I just bought a pack of four yellow pear tomatoes plants. Hope we have another hot summer in Ohio. Do the plants get really tall?

Mine are about 6 feet tall already. Each one has 4-5 trusses of green tomatoes and about that many of flowers/developing tomatoes. About how long does it take for them to go from flower to ripe? All of my tomato plants have been working on it for three weeks now. Hurry up!

Here we go again! :)

So are these tomatoes like a cherry tomato? I expected them to be smaller than normal, but it didn't dawn on me that they I would have zillions of wee ones. Maybe I'll be giving a plant or two away.

Schoolhouse,

4, happy Yellow Pear plants will produce MANY, MANY, MANY, 1.5"-3" fruits. The plants can get very lrg.

The plants are so durable that I control them by simply not giving them a very sunny spot. I still wind up with plenty but not too many.

For us, 4 plants would be too many.

It's one of my faves for flavor and rarely do any fruits ever make inside as I eat them by the handfuls--they are great for quenching my thirst in the garden. They have a sweet and mild flavor; I teach at a youth garden camp each summer and the children seem to love these more than any other tomato.

But with every thing there are yins and yangs.

This plant is a pain-in-the-butt reseeder--it is very a prolific cropper and you will never be able to pick up all of the dropped fruit--it reseeds like a weed.

This plant can grow enormous. The first time I grew YP I set the seedlings in a new Lasagna Bed. Bad, bad idea. New lasagna beds attract hoards of worms that leave behind nutrient-rich worm poo and tomato plants just love them. I prunded YP with electric hedge clippers and in a few days YP was as big as ever and went on to be the largest tomato plant I have ever grown.

T

Aw geeze! Just what I don't need - oodles of little tomatoes and towering plants. Ha. Thanks for the heads up guys.

I've never tried debating with a yellow pear tomato--guess that's because we eat them so fast they don't have a chance to get a word in!

I agree, Yellow Pear is very prolific. I prune my tomatos quite steadily and it was hard to keep up with this variety. Flavor was good, not great. I liked it for the color. What I didn't like is that the fruit is prone to cracking.

Ok - I'm not at all a fan, I'll say that upfront - but I don't want to debate.
What I'd like to know is where you got your seed because I would love to find a yellow pear that works. They're so pretty and I know my customers would buy them - at least the first time - but I've never grown one that I would dare sell. Splitting aside, the fruits that taste good are delicious, but those that taste bad are beyond "get this taste out of my mouth" spitting in front of your grandma bad, mushy and mealy. And of course they never look any different.
I'd love to find a strain that works. Thanks.

Yellow Pear - mushy, bland, not worth the garden space. But definitely cute. And I can understand how small children would be into it. I grow Yellow Pear for my sister every year so she can have one in her garden. Also I have found them to be disease-prone the couple of times I have grown one in my own garden. I think if you grow heirlooms to sell to restaurants they will want Yellow Pear because of its gourmet appearance, so that would be ONE reason to consider growing them. Otherwise, yuck.

Now, how can one person say it's "flavorful, sweet, great taste" and the next, "mushy, bland, ect" ? Oh - now I see why this thread is called: Yellow Pear Debate. ha.

Exactly - I hear both opinions all the time! That's why I'm figuring there's some strain out there that's different than what I've grown because raisemybeds is right - my restaurant customers would love, love, love the look of them - but even with them, taste is of #1 importance. One customer having to spit their's out would get me in trouble, and you can't exactly taste each one before you serve it.
Well, maybe if you cut them in half, but I don't think they want them that badly. :)

I'm figuring there's some strain out there that's different

****

There really isn't.

Differences are to be expected due to where it's grown, what the weather is in any given season, what amendments are used, what the soil is like, how they're grown, etc.

If you look at one single variety that's listed in the SSE Yearbook where there are lots of listers you'll often see quite different reports. And that reflects all the variables I just mentioned above.

Just too many variables is where it's at.

For several years I sold to chef's and Yellow Pears were always in demand as well as the many other colored cherries that I sold.

And I never had mushy bland fruits for YP. I'm the first to say that YP shouldn't be looked at for great taste, far from it IMO, but they are cute, aren't they.

I don't know why more folks don't grow the small Red PEars as well b'c I think they're better that the YP's.

Finally, taste is subjective and personal and there's also a genetic associtation. So it stands to reason that different folks will experiences tastes differently.

So now do you see why in my post above I suggested that a tug of war be done? LOL

Carolyn

Yellow Pear - mushy, bland, not worth the garden space. But definitely cute...Mine never tasted good and were mushy and very prone to cracking when ripe. Maybe I grew an inferior strain... I do not know. What I do know is that I refuse to grow them anymore, except for a person who raves (yes, truthfully raves) about them. I presume what I consider to be a bland and mushy tom is deemed by some others to be a premium cult. I guess that differences in taste perceptions promote interest in growing garden stuff. Anyhow, it does for me.

Reg

I've often wondered if they just don't like something about our growing conditions up here, because I don't know anyone in our area that doesn't have the same problem as we do - tons of splitting, although I honestly don't mind that all that much, at least that's something you can see, and the plants always have plenty that aren't split - come to think of it, my chickens probably really miss us growing yps - they love nothing better than a bucket of split tomatoes thrown to them!

And I don't think it's just a matter of individual taste, we all pretty much seem to agree that 2 out of 3 are delicious - it's just that that 3rd one is so beyond disgusting (mostly in texture) that it's just not worth it to take the chance.

As far as red pear goes, I just don't find it half as cute, unless it's on a salad with the yellow pear also - I'm not sure why. And, while definitely uniform - I find them uniformly tasteless (again, maybe just our growing conditions).

I've found the same to be true of Juliet (not to change the thread) - I know they were an AAS winner, I hear people love them, I was encouraged to grow them for drying (I dry more than anything for winter storage - we eat dried tomatoes like candy around here) - and I wish we liked them because they're the most prolific tomato we've ever grown --- but absolutely no taste whatsoever. Again, another one where I've asked a lot of opinions and got a pretty unanimous consensus. They just don't like something about my growing conditions I guess.

I think I'll probably give it another try eventually (yellow pear I mean), and just try some different seeds from different people/companies. I'd really like to find one that likes me - my Grandma asks every year if I'm going to grow them, she seems to have very fond memories of them from her childhood or something. Whenever 'heirloom' tomatoes comes up, which is a lot around me, yellow pear is instantly what comes to her mind - she could care less about Brandywine or any of the others most people think of. :)

I bought my plants at an Amish greenhouse, and the tag in the pack just identifies them as "Yellow Pear".