Kieffer pear

Ia anyone here growing them. Im looking for a pollinator and would like to hear what others are using. Thanks

https://askthegreengenie.com/fruit-trees/pear-trees/

https://www.willisorchards.com/product/orient-pear-tree#.X5aogIh7m1s

what about them are you looking to know? and what in particular are you hoping to pollinate with them? i don’t have any at my place, so don’t know much about how well they pollinate other things, but there are a few trees around my area.

the pears themselves are okay eating but are generally considered a pretty low-grade pear. they tend towards having more ‘sand cells’ than any other pear i know, never lose their crunch, so they never get that ‘melting’ pear flesh from the better european pears in their ancestry, and while somewhat sweet, don’t have much of the more complex flavors of the asian pears in their ancestry. a friend likes to press them as if for cider, and then boil that down to a syrup, which makes a pretty nice pancake-syrup like product. trying that with other pears concentrates the flavors to the point that they get unpleasant, since tannins and acids (when mixed with the sugars) are what make most good pears taste so good. kieffer is a bland enough pear that it works.

greg mosser wrote:what about them are you looking to know? and what in particular are you hoping to pollinate with them? i don’t have any at my place, so don’t know much about how well they pollinate other things, but there are a few trees around my area.

the pears themselves are okay eating but are generally considered a pretty low-grade pear. they tend towards having more ‘sand cells’ than any other pear i know, never lose their crunch, so they never get that ‘melting’ pear flesh from the better european pears in their ancestry, and while somewhat sweet, don’t have much of the more complex flavors of the asian pears in their ancestry. a friend likes to press them as if for cider, and then boil that down to a syrup, which makes a pretty nice pancake-syrup like product. trying that with other pears concentrates the flavors to the point that they get unpleasant, since tannins and acids (when mixed with the sugars) are what make most good pears taste so good. kieffer is a bland enough pear that it works.

Keiffer needs a pollinator to produce fruit consistently, Id like to know what other pear will work. Thanks

all the kieffer trees i know around here don’t have any other pears around and reliably produce.

greg mosser wrote:all the kieffer trees i know around here don’t have any other pears around and reliably produce.

Seems like fruit production for anything is hit and miss with some being more reliable than others, at this point Im wanting to plant the trees, get them established over the next few years and then worry about getting fruit. It will be easier once I am living on the property

This page suggests having two other varieties for pollination.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pyrus-communis-kieffer/

It also notes that it's a late blooming flower. I suggest looking for two other late blooming varieties that work in your growing context.

Nick Neufeld wrote:This page suggests having two other varieties for pollination.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pyrus-communis-kieffer/

It also notes that it's a late blooming flower. I suggest looking for two other late blooming varieties that work in your growing context.

Thanks, this publication https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg367#FIGURE%202 states that no cross pollination is needed. Quote : Baldwin’, ‘Kieffer’, ‘Orient’, and ‘Hood’ are self-fruitful.

pears graft so easy, it should be pretty straightforward to put a few different things on your kieffer to make sure. asian pears generally bloom earlier and europeans later, with crosses like kieffer somewhere in the middle. maybe some of the later asians like hosui, korean giant, and shinko, and earlier euros like bartlett or seckel?

Here are my experiences with Kieffer, hopefully it can be helpful.

I grew the Kieffer pear for about 4 years, but I removed it because the flavor just wasn't there for fresh eating for me. I've heard it is mostly a cooking or preserving pear, and maybe the flavor comes out then, but for fresh eating it was so bland I couldn't eat it.

Here's some pros and cons from my growing experience.

Pros

- It was an incredibly vigorous and fast grower.

- It grew well even in a really wet area, where most fruit trees would be very unhappy.

- It had excellent pollination, and almost every bloom seemed to turn into a pear. Like stated above, it is most likely self fruitful based on my experience and what I've read. It probably would make a good pollinator for other nearby pear trees.

- It is super reliable and produced a surprising amount of fruit for a small tree.

- It seemed pretty critter/pest/disease resistant. The wildlife never bothered it (can't say I blame them ), it didn't have any fire blight, and just had a little codling moth damage (probably my fault).

- It can take the heat without missing a beat.

- The pears have a nice look and were usually pretty blemish free.


Cons


- I really wanted to love this tree, as it has so many positives mentioned above, but the flavor was so bland though that I couldn't even eat it. I tried picking it at different times, ripening it different ways, but nothing helped.

- If it is pollinating other nearby pear trees and you are saving the seeds, it may pass on its bad tasting genetics and decrease the quality of fruit the offspring may produce.




Here is a chart I found about some pear varieties, including Kieffer, and pollination.





I recognize a lot of supposedly high quality eating pears on this chart below which shows more pollination information.






This chart has even more information which I found really helpful.





Bartlett is the only other pear I've gotten fruit from so far, but it is very susceptible to fire blight. It has produced fruit, but has big patches of fireblight that constantly plague the tree and keep it from being its best.

I'm experimenting to try to find some fire blight resistant varieties that can handle our heat, and I hope to save the seeds from the best varieties to create new varieties that are well adapted to the Southeast. That's a long ways down the road though.

I wish I had better info about what does well here, but hopefully this info is a little helpful, best of luck with your fruit growing!

Very helpful and thanks