Hi kakilover, Welcome to Garden Web and The Plant Exchange. Please see addressing newbie and newer member issues for instructions on getting your Member Page email link set up so you can easily be reached. You might want to also set up your location (also explained in that thread) so it will be shown on your Member Page as well as automatically being shown whenever you make a post. hth. Sue...aka chemocurl

HI rovabay welcome to your new obsession. Santa Rosa is an excellent choice as a self pollinator. That was my first producing tree and there was no other plum anywhere near. Fruit was not large, and also few in quantity, but that's what happens without cross pollination. Now that she has a mate I have to thin out 90% of the baby plums or I get cherry sized fruit. One caution. I read somewhere that 3 diff strains had been released all with the Santa Rosa name. I've seen pics of other folks plums that look more red than mine. Mine are a very dark skin, very tart, but flesh is yellow and juicy. I can't vouch for other Santa Rosas ability to self pollinate. I love Asian Pears, and many folks are saying most are partly self fertile. I planted 4 diff kinds my first year so I can't agree or disagree with that. In all honesty I'd go Semi Dwarf on all trees and see if you can fit 2 into each spot. Lots easier to care for and more production that way. Pruning a combo tree takes a learning curve, and usually one variety takes over anyway. So if you hadn't planned for other pollination you'd be in trouble down the road anyway. My vote on Asian Pears is Raja if you can get it. I also love Hosui, but that tree takes a lot of work. Most folks love Olympic Giant, but just put mine in so can't comment on taste yet. It would however extend your picking season, plus OG is a great storage pear. I do have 20th century but haven't been wowed by it yet. However it's young, and they say some trees need to grow up before tasting their best. Pam in cinti

It can be done but Asian pears bear young from new trees. You might gain a yr or two on the production curve. If you need exercise and enjoy the challenge go for it. But a bare root planted this fall or next spring will be easier and considerably less work. You'll need to water that big tree regularly next summer to gain much.

my neighbor is overrun by asian pears so i was just scrambling for recipes. yesterday a friend sent me a.p.'s in honey syrup from the Joys of Jams. it's for pts or qts. it's delicious ! so easy, and the spices are added per jar , so you can experiment with just one jar. i tried wet and dry zings from nwedibles.com 16 pts. with 8 different flavors. the skins- i dunked the pears in vinegar and water for a few minutes. didn't rinse but just put them on trays. i'm thinking the vinegar would take care of some bacteria, plus the BWB time. of course i peeled off any dark or funny spots. i left strips of the skins on, but just canned yesterday so can't tell how that works. but i did save the peelings and cores for my 1st try at making vinegar. these pears also had rough skins, and most were not quite ripe but very edible. the leftovers from the BWB i boiled for 15 min. and the skins were not an issue. in fact, i think they disappeared ! it also made a great reduction of the syrup. if you try this recipe, please let me know how it compares to NCHFP recipe, and how the skins did. i'm sure i'll be canning some next year.