Harvestman,
That sucks. I'm along michiana, 13 miles from lake michigan, in a similar zone than you. I was interested in a few pears and was wondering what personal recommendations/experience you might have with Blake's pride, Harrow delight, potomac, warren, etc. on the fb resistant list.

I already have ubileen, tenessee, ayers, honeysweet(?)
Noogy

Well, that's frustrating, harvestman. Fortunately for us out here on the S. Calif. coast, pears are not too much bothered by pest. Have been told they're one of the least bothersome pom/stone fruit trees for us to grow. The one thing we do have is fire blight, so I tried to pick varieties that are either resistant or very-resistant to FB. So, I picked Seckel, comice, Concorde (new to our area & country), and Moonglow. Hope they all live up to THEIR descriptions!

Patty S.

Hman,

Long John no good?

Your last endorsement had me pretty jazzed about that plum (I've got on in the ground now).

What changed your mind?

Olpea, I don't think you read my endorsement closely because I was just excited to finally, after many years, to have a heavy crop on one tree, one site. I was hoping that it was finally fully mature (at 10 years old and a really big tree) but this year the entire tree has 12 plums. There are other plums I have problems with, like Seneca, but no other plum has been so reluctant to bear consistently on so many sites. How it does in Kansas is anyone's guess. I'm assuming it must have performed pretty well up by Lake Geneva because the Cornell people like Jim Cummins are so high on it. If it bore up there like it does here they never would have bothered releasing it.

If it does bare for you, its appearance will definitely sell it. You'll know in 6-8 years. Hope you didn't order too many.

Noogy, the only one of those you mentioned that I grow is Harrow Delight which is generally a very nice early pear that is easy to grow. Strangely, this year it hasn't done well at the couple of sites where I'm watching it and Aurora is superior. It has some scab issues this year. For many years it's been the most reliable early pear I grow.

I only ordered one, and I hope you didn't think I was blaming you.

Your right you didn't recommend it. I mistook your excitement for a recommendation.

Glad to know not to expect much, if any, production from this tree. I'll leave it in the ground and think of it as a shade tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last year's long john discussion - Gardenweb

I'd like to hear of other pear variety evaluations. I have four varieties I am waiting on, chosen mostly by catalog descriptions, but since they take forever to bear, one doesn't want to plant a bummer. At least pears are something mushy that old codgers can eat, since one has to wait so long for them. Northwoodswis

H-man: reminds me of a melon I once (AND ONLY ONCE) planted called Charentais. Damned fine melon if I could get one that hadn't cracked severely and subsequently turned into an ant colony! The window between too green to pick and ripen indoors and the onset of cracking was measured in hours.

talk about a crack ho!

Pear culture in 8 years has thus far been fruitless for me, guess I'll stick to apple, peach, strawbs. and raspberries and let the pears be pruning controlled shade trees.

I have found that Pope and Josephine des Malines, two very obscure but good-tasting pears, fruit in "only" 3-4 years. I'm not sure why these guys are not more popular for that reason. I have about 40 Euro pear varieties and only half a dozen are fruiting this year, their 9th.

Scott

Harrow Sweet seems to bare pretty young and is an excellent Bartlett type of a richer quality- also ripens a bit later which is another advantage IMB. Seckel also bares relatively young.

I planted a Highland this spring... now you have me questioning my selection. Luckily, I have very low humidity, no rain during the summer, and few pests here in the high desert, so maybe it will be okay. I selected it based on Raintree's description, "The highest quality keeper pear" - exactly what I was looking for. It seems healthy so far and I'm not too worried about the pests or diseases, but you seem un-impressed by the quality, which concerns me. I do want a high quality pear. Maybe climate / "terroir" makes a big difference.

I have Long John's in Vermont, and they produce heavily every year. Are susceptible to brown rot, and have a long weak branching (weeping) habit, which is touch to prune without taking all the ends off. Soil is clay

Higland sets quite a few fruits for me so I was hopeful for a few years. Lots of scab however and end up with small inedible pears. Meanwhile Bartlett keeps me happy with loads of juicy, flavorful pears.
This is my last year hoping for Seneca to produce. Every year just a handful of fruits, and even those tend to crack and weep. Next weekend I'm breaking out the chainsaw and it's bye-bye Seneca. Probably the asian plums too.

Climate makes a huge difference, of course, and Idaho may be just the place for Highland. Bet the brix will be higher there which is all it needs once you get by humidity issues.

PHF, I'm long since past being surprised when any fruit variety but especially a plum variety bares well in one region and not another. I have a site I manage where Seneca bears at least pretty well every year and half the time heavily. On five other sites- some only a few miles away, it's been a dog. Haven't been able to identify any soil or location characteristics that are involved, although I consider these thing constantly. I've had Longjohns in clay soils, but of course, not your clay soil.

Plums are the most fickle species I grow by far, regarding productivity. I know the factors that are supposed to influence this but there must be a lot of unknown factors as well.