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clarkinks

What kind of pear is it?

clarkinks
9 years ago

This pear was sold to me as a kiefer but I've noticed it has very few grit cells. What's you opinion on the type of pear it is? My old fashioned kiefer tastes much different and is more resistant to disease.

Comments (20)

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This is a picture of the foliage.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Fruit size picture for reference

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This is another picture of the foliage for reference. The fruit is very aromatic and all is perfect or nearly perfect. The flavor is blan this year similar to store bought pears. The pear looks slightly rounded like other kiefer a I've seen. Notice the lack of the elongated neck like most European pears have. My old fashioned kiefer ripened in July and this one just now ripened. Kiefer or not?ive had several people mention they think it's an improved kiefer.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Bottom of the fruit is russeted 70% of the time

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Cross section of the fruit

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Let me know if you grow a pear similar to this one or if you grow a kiefer that looks nothing like this one. As you can see some are solid yellow when fully ripe and others are yellow and have a red blush. Thanks!

    This post was edited by ClarkinKS on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 13:31

  • TurCre
    9 years ago

    Seckel?

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    TurCre I did some additional research and they are an improved kieffer variety. There are two types an old fashioned original that has some grit cells and this improved variety. Seckel looks like it could be close cousin! Thanks for the reply. The tree was in fact labeled correctly.

  • marknmt
    9 years ago

    Interesting! Fruit looks and colors something like my Gold Spice, but the GS are definitely flavorful and have a little taper in the neck. Size is about the same.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Marknmt I just read up on your pear and it says they are very fireblight resistant as well. They sound like a great pear.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago

    The pears I recognize as Keifer here are huge things that stay hard even as they turn golden quite late in the season. They flower beautifully on leafless trees, like a Bradford. Seems like this "improved" Keifer might be a different pear entirely (not a sport). The pear I know as Keifer is not what most think of as a very good eating pear. Better for canning, I'm told.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Harvestman it's very confusing because I know of at least two distinctly different varieties which are old fashioned kieffer which I grow supposedly and improved kieffer which I grow definately. My old fashioned kieffer looks like this one http://shop.arborday.org/product.aspx?zpid=895 but ripened in July/August for us this year. I did get it from arborday. The improved variety ripened roughly a month later. I'm confident it's an improved kieffer because I have very accurately identified that variety. Ripening time and appearance etc. all add up. The old fashioned variety has an incredible flavor and the first several years the tree is very thorny and pears are small eventually giving way to medium to large pears and branches are no longer thorny. It suckers at the base like rootstock which is telling me it could be on it's own roots. I got it when it was 6 inches tall and half the diameter of a pencil and it did not show a graft line. I wondered for years why I grew it because it was thorny like a callery. The first few years the pears were the size of walnuts and I even planned to graft it over if it did not show improvement after the drought. This year the pears were medium sized with a few large ones and it's now one of my best flavored pears even competitive with clapps favorite and bartlett. It is highly fireblight resistant. It is not a keeper and when ripe quickly begin to rot from the inside out similar to a clapps turning brown inside. I'm not sure at all it's not a kieffer sport and not a true kieffer. I think the actual kieffer is very gritty and these are not. I understand soil and growing conditions have something to do with taste but things don't add up. The improved kieffer I believe is 100% a different variety like douglas is a different variety but still has kieffer as a parent. I will document the other variety I grow next year. I suspect there is a 3rd variety which is the real kieffer. The improved variety is dangerously brittle and bears heavy so I sweat it during harvest time. It's also not nearly as resistant to fire blight as I would like. I have another mystery pear I acquired this year from a farmer who has grown it for the last 20+ years with pears forming in clusters reaching 1pd 8 oz each ( his largest). Flavor is good most years. Every year his tree has some breakage due to excessive size of fruit and clusters. Hopefully it will be the true kieffer but time will tell. I top worked two grown callery trees this year and will post photos in a year or two when I get pears. It's foliage looks similar to the improved kieffer which imply Asian pear heritage. The foliage of my drippin honey is nearly identical. The improved kieffer are very good keepers and show no fungal or insect damage.

    This post was edited by ClarkinKS on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 6:47

  • milehighgirl
    9 years ago

    Clark,

    I got it when it was 6 inches tall and half the diameter of a pencil and it did not show a graft line.

    How can you be sure it's not a Keifer seedling?

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    It could be milehighgirl I honestly don't know. I just know they sold it as kieffer and I have been pleased with the tree now that it's bearing good. I traded some scions last year of it and told the recipients it's negatives because I didn't know all of it's positives at that point. Every year I own it I'm finding out better things about it. It's an awfully easy tree to care for. I like that more than anything in a tree with good flavored fruit.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago

    Here's the Seedsavers Exchange definition of Kieffer fruit, "large long, golden yellow fruit with a crimson blush. Crisp, juicy, coarse textured, white flesh with musky aroma. Excellent for canning and baking. Good variety for pear honey and preserves.

    This reads like the Keifer I know. Where I used to manage it the trees received no spray and the pears were never damaged in any way by pests. It is also virtually immune to fireblight so one can often see huge old trees of this variety on old farms. They can live a couple centuries, no sweat.

    They don't get adequate sugar as grown here to be really enjoyable for fresh eating, although at peak ripeness they are OK.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Harvestman one of these days i'm going to find some actual plane old kieffer pear scions and grow them out and compare notes. I suspect we may not ever really know what some of the varities we grow are. I have a couple of large callery I'm just waiting to graft them to.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago

    I wonder if it isn't a really great pear when used for cooking where grittiness and low sugar are not much a problem. In the end, you can only eat so many fresh pears.

  • clarkinks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Harvestman there is no doubt about the logic of what your saying. Honey and cinnamon or ginger goes a long way when it comes to making good cooked pears.

  • glib
    9 years ago

    In a previous home I had five of these trees, and the descriptions of fruit and tree fit to a T. Concur with HM, we did good jam and sorbet, and the neighbors chickens ate hundreds of pounds, so we got eggs out of it at least. Very strong healthy trees though, and beautiful in spring.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago

    Sounds like they might make an optimum grafting tree. FB would probably only endanger the grafts themselves. Hmmm.