Glenn,

I can't claim any expertise here, but I can share my experience. Shinko is said to be the most fire blight resistant of the Asian pears. I planted a bare root Shinko purchased from Hidden Springs Nursery the fall before last. It was grafted onto Calleryana. The bare root tree I planted, I must admit, seemed to have a rather poor looking root system, but it took off in the spring after it was planted, and this year it set fruit. I think it is said to be partially self-fertile. My bees ignored it and I saw relatively little insect activity on it. But we have Bradford pears all around us, and it is possible they helped pollinate it. In any event, it does need a lot of thinning, but in this, its first year of fruit, it has about half a dozen nice sized fruit on it now. They received one spray of Imidan after petal fall, but were not bagged and have suffered no insect or disease problems. Birds started pecking at some last week, and then I put them in plastic sandwich bags. The question will be what the fruit tastes like. I'm thinking of putting in another Asian pear, partly in the hope to improve pollination. Hosui seems to get the best reviews for taste, but among the worst for fire blight. I'm leaning toward Chojuro. I'd be interested in other responses to your question.

Glenn, here are a couple comments.

1) I hardly spray my pears at all. Pear psylla has been the biggest problem.

2) Certainly having a magnet for FB will put a ready supply to inoculate your healthy trees. I have seen this happen.

4) for me I have found apples far more FB prone than any of my pears. Maybe thats just me. I wouldn't start spraying anything until you actually get the disease. There are several places selling sprays, I think I got mine from Cooper Seeds and Millers Nursery.

5) One tree can produce a huge amount of pears so thats a good number provided you get pollination.

6) Asian pears ripen on the tree unlike European pears. They turn translucent when ripe.

7) I find Korean Giant relatively mild and it is not one of the half dozen varieties I am growing. My favorite now is Kosui. Some of them have a skin that can be thick and bitter; Kosui has tender skin like Korean Giant, and more flavor. But, if you like mild fruits Korean Giant would be great - hard to complain about the monster size! I don't know about self-pollination of Kosui. Cummins is another good source of asian pears.

8) BET is good. BET is supposedly bigger than seedling so if unpruned will give a very big tree. I personally prefer OHxF333 because it fruits earlier and the tree is smaller. BET may give bigger fruit, but I have both BET and OH333 and have not noticed a major fruit size difference.

Scott

the commercial growers prefer BET over anything else. Over time your OH333 will stop growing. The fruiting spurs will become old and produce smaller fruit. It is difficult to get the tree to grow again so that you can choose renewal limbs. No new limbs means no new spurs. Bet does get big. The commercial orchardist must have size or they find another job. People "eat with their eyes" and one or two sizes smaller can make a big difference to the net income. For the home orchard I think OH333 generally makes more sense. We'll both find out.

Geraldo, thanks for that explanation. I had heard about fruit size issues on OH333 but never heard the whole story there.

Scott

Scott, I wanted to add that Korean Giant, AKA Dan Bae, Olympic or Arirang; tastes about as good as Hosui in my orchard. But I really let them hang and I don't know how that effects the storage ability. I haven't had enough that they lasted more than two or three weeks before being eaten. Hosui and Bosc are, by far, the two biggest fire blighters in my orchard. I should try Shinko and Kosui to see if they taste as good with less fire blight. I think you and Austran's suggestion to Glenn that he forego the Hosui for the Shinko or Kosui to be spot on.
Sevin won't thin Asian pears, I wish it did.
"Certainly having a magnet for FB will put a ready supply to inoculate your healthy trees. I have seen this happen." I agree one hundred percent.
I have never had much problem with FB. Neighbors have and most of them do little to control as they say it is just pouring good money after bad. The best suggestion they give is to simply turn off the irrigation sprinklers and let things dry out. We are in a desert so rain is seldom. It just seems to me it is going to run its course no matter what you do. From what I have heard you easterners say I think I would avoid planting anything that might FB.
Glenn, you can use a fridge or even a room with an air conditioner set as cold as possible. I don't know what that might cost to run. Whatever it costs, it is worth it. :)
I would say that, so far, Olympic does look much less FB susceptible than Hosui. But, Hosui is so bad I don't know how valuable that statement may be.

Thanks Austransplant, Scott, & Geraldo!

Just because Im nervous about attracting FB to the AP tree, and my other apples, I think Ill stay well clear of the Hosui.

The chart on this page seems to indicate that even the best FB resistant pears like Shinko are, at best, only moderately resistant to FB. But, this chart seems to indicate that the Shinko is indeed more resistant than the Kousi.

So, its sounding to me like my choice is coming down to the bigger, better looking Korean Giant, or the not-quite-as-big, or good-looking, and harder-to-find but better FB resistant Shinko.

Ha! I just found a quote that summed up my thinking: In summary, it appears that Shinko and Korean Giant may be the two most promising varieties for commercial or home plantings because of their higher level of fire blight resistance, good tree characteristics, yielding ability, and quality fruit

I would only be planting a single tree, and I dont know of any other pear/AP pollination source in my neighborhood. I was thinking of doing this so I wouldnt have to do so much thinning that the others talked about. Not that thinning one tree sounds like a huge deal, but if I only want to plant one, and Id have to thin out all those zillion pears anyway, this seems like a better plan? Worst case, if the self-pollination didnt max out my tree, then I could graft on a Korean Giant branch and then get ready to do a lot of thinning?

