I've got three Comice planted. This will be about the 5th leaf. So far a couple flowers on one but nothing on the other two. If I'm lucky maybe I'll get a fruit in the next 5 yrs. But I'm going to leave them. The fruit is worth waiting for. So far I've had no fireblight. In 35 yrs of raising apples and a few pears in west TX have had none. But knew a commercial apple grower once that was wiped out by it.

If you actually want fruit get an Asian pear such as 20th Century. They produce like crazy at a young age. The fruit can be pretty good and is crisp and juicy. If you can find Olympic aka Korean Giant, that is a very nice large pear that bears pretty young and has a firm sweet fruit. There are plenty of other types like Moonglow and Orient but I've never had the patience to wait for one to produce.

THe Fruitnut

I dont think it has much of a chance in your area but that is just me. Here are some good types I would look for: Southern Bartlett, Leona, Acres Home and if you get enough chill Moonglow. Most of the pears I have tried have been pretty precocius beleive it or not. Most produce in a few years. Be cautiuos of fireblight. In The Houston area it can be bad.

FruitNut, if you see this what rootstock are you using on you Comice?

Thanks,
Scaper

Thanks,
scaper

scraper: I've got them on OHxF 87 and 97. Is that good or bad for precocity? They aren't overly vigorous. I'm not too optimistic because even if they do bloom I've never seen the bees show any interest.

The Fruitnut

Thanks for the reply fruitnut,
You know for me, at least so far, #97 has been pretty precocius. A few people have said that there have been problems in my area with this stock (I highly suspect this is from cotton rootrot) but so far it has been good for me. Most trees I have grafted to it have fruited in the 3rd or forth year. Your experience with Comice sounds like my experience with Warren and Magness. No flowers yet on Magness and Warren blooms but no one visits. I am going to take Joe Reals advice and graft several Warren branches into other pears. You are right about Comice being worth the wait. If someone told me that if I planted a tree today it would start producing in ten years I would do it in a heartbeat. Oh, by the way Comice is know to be quince compatible. Perhaps this would encourage more production?

Thanks,
Scaper

Scaper:

Not only do the bees not visit, but many of my pears bloom in Febr and early March. We get a killing or damaging freeze most yrs in April. The Comice does bloom later than stuff like Keiffer. I wonder if the Asian pears or maybe Olympic will pollinate Comice? I have much more hope for Olympic. It has actually set fruit most yrs. Not a Comice but almost as good in it's own way. Believe I also have Bosc grafted into Comice or maybe the other way around.

The Fruitnut

aakerr, Comice is fussy about growing here on Long Island. Two seasons ago I planted two bare root but have little growth. I've grafted several buds onto larger pear trees to coax them to grow out. Most other Pear trees here grow like Peaches.

Hello fruitnut,
You know I have been meaning to start a tree of olympic for years and I haven't done it yet. I have heard diffrent reports on it chill requirements. Maybe this year! I think that my Hosui and 20th Century pollinate my Moonglow as they bloom together when not much else does. I'll bet your Olympic will get your Comice pollinated if it has the chance. By the way, do you grow your pears in your greenhouse or outdoors?

scaper:

Pears are all outdoors. I had an apple in the greenhouse at one time. The fruit was large but not the greatest quality. Too hot and a bit on the dry side was my conclusion. So I moved that tree outdoors.

For lunch today I finished off the last half of an Olympic form the store. Cost $1.39 each and well worth it. Yes, it was big enough to justify two meals. Very sweet and crunchy. So it is a different pear than the Comice. But I like them better than almost any Asian pear which are often too watery for me. I'm going to have to plant another this spring. The store bought was as good or better than mine last fall, very good for store bought anything. Not that there was anything wrong with mine. They were way better than my Fuji apples.

The Fruitnut

Yep, I'm going to add one this year. Ya talked me into it. Do you grow Hosui? That has been my favorite asian by far. The price is crazy on some of these fruits these days and I definatley dont regrat the effort it takes to grow them.

Scaper

I do have a Housi. It's not even my favorite of the smaller, high yielding Asians. I like Olympic much better; bigger, sweeter, and crisper.

Just to muddy the water, I will say that Hosui is better than Olympic, but really not by much. Hosui will fireblight much more than Olympic. IMHO