Here in southeast NY there is a lot of downside with this apple for me also. It is extremely sweet with very nice texture and juiciness but I haven't figured out how to make it productive yet on freestanding rootstock. There are also big issues with something so sweet as far as stinkbugs and wasps. If I sprayed every couple of weeks during the growing season with a pyrethroid, maybe I'd get more sound fruit. Not gonna happen.

It is certainly one of the most distinctive apples I try to grow, which is why it hasn't gotten the ax yet, although it is on the verge of being crowded out by more productive grafts.

A lot a very nice tasting apples that have slipped into obscurity are relatively difficult to grow. Usually varietal descriptions don't bother to mention these problems. Hudson's Golden Gem is often listed as highly disease resistant, but scab and CAR are relatively easily controlled on varieties that are much better producers than this one.

I have been thinking of planting a few Pear trees, but this apple will give me a pear like taste and I won't have to think about Pear diseases and other problems.

John the best way to get pear taste is obviously with a pear. Pears are generally far less disease prone and uniformly considered easier to grow than apples. Fireblight is maybe a bigger concern than most apples but everything else including insects all favor pears.
Pears also have the unique and attractive quality of canning very well. I think good canned pears can be as good and sometimes better than fresh. What other fruit can that be said of?

Appleseed, I agree that pears are generally considered less susceptible to some common apple pests, including plum curculio but I think the complex may be changing rapidly in the northeast with stinkbugs being increasingly problematic- this is the case in my orchard and a few others I manage where pears have become more difficult to manage than apples.

Pear psyla is also a huge PIA when it shows up (and it often does), although Surround may be the solution to this pest (but Surround is hard on my sprayer and relatively difficult to apply).

I also haven't been able to figure out a low spray approach to pear scab when it crops up.

Still, it isn't unusual to see an isolated pear tree produce wonderful fruit without any spray at all so it depends on the site as well as the pear variety.

I strongly recommend Harrow Sweet for its high quality and pest resistance. Right next to a Seckel and Bosc in my orchard that got hammered this year by both stinkbugs and psyla a HS performed very well (about half the SB damage and no psyla issue). It is also reputedly resistant to fireblight.

Hungry squirrels also choose green pears over apples to strip from trees.

Got some of these at Poverty Lane Orchards in NH this weekend- along with a bunch of other fun stuff- my favorite russet at picking time was Pomme Grise, however. I agree it had a pear-like flavor, kind of like a Bosc, no acidity and quite sweet, with that distinctive shape it's a memorable apple.

I agree about Pomme Gris, its an under-appreciated russet in my book. My Golden Russets are just coming in now and they are excellent. But the real winner russet for me this year is Hooples Antique Gold. They are huge, beautiful, unblemished, and extraordinary in sweetness and flavor. It tastes similar to one of my favorite apples, Freyburg, probably due to their Golden Delicious connection. Its the first year I have had any Hooples but they are looking to be one of my favorite apples.

Scott

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like I may have to be happy with Ashmeads Kernel and Golden Russet for my russet fixes. I would have to make room for it anyway so if it's more work and little payback I may stay away from it. I have to much going on to realistically plant pears and add more work on to my gardening routines. I was hoping for people to say it's a easy grower with high disease resistance.

I haven't yet had any significant insect (YJ, wasp, or PC) issues with Hudson's Golden Gem. But, last year I lost all but 1 to cracking and this year animals got all but 3. It was disappointing, as the tree was heavily loaded. But, I guess the critters have a sweet tooth too. I thought I had gotten rid of them by that point in the season, but all it takes is one...

Of the 3, 2 were unblemished and very good (3.2" x 3", with 16.5-18.2 brix). The 1 which had a bit of insect damage was even better, hitting 22.5 brix. It had a distinctive pear-like flavor, which made my daughter demand that I pick the other two, which turned out to not be quite as good.

I've actually been thinking about grafting it more widely. My current tree is on a M27 minidwarf rootstock, so there just isn't enough, even when it is heavily laden. The seedlings I planted this spring are from HGG and Goldrush- I figure with that pedigree, I've got the best shot at tasty apples.

Euro pears have been pretty easy for me so far- though some take a while to bear (not Harrow Sweet, as it set 1 fruit the planting year for me). Hopefully the problems Harvestman describes above will hold off for a few years.

Euro pears have been pretty easy for me so far- though some take a while to bear (not Harrow Sweet, as it set 1 fruit the planting year for me). Hopefully the problems Harvestman describes above will hold off for a few years.