So, BET: grows too large of tree for me, but good damp soil resistance (Which could be important to me),.
But OH333, more reasonable size tree, but doesnt have damp soil resistance, smaller fruit over time, sets fruit earlier, need to find a source.
Both seem to have good FB resistance.

Sounds like OH333 might be a better choice for me, but Id need to find a source.

Thanks all for the help,
-Glenn

From the cummins site:

OHxF 333 A semi-dwarfing pear rootstock. It is 1/2 to 2/3 standard size. Its resistance to fireblight, collar rot, woolly pear aphids and pear decline make this a very healthy stock. Precocious, well-anchored. Trees are very productive. Some reports that fruit size is reduced SOLD OUT FOR 2008

Pyrus betulifolia ("BET") seedlings are the rootstocks of choice for Asian pears. A number of extensive field trials have shown that fruit size is increased significantly as compared to other rootstocks. We also use Winter Nelis seedlings -- somewhat more winter-hardy than BET. AVAILABLE FOR 2007: Pyrusbetulifolia ("BET")

Glenn,

I just wanted to add my comments to the discussion:

1) Korean Giant is my absolute favorite Asian pear -- wouldn't want to be without it. The flavor may vary somewhat by climate, I noticed that Scott in Maryland described the flavor as "mild" -- I don't know if my somewhat cooler climate affects the flavor, but here, it is best described as "honey" or "butterscotch" overtones. Perhaps the closest way I could describe it to someone who hasn't had one is that it would be like eating a piece of Bosc pear dipped in honey, although the texture is more "crisp" of course, than a European pear. The size is tremendous.

2) Korean Giant ripens fully on the tree here, attaining full flavor by early October. They will persist nicely on the tree usually until late October (although birds and animals often bother them, especially crows). I find that they will store in my refrigerator in excellent condition until April of May the next year, although I do like to bag them in small lots of a dozen or less, just in case one does start to go bad. I also have found that they make a great canned or dried pear.

3) I haven't ever seen fireblight in Michigan, knock-on-wood, so I can't comment on that. But, in terms of general issues, this tree seems to never have any disease problems, and even unsprayed, most fruits are useable, although they seem to get some coddling moth damage if not sprayed in the summer. Four or five sprays throughout the season will yield essentially 100% pristine fruits without any worms in the core.

I purchased both of my Korean Giant trees from Raintree, the first one around 1990, the second one about 7 or 8 years ago. I decided to get a second just as an insurance policy against a storm, etc., taking out the first, it's THAT good of a tree.

Thanks for all the info Dennis. This is why I don't leave my plantting decisions until spring ordering-time. I'll go back and forth a couple of times before I finally make my decision! :-)
-Glenn

Hi Glenn,
I am growing a grafted combo of New Century and Starking Hardy Giant from Stark Bros.It is doing great in our soggy clay soil and has stood up to our bizarre weather quite well.
Since we have room for only 1 asian pear it was a great choice for us. I don't spray it at all & so far have no disease problems. There are a number of untended fruit trees around us, including a scab naked crabapple and so far, so good.

It dose need heavy thinning by hand but the fruit are sooo worth it! We have been picking for 2 weeks and I expect we will pick for several more. The New Century ripen before the Hardy Giant.

As for taste,they far surpass anything from the grocery store, very sweet and crisp, juice dripping down your fingers delicious ! (can you tell I love pears?)

I hope this could be of some help, I am not an experienced orchardist, just a backyard hobbyist that loves asian pears.
Lora

Thank you for the info Lora!
-Glenn

Glenn, my Shinkos are coming in now and they are not particularly good -- bitter sometimes and tougher skin plus average flavor. The one thing good about them is they are later than my other asian pears.

Scott

Thanks Scott. Prior to your post, I was leaning back towards the Korean Giant, and this post makes the decision easier. This is why I like posting 6 months before I plant... new info is always coming in. Thanks again, -Glenn

I have about 10 different varieties and the Korean Giant is the best tasting, It is sweet whereas the others are mostly tasteless. I cut down my Chojuro and will cut down my Ya-li this year because they are barely edible. Nice looking trees though, if you just want to look at them. I'm near Rochester, NY

I've been swayed back to the Korean Giant. Thanks all! -Glenn

Glenn,
Just to throw in my two cent's worth. I haven't had any Koreans for the last two seasons because of the big late freeze that got so many of us last year and a local late freeze that took out most of my pears, peaches and apples this year, but I think you will enjoy your Korean if you get one. It has been blight free for me. Hosui has had trouble with fireblight in past years, but not nearly as bad as Nijiseiki. I wouldn't put much stock in other people's experience with flavor vs. variety, though. I'm not disagreeing with their experience, but I really think you have to grow it in your area under your conditions to know. For example, ahorn's experience with Chojuro is radically different from mine and many others. My experience with Shinko is limited to just a couple of fruits this year. One was super and one was tasteless. Think about this--if a variety really didn't taste good where it was developed or selected, it would never have gotten popular enough to be widely available. Soil, weather, and who-knows-what in addition to variety all play a big role in what a fruit tastes like (not to mention individual likes and dislikes). My suggestion: plant your KG and graft others on it for pollination and just to try different varieties to see how they do for you.

By the way, if anyone has Hamese or Shinsui they could spare a few twigs from, I'd like to trade this Winter.

Dave