Planting the Home Orchard: Pears

One of my goals this year is to plant more fruit trees.  We currently have three apple tress, so it was time to expand.  J is a fan of pears and I'm in the pears are alright category.  However, I've never had a ripe-off-the-tree pear, so perhaps my opinion of pears will improve.

In researching pears for my area, the biggest problem is fire blight, which is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora.  From what I've read fire blight can be very destructive and kill apple and pear trees.  According to Clemson University, the best strategies to reduce fire blight are to select resistant varieties, use sanitary measures and avoid excess nitrogen. My search began for resistant pear varieties.

Warren kept coming up when I searched for fire blight resistant pears.  It appears that this variety was developed in Mississippi and any hot and humid climate has a greater risk of fire blight.  It is considered the best pear tree for southern states.  The descriptions I read also makes it sound delicious and a good keeper.  Of course I was going to need another tree for pollination, so my research continued for pears that can handle the humid south.

I ended up back at Century Farm Orchards, where I had ordered my southern heirloom apple trees.  They also sale some pear trees and there was one I found especially intriguing, the Plumblee pear.  It is described as a sweet and juicy pear with disease resistance.  What intrigued me was that it is a local pear and was grown by their friend’s father for decades.  This orchard is only about two hours from here, so the climate, diseases and pests should be very similar.  That was pretty much all the information that was available for this pear, except that the guy that grows all these southern heirloom apple trees likes this pear better than most apples!  Well, I was sold.

I kept reading about these varieties and found that some people were having problems with Warren not setting fruit.  It seems that it is not a good pollinator.  It would be sad to wait several years for pear trees to mature and then not get any fruit, so I thought I should get one other pear just to make sure there will be some pollination going on.  I wanted to order everything from Century Farm Orchards to avoid paying more shipping costs.  Of the other varieties they had available it seemed that Keiffer and Seckle were my best bets for fire blight resistance.  Keiffer, however, has a reputation for being hard and gritty, so even though it has high disease resistance, it was voted off the pear tree list.  The third pear variety will be Seckle.  It is described to have moderate resistance to fire blight, so hopefully that will be adequate.  It is a small dessert pear that is very sweet and good for canning.

Our three pear trees arrived at the beginning of January and we planted them the first weekend of the month.  Now we have three apple trees and three pears in our growing little home orchard.  Our next step is to mulch and put up a fence barrier for the deer and beavers and then we just have to wait.

Gardening has increased my patience.  I remember the first time I planted asparagus I was appalled that it was going to take three years for harvest.  Now I have pecan trees that will take ten or more years to mature, so five to seven years for pears and apples doesn't seem too long.

Quest for Apple Trees

Part of my plan for our 12 acres is to grow an orchard.  When I think about the types of fruit I want to grow, the first that comes to mind are apples!  I eat an apple almost every morning, either cooked with oatmeal on cold mornings or sliced on top of waffles with yogurt for warm weather.  I also love to bake (and eat) apple pies.  Every year we go apple picking and I cook little mini pies that go into the freezer.

Picking apples in the rain in Upstate New York, fall 2013

However, when I started researching what kind of apples to grow I hit a brick wall.  Problem number one is that I don't want to use chemical sprays.  I want organic apples.  Problem number two is that I live in a hot, humid climate.  It appears that problem one and two do not combine well.

On the NPR station I listen to there is a program from Clemson University about gardening.  People call in with their gardening questions and several times I've heard questions about apple trees and the response has always been that they don't grow well in South Carolina, so don't bother trying.

But I really, really want apples!

After much Google searching, I stumbled upon another blog : Growing Days and found that I was not alone.  The blogger (oddly also named Julie) is in South Carolina as well and had heard the same Clemson University advice against apples.  However, she had met the author, Creighton Lee Calhoun, Jr, of a book titled: Old Southern Apples: A Comprehensive History and Description of Varieties for Collectors, Growers, and Fruit Enthusiasts.  She was able to talk to Mr. Calhoun about her quest for an apple variety to plant and his recommendation was a Blacktwig apple.

Now I just needed to find this Blacktwig Apple.  Through more Google searches I stumbled upon Century Farm Orchards in Reidsville, NC.  They specialize in growing old Southern apples and pears that are disease resistant!  They had the Blacktwig apple available and the description makes it sound even better.  "Unparalleled fresh eating quality" and all important, "resistant to several apple diseases."   I ordered two Blacktwig apples and the owner of Century Farm Orchard has been helpful to recommend another variety for pollination, Summer Banana.  This variety also sounds delicious!

I received and planted my apple trees.  I put up a four foot fence around each one.  I learned from my pecan tree planting that deer protection is essential.  The apple trees are also somewhat close to the pond where we have very active beavers.  Hopefully my apple tree enclosures will be deer and beaver proof!

All went well with the baby apple trees until mid-spring.  Small green caterpillars began munching away at the leaves.  I managed to hand pick them off the trees and no new ones reappeared.  They have put on new leaves and will hopefully recover from the attack.  However, I am concerned about how to deal with these caterpillars in the future.  Eventually the trees will be too big for me to hand pick, so I will need another technique.  And today I noticed that the apple tree leaves have reddish orange blotches.

I have a feeling my quest for apples is just beginning!.

This post is shared at Green Thumb Thursday at Grow a Good Life.