Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
chilling varieties 'Flordahome', 'Hood', and 'Pineapple' are popular in Florida
and other areas that experience around 100 chilling hours or more. Not all
popular pear varieties are blight resistant, however; a key consideration for
organic orchardists.
'Kieffer' and 'Orient' are hybrids between European and Asian pear variet-
ies. While their fruit is gritty and best used for canning and baking, the trees
are highly blight resistant.
In Texas A&Mid-season evaluations of European pear varieties for south-
ern growers, 'Warren' provided the best overall dessert-quality fruit and had
the best blight resistance, followed by 'Ayers' and 'Magness'. Other blight-
resistant European varieties recommended for southern growers include
'Carrick', 'Monterrey', 'Moonglow', and 'Morgan'. 'Honeysweet' was developed
by Purdue University and is also resistant to fire blight. Unfortunately, some
list suggested European pear varieties.
Pear Rootstocks
Pear decline is a very serious disease that has killed many pear trees in
North America. The disease is caused by a mycoplasma (bacteria-like)
pathogen that is carried by the pear psylla insect pest. Some combinations
of pear varieties and rootstocks have proven highly susceptible to the dis-
ease and other combinations quite resistant. Because pear decline involves
rootstock/scion interactions, selecting the proper rootstock for your region
is very important. Fire blight resistance and size control are other factors to
consider when selecting rootstock.
For organic pear growers in North America,
'Old Home' × 'Farmingdale'
(OHxF) rootstocks are often the best choice. They are resistant to pear de-
cline and fire blight and are cold-hardy, although they are moderately sus-
ceptible to pear root aphid and quite susceptible to nematode damage. OHxF
clones 40, 69, 217, and 282 work well for most pear varieties. OHxF clones
277 and 97 are more vigorous and are recommended for Asian pears and for
red European pear varieties.
