Those have to be pretty good sized trees for never having fruited? I have a Rescue pear just starting to send out green shoots.

I see my Seckel has a bunch of blooms again this year.

At least from the store, i like both Comice and Bosc, with Comice getting the edge. Still can't compare to a Bartlett or Seckel :)

I have a multi-graft with Comice, and I'm sorry to tell you, but I got fruit the 2nd year. But then, I live in famous pear-growing land.

(I also learned from the Farmer's Market that I was mispronouncing it to rhyme with "Comet", when it's actually co-MEES, like niece)

Carla in Sac

Have an 8 foot comice - but still waiting for fruit. Comice is the king of pears, so like you am eager to get some. I did get some Maxine pears (Century Yellow). They were really nice. That is about all I can report.

The Asian pears are highly recommended for fruit production...they don't fool around. They produce early, low disease and hassles.

Comice is the ultimate luscious type pear but we can't really ripen it here. I grew up in CA eating those pears around Christmas. Harry David built a business around gift baskets centered around highest quality fruit of the variety. Their Comice are legendary and as Carla said they came from the area a little south of Sacramento around Fresno.

I believe Carla grows hers in pots which will accelerate harvest of any fruit- especially pears.

I grow Bosc and a couple pears, Highland and Aurora with Comice in the parentage. Aside from Seckel and Bartlett, most pears take 7 or 8 years unless grown on quince when planted straight into the ground IME.

Here in the northeast we sometimes struggle with some varieties to get adequate sugar but Bosc comes through with excellent sweetness when managed well. It's a little quirky as far as reliable bearing, however.

Harvestman:

There aren't many pears grown around Fresno. Too much fireblight. Harry and David's Comice fruit is mainly from around Medford Oregon and other areas further north. Pears have less fireblight up there in a wetter climate because it is very cool during bloom.

Medford also has warm days in late summer to get the quality.

So how will I know when to pick Comice and Bosc?

Here in PEI, Bosc bears well and can be left to ripen on the tree. Boron is limiting here, so a little has to be mixed in water and sprinkled on the ground every year. The flesh is crisp and sweet, and eaten right off the tree on a warm day, very fragrant and yummy. It can take cold weather while ripening without going brown in the middle. When the skin is nicely russeted and the ground colour goes yellow brown instead of green brown, eat one and see if it is as ripe as you like it. Wait a couple of days more if it's not ripe enough. When the seeds go dark brown, it's usually ripe. Bosc seedlings may take 15 years to bear, but the grafted variety only takes 7 or 8 years in this location.
Jocelyn

As far as pears growing in California, we do have an annual Pear Fair in Courtland amongst all those pear groves, 20 minutes south of Sacramento, so SOMEBODY thinks pears grow here! And Fresno is 2+ hours south of Sacramento, so maybe that's the confusion.

Although Harry and David did make Oregon Pears famous!

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: Pear Fair

There are some pears as well around Clearlake, CA. But I lived a while near Fresno and never saw a pear orchard. There were a few Fuji apple orchards. My neighbor had a few pear trees including a Comice. But every year I was helping him battle fire blight.

Now my Comice experience goes back almost 40 years- are you sure those Harry David pears weren't once grown in the Central Valley? I used to live in Mendocino County and there were some commercial pear orchards there. Before my time there was even some commercial Bartlett production in S. CA.

I pick my Bosc when they make a clean break. At this point they should be very hard but already sweet. But I don't pick them for long storage. They can get hard ripe on the tree without damaging the texture at all.

Never mind. I looked it up and I was so wrong- oh well. Can't count on the memory any more, what else is new. Medford Oregon it is.

Fruitnut: I'm realizing that pears aren't for the impatient. Last year my 5th leaf Seckel erupted forth with it's first 2 flowers. Being that Seckel's neighboring pear trees hadn't started flowering yet in their 5th leaf I borrowed a pear branch from a friend to use as a pollinator and put it in a bucket under my flowers. It worked, one delicious little fruit was had. Here we are in the 6th leaf and my fingers are crossed for the Moonglow and Beurre Bosc to pull their heads out! How many more years will my patience last?

michael:

I know what you mean. My pears are the survivors of about three times more varieties planted in 2004. Wish I'd have kept the Warren and should have planted a Bartlett back then. But doubt I'll miss Kieffer and the like. Did cut out my one branch of Seckel after one crop. Maybe was hasty there as well but they were so small.

I have two Comice pears that I bought a few years ago on a 2 for 1 sale. Fussy growers no vigor at all. A few blooms this season on each 5 ft tall tree. A Comice graft I did last season onto Bartlett grew two feet and it actually has more blooms that the runt parent tree. I will tape the grafted branch to another branch to get a couple Comice pears to try.

I live in central coastal ca. and moved in to a house that has one comice espaliered along the fence. First year I was here it bloomed profusely but set no fruit (it is mature, has 4 tiers and is 5+ feet), it followed that habit for the next year also then I got a few the following year. This last season was absolutely fabulous! Best pears I've ever had( granted I've never been a big pear eater), so I am now wanting more. But have decided instead to plant a Seckel. For my area the decision was between Conference and Seckel.
Good luck with your Comice in the future.
Happy Pears,
Janet

Fruitnut, did you get any Bosc fruit?

My Bosc had fruit 3 years after planting. It's a huge vigorous tree and gets the award for the World's Ugliest Pear Tree.

My son planted a Bosc this year and yesterday, he was staring at it and announced that it had to be related to my Bosc.

Bosc is the Icabod Crane of the pear world, with branches going every which way, and twisting to go off in all different directions. Branches are sparse and gangly and the tree looks like a doofus.

However, I love the Bosc pears, so the tree can do whatever it wants as long as it gives me those delicious pears.

I don't think I can ripen Bosc on the tree. Pears snap off at the least whisper when they are ready to be picked, so they get knocked off with the slightest wind. In fact, they must be picked very carefully, because they will fall when touched.

My Seckel fruited for the first time this year, 5 years in the ground. That's a marvelous pear, well worth growing.

I've ordered a Comice, so it will go in the ground next spring.

I just harvest Bosc, Comice, and Olympic. They are in the frig until my stone fruit run out. Then I'll try ripening the Bosc and Comice. One Olympic I tried was already softer than expected but it had a small bad spot. A Bosc was hard as a rock but had brown seeds so I may have hit the correct harvest window there.

I'll report back after ripening with a quality review.