I think Harvestman's issues are a product of mass plantings as he eluded to. Like he said :

Still, it isn't unusual to see an isolated pear tree produce wonderful fruit without any spray at all so it depends on the site as well as the pear variety.

Not only is it not unusual around my place it is common as dirt. I see neglected pear trees with perfect fruit all the time here and I've yet to see a neglected apple produce what I'd even call useful apples. If anyone was to look up the USDA's map of BMSB dispersion they would see I live right smack dab in the epicenter of BMSB territory. I have however read about stink bugs hitting pears, and I will say I have no issues with them on apples here. but I spray heavily.
I think they're too preoccupied with my peaches to be concerned with harder to penetrate stuff...at least that's my very weak theory.

Not just mass planting, also I suspect that pear pests have a way of finding trees over time while apple pests tend to be omnipresent (maybe because the trees themselves are more prevalent). On my property, pears were easy for the first 12 years or 5 years of cropping.

Appleseed, you are probably killing all your BMSB with your insecticide sprays. I don't spray any bug killers so they are a big problem for me. They are not as bad as when they first showed up, I think their predator population is building up slowly. You could also be killing the pear leaf blister mites and the psyllae with your bug sprays. My problem is growing pears with no bug death sprays at all. It was not too bad before the BMSB showed up but they made life a lot more difficult.

Scott

Scott, BMSB damage is known to swing wildly from season to season. The year you had your worst infestation was probably the year West Virginia lost almost it's entire peach crop to this pest, even in the face of up to 20 pyrethroid sprays to counter them.

The pesticides only kill the SB's on the trees at the time of spray ( BMSBs make very little physical contact with the fruits surface) and the population was so excessive that it just took a short time for one group to be replaced by SB's in nearby maple trees and other hosts.

The mid-atlantic region has not been hit nearly so badly since, I believe. As far as known, I don't believe BMSB has any important predators in the U. S. and part of what is going on now is trying to find out what those preds are in China where BMSB isn't a huge problem.

Out of all the sites I manage they've only been a huge problem at a couple of sites bordering the Hudson River and this was the worst year by far.

On other sites there's been a big expansion of other species of stink bug predation in the last few years, which may be the result of the overall milding of winter.

Appleseed, you are probably killing all your BMSB with your insecticide sprays. I don't spray any bug killers so they are a big problem for me

I don't think so Scott, nothing I spray has any significant efficacy on BMSB aside from a 1 time spray on 1 tree with Zeta Cypermethrin. Even Imidan only has something like 40% efficacy on BMSB with some of that 40% just being moribund.
BTW...the Zeta Cypermethrin I sprayed wasn't even labled for fruit. although it can be. It was allowed to be labled that way for 1 year (2011 maybe?) along with Dinotefuran (sp?). The Zeta Cypermethrin however I can attest has just unbelievable killing power on BMSB...just awesome knock down power. Kinda like Carbaryl on JB's only even better.

Still...there are old pears here that are unblemished...in fact there is one just outside my door in the neighbors yard. A tornado went through here in '96 and he told me he planted it right after that to replace a destroyed tree, I'll snap some photos later. Right now me and my "little me" are off to see the doc as we both have bronchitis I guess.

Hman, my understanding is there are quite a few natural predators, but they are taking time to build up. I have lots of large spiders in my orchard, they love BMSBs. Some wasps parasitize them, not just the one they are trying to import from China now. Heres a link showing many that have been found: the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

Appleseed, I think the Imidan 40% is on adults. If you are spraying biweekly you are going to thin out the younger ones pretty good. Or, maybe your area just hasn't gotten hit yet, or perhaps they prefer something else nearby (they have definite preferences).

Scott

I had grafted Hudson's Golden Gem a few years ago as I had seen it on several top 10 apple variety lists, and prior to this year had only sporadically fruited with small insect damaged fruit. This year it had a decent crop so I was finally able to fairly evaluate it. IMO it's a visually appealing apple, sweeter than most with a dry somewhat crispy texture but without a distinct flavor. Comparison to a pear is really stretching it IMO. Insect damage this year really wasn't bad but I had sprayed twice during the summer with triazicide as well as the spring sprays. One thing I noticed is that compared to Stayman and Golden Delicious the fruit is considerably more fragile. When I shook the tree to harvest fruit (growing 15 feet up) onto a suspended tarp the HGG were damaged half the time while the others were not.( Hand picking just takes too much time.)
Overall I'm a bit disappointed given expectations, and not one of my favorite apples, but I'm still glad I grow it.

Didn't know what flavor this apple had when I bought it. I was attracted to the size and russeting. It tasted like pear to me, my wife and kiddies. I only read later on it had the taste of pear to it.