zone 3 and 4 temps. Other than the hundred or so wild pear trees naturally fruiting away here I don’t have experience with any known pears fruiting here. Some of the wild pears are fire blight resistant while some are not.

I did some research though that parallels your thinking and decided to plant some pears this past spring. Went with Golden Spice, Gourmet, Patten, and Stacyville from Fedco seeds in Maine- www.fedcoseeds.com. We had a deer camp in Stacyville and that place has very significant winters.

Also purchased Harrow crisp, Harrow sweet, Magness, Potomac, Seckel and Summercrisp from Cummins nursery in NY - www.Cumminsnursery.com

Also purchased a number of Advent pear, Malus pear, and Rifle Pear from Blue Hill Wildlife nursery in PA. www.BlueHillWildlifeNusery.com. They were listed as zone Five but had seen temps in the minus twenties so I took a chance.

And also went with some Keiffers also from BlueHill thinking it a long shot but maybe there might be a place on the property they could grow. Total bought pears planted in Spring 2020 was around 55. The pears from Blue Hill in PA were huge and far more grown diameter and height wise than Cummins and Fedco. Still I would order from Fedco and Cummins again as their trees were OK and mostly not found elsewhere. And it wasn’t that their trees were weak but rather that the Blue Hill trees were super large and extra, extra healthy looking.

It has been an extremely hot and dry summer here so the trees are going into fall at a somewhat weakened state; thus whatever pears if any survive this coming winter should do well here with more normal summers. Note; If rain continues to avoid us the trees will get one good watering before winter to give them a fighting chance.

Hope this helps a little.

BoneCrusher

I took a chance this spring and planted a couple of Danville Kiefers from Blue Hill, and I am in Zone 3b - 4a.

Beautiful trees BTW!

I planted them on top of a ridge with 120 feet of vertical air drainage, so I have my fingers crossed.

And some of the info. I found on-line indicates that Kiefers are OK in zone 4.

You might check St. Lawrence Nursery, they have some very cold hardy pear varieties, as I recall, and although they do give some indication of each varieties ripening season, I do not believe that they list the actual drop times for each one.

I'm not a tree hugger but I love my keiffer pears for deer. Pears and apples growth rate is half that of stone fruits like plums, so if you're considering pears it's best to start sooner rather than later because it'll be a while before they start producing. I plant a dozen every year, but this summer was a dry year and I lost half of the ones that I didn't water because of location. Still, I've got the other half of those keiffers growing, and they are way back in by some shooting plots.
There's some really good advice and info on this thread, if you're not sure if keiffer pears and what other trees will set fruit in your area, find a nursery in a similar zone to buy from.

BoneCrusher20 said:

Looking to order few pear trees for next spring......see lot of you talk about Kiefer pears for deer, curious as to how think they would do in north here zone 4a, so winter's can be little tough and Kiefer seem to be a borderline zone 5 tree from most places i see.

Suppose tree might thrive as a tree, but as far as setting fruit might struggle or just be late in the season

If don't think they would do well any suggestions of pear varietes w/ good DR for this far north.

Click to expand...

BoneCrusher

You might consider emailing Ryan at Blue Hill Nursery and asking him for his recommendation for late dropping pears for your hardiness zone. Apparently he is adding new trees to his inventory as they come to his attention, and he has been very quick to respond to the questions that I have asked him.