Native Hunter 2023 Apples

[Flatiron75]

Native Hunter -

If you were to name your favorite, bullet-proof, no-spray pear for wildlife .... what would it be?
BTW, we know each other from another forum. I PM-d you there concerning your flood situation.

 

[Native Hunter]

Native Hunter -

If you were to name your favorite, bullet-proof, no-spray pear for wildlife .... what would it be?
BTW, we know each other from another forum. I PM-d you there concerning your flood situation.

Yes, I know you and want to welcome you to this forum. I'm very glad you have joined us and look forward to seeing you here.

I was just thinking about pears the other day, and came to the conclusion that where I live it seems like all pears are bulletproof. I stayed away from Bartlett, because it had a reputation for getting fireblight, but someone sent me a Bartlett by mistake, and it grows just as clean as any other pear I have. I can't recall ever seeing fireblight on any pear I have planted, and the quince rust (similar to CAR in apples) is almost non-existent as well. With that said, below are some of my favorites pears:

Senator Clark
Olympic Giant
Galloway
Kieffer (some others on this forum have reported fireblight, but I've never seen any on mine)
Moonglow
Ayers (I did see just a tad of rust for the first time last year, but it didn't amount to anything in the long run.
Gate
Please keep in mind that the pears I got from Blue Hill are still very young. I do see some fruit on a few of them this year, but I will probably pull it off. I did topwork a wild pear to Sweet Advent last year, and it has 4 big nice pears growing this year. I'm going to let those grow, but since the tree was topworked only last year, they could fall off.

Apples are a whole different animal - if you get the wrong rootstock or variety, you could be in for total failure where I live. CAR is especially devastating here, but if you plant the right apples, you will barely see it at all.

Once again, welcome to the forum.

 

[Flatiron75]

Yes, I know you and want to welcome you to this forum. I'm very glad you have joined us and look forward to seeing you here.

I was just thinking about pears the other day, and came to the conclusion that where I live it seems like all pears are bulletproof. I stayed away from Bartlett, because it had a reputation for getting fireblight, but someone sent me a Bartlett by mistake, and it grows just as clean as any other pear I have. I can't recall ever seeing fireblight on any pear I have planted, and the quince rust (similar to CAR in apples) is almost non-existent as well. With that said, below are some of my favorites pears:

Senator Clark
Olympic Giant
Galloway
Kieffer (some others on this forum have reported fireblight, but I've never seen any on mine)
Moonglow
Ayers (I did see just a tad of rust for the first time last year, but it didn't amount to anything in the long run.
Gate
Please keep in mind that the pears I got from Blue Hill are still very young. I do see some fruit on a few of them this year, but I will probably pull it off. I did topwork a wild pear to Sweet Advent last year, and it has 4 big nice pears growing this year. I'm going to let those grow, but since the tree was topworked only last year, they could fall off.

Apples are a whole different animal - if you get the wrong rootstock or variety, you could be in for total failure where I live. CAR is especially devastating here, but if you plant the right apples, you will barely see it at all.

Once again, welcome to the forum.

Of those pears you mentioned, what are the latest ripening ones, Native?

 

[Native Hunter]

Of those pears you mentioned, what are the latest ripening ones, Native?

I think that of the ones I mentioned Gate, Olympic Giant and Gallaway are the latest. With a big mature tree, all of those will go deep into November, and in PA they might be later. I know that Olympic Giant would grow well in PA, and WG shows the other two being good in Zones 5-9.
Blue Hill shows Sweet Advent being a lot later than any of these three. As I mentioned earlier, I topworked a tree to Sweet Advent last year and it has 4 pears this year - but on a freshly topworked tree, those may not hang as long. I have another Sweet Advent at the farm, but I think the frost pocket temps may have got the pears on it this year. I will try to remember to look at it next time I'm over there.

If I was in PA and wanted late pears, here are the ones I would plant:
Sweet Advent
Rifle Deer Pear
Olympic Giant

I think it would be hard to go wrong with those three. PS - Once you eat an Olympic Giant, you will be hooked.

 

[Native Hunter]

This is what my pear topworking is looking like so far this year. As you can see, I already have my cane bracing up. Better too early than too late. This one is growing fast and might have already broken off in the strong wind yesterday without the bracing.

 

[Native Hunter]

Six years ago I planted this Keener Seedling (aka Rusty Coat) on MM111 from Century Farm Orchards. I never gave it any special attention (other than caging) after planting, and don’t even remember if I watered it the first year. The tree grew well but hadn’t flowered much until this year.

As of today, it is loaded with fruit, and every limb looks like the pic below. This is supposed to be a very late apple, which could be the perfect drop time for my area.

I will be watching and reporting back later.

 

[Flatiron75]

Mom once told me years ago that her aunt (or great aunt) had a Rusty Coat on their farm. Must be an old, vintage apple, having been around for quite a while. She never said what its eating qualities were. Looks like you'll have a good chance to try some, Native!