Best Pear Varieties for S. California

hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA

12 years ago

I asked this over on the Fruit & Orchards Forum, but thought I'd ask my California gardening buddies, too. What would be the best pear varieties for my low chill hour area of S. California? I'm considering Moonglow. I did pick up a nice little Seckel, and I know Seckel is self-pollinating, but since Moonglow needs a cross-pollinator, I'm hoping the Seckel will be acceptable. They appear to produce at about the same time, so hopefully they flower at relatively the same time. I need a pear or two that will produce with lower chill hours, is fire-blight resistant, prefer low-grit and will stay relatively compact so I don't have to do extensive pruning to keep it small (but I'm armed and dangerous with my Felcos, so that's the least requirement.) Thanks for any suggestions you can give me.

Patty S.

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Comments (5)

wcgypsy
12 years ago
When I was still working, I had a patron who brought me pears from her Moonglow tree here in Fallbrook. They were really very good so I bought a Moonglow and another (don't remember the name) for a pollinator. This has been a few years ago and the pollinator tree is about 9 ft tall and the Moonglow is still struggling along at about 2 ft tall...lol...don't know why and I hope you have better luck than I.
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
12 years ago
Hmmm, gypsy. Not sure why your poor little Moonglow would be so dwarfed. Gophers possibly? Or on some sort of ultra-dwarfing rootstock perhaps? I don't mind small, but 2 feet is a little too small, lol!! going to plant my two pears out front, and not in the Walk & Pick orchard since I truly am out of room down there. Hopefully I can keep the #$%*& squirrels out of the trees. If I had it in the back, they are more protected with snake fencing and several bait stations. I can put bait stations out front too if I have to, I guess. Sigh. They gyrations I have to go through to keep varmints out of my fruit trees, geesh.

Patty S.
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wcgypsy
12 years ago
Who knows? Think I'll fertilize him...lol.
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
12 years ago
Update on my pears. I have decided on a Moonglow, a Seckel, a Comice and my wonderful CRFG buddy, Dave Archer, who owns Bonita Creek Nursery in Bonita, CA also happened to have a Concorde Pear. So, I will have four very lovely pear trees for the front yard. Hoping to keep them small, and I hope I can keep the rats out of the trees, too.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bonita Creek Nursery
brewcider
11 years ago
Patty, how's the Seckel doing? I just picked up one yesterday and I'm not sure it'll produce fruit in Poway. You're closer to the coast than I am so if your Seckel is producing fruit then mine should too. Besides the Seckel I picked up Hosui and 20th Century asian pears. I'm planning on planting all three of them in one hole. None of them have fire blight on them but I saw some flordahome pears at the nursery covered in FB. Supposidly the European pears are more vulnerable to FB than the Asian pears but Seckel is supposed to be resistant and it's also #1 in the European pear taste tests according to Dave Wilson so I went ahead and bought it. BTW, I got my tree at Hidden Valley Nursery in Alpine. It's in a 15 gallon container and was only $37.50. They have a good variety up there and cheap prices. Their 4-in-1 trees in 15 gallon containers is $59... I almost bought one of those as well :)