HI rovabay

welcome to your new obsession. Santa Rosa is an excellent choice as a self pollinator. That was my first producing tree and there was no other plum anywhere near. Fruit was not large, and also few in quantity, but that's what happens without cross pollination. Now that she has a mate I have to thin out 90% of the baby plums or I get cherry sized fruit.

One caution. I read somewhere that 3 diff strains had been released all with the Santa Rosa name. I've seen pics of other folks plums that look more red than mine. Mine are a very dark skin, very tart, but flesh is yellow and juicy. I can't vouch for other Santa Rosas ability to self pollinate.

I love Asian Pears, and many folks are saying most are partly self fertile. I planted 4 diff kinds my first year so I can't agree or disagree with that.

In all honesty I'd go Semi Dwarf on all trees and see if you can fit 2 into each spot. Lots easier to care for and more production that way. Pruning a combo tree takes a learning curve, and usually one variety takes over anyway. So if you hadn't planned for other pollination you'd be in trouble down the road anyway.

My vote on Asian Pears is Raja if you can get it. I also love Hosui, but that tree takes a lot of work. Most folks love Olympic Giant, but just put mine in so can't comment on taste yet. It would however extend your picking season, plus OG is a great storage pear. I do have 20th century but haven't been wowed by it yet. However it's young, and they say some trees need to grow up before tasting their best.

Pam in cinti

Visit the website for Bay Laurel Nursery and look at asian pear descriptions they are accurate, but like all websites pay attention to what isn't said.

Thanks for the insight. How close could I plant a mate to the other one? 10 feet? semi dwarf is around 15ft tall if I keep up on it?

I'm guessing the above reference is to psuedomonas problems. I had a tough time deciding when to prune my Hosui because one website said to only prune during very hot dry conditions to prevent psuedomonas infection. Others said to prune during dormant cycle. I finally figured that the hot dry advice was given by a northwest nursery intended for local clients. I've never encountered any real problems with my Asian pears except for brittle branches breaking instead of spreading a bit while attempting to improve crotch angles. That happened on both my Dasui Li and my Hosui. But not Raja. While I do water feed and mulch my trees I've never sprayed them with anything tho I will do a dormant oil spray soon as a preventative measure.

Anyway that's the best I can figure the warning is about.

Pam in cinti

Hello! I just stumbled upon this thread while looking for information on the Raja Asian pear. I know it's an old thread, but information on the Raja is hard to find, so I need to try and ask... Pam, since you have one, can I ask you what you use as a pollinator for it? Which one of your other pear trees blooms at the same time? I'm new to all this and looking for a pollinator for my Raja. My local garden center only has Shin Li, 20th Century, Chojuro and Shinko. Would any of those work with the Raja? I would really appreciate it if you could help me out! Thanks!

Just wanted to say I like your name "Facebook sucks"

Rovabay, it's been a long time! I'll try to answer without disparaging any companies. Notice before I stated all my Asian Pears were on OHxF333? Years ago I tried to buy some of this rootstock to graft a few other varieties of Asian Pears. Cummins Nursery, a very reputable nursery, told me they did not recommend this rootstock for Asian Pear due to unexplained decline at approx 5 years of age. Of course I thought I knew better. To make it short, at 7 years of age almost all my asian pears just seemed to shut down and die. My Raja tried, she really did, but she was sending out suckers from the rootstock faster than I could cut them back. So Raja & 20th Century are dead, but my Hosui is still hanging on by a thread. Other pears I have, Dasui Li and European Beurre D'Anjou are doing fine. All those bloom times overlapped.

Since the 20th century is on your list of availables, I'll say more. It stayed tiny tiny tiny with tiny fruit. Just wasn't worth it. I think it was the rootstock as I recall finding a research web page that stated 20th cent was not suitable for most rootstocks due to excessive dwarfing.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

BTW I would buy another Raja in a heartbeat if I could find one. Only sources I have still purchase from that same nursery that always uses the OHxF333. So first I would have to get my hands on some acceptable rootstock to graft it onto, cause I don't want to got thru all that again. Raja is still king in my book.

Pam in cinti

Second Pam in cinti on 20 C. Small fruit and has a tendency to go biennial if not prune seriously. Shinseiki, Korean Giant and drippin' Honey often get good review.