Wild pears?

[Goldentriangle]

I posted this on the other forum but recently I discovered a fruiting wild pear tree on my families farm. Unfortunately it not in one of my hunting areas but along the driveway into the old homestead.
What are your guys experience with them? Some people tell me their deer and wildlife love them. I am planning on starting some from seed to go along with a persimmon project I will be working on. How do I go about starting them? Do these seeds need to be cold stratified or scarified? Also would it speed up fruiting if I ended up grafting scions from the mother tree onto what I have grown from seed?
Please share your experience with these, I have never dealt with them before.
Thanks
Scott

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[OhioJeremy]

Those look alot like Hosui Asain Pears but much smaller in size.

 

[Native Hunter]

I have a very similar tree in my fence row at home. Those types of pears have a lot of Callery and/or Asian in their genes. The only advantage I possibly see with propagating that pear rather than a known (named cultivar) pear is if it drops at a specific time that you like. Otherwise, I would go with a known pear.

Factors to consider:

• It likely won't taste good to humans.
• Many of the pears I've seen like that rot quickly after hitting the ground. Yours may not do that, but you can check before making a decision. A Kieffer will lay for weeks or months without rotting. I've dug them out of the snow in December and ate them. Many other known pears are also good keepers.
• Unless the wild pear has a drop time that you can't duplicate with a known pear, what is the advantage of keeping it going? Why not just plant a good known pear instead?
• If you grow trees from the seed, the drop time and characteristics will not be the same as the mother tree. So, if you do want to propagate it, it would be better to graft.

These are just some things for you to consider. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[chickenlittle]

I'd say those have some asian pear in them. Here is what I'd do for apple. Once the seeds are brown, collect fruit and take the seeds out. wash and clean the seed and dry them off. Then cold stratify in the fridge in a ziploc with some moisture (slightly moist paper towel, slightly moist sand, or long fiber spaghnum moss. Probably 2-3 months in the fridge and then you can start the seed indoors in pots. If you want to start later in the spring, store with a dry paper towel at first and change to a moister towel in January. With apple, I usually start planting seeds that have germinated and have a radicle root starting in January.

 

[Goldentriangle]

Thanks for the replies guys. Honestly Native, I have heard of people planting these from Nativ Nursery and I have heard of them being utilised by deer. I will monitor the drop time this year and see how they work out. I will be planting persimmon and some late drop crabapples in some very remote hunting areas that will be totally on their own after their first year. All I really want to do is stagger the drop times with the most pest and disease resistant trees I can get. It won't matter to me what they taste like they are strictly for wildlife use. Other than first year watering and minor pruning of the crabs they will left to go wild. The jap beetles have basically defoliated everything around but these guys are totally spotless.



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[144]

You could always hedge your bets and plant some of the seed. If it turns out not to be something you want to keep, you can top work and graft a known variety/drop time onto it.

That’s what I’m planning to do with one pear that I have in my yard. Doesn’t cost me anything for the seed off of it and direct seeding having a natural root system should help the resulting trees fend for themselves.


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[Native Hunter]

Thanks for the replies guys. Honestly Native, I have heard of people planting these from Nativ Nursery and I have heard of them being utilised by deer. I will monitor the drop time this year and see how they work out. I will be planting persimmon and some late drop crabapples in some very remote hunting areas that will be totally on their own after their first year. All I really want to do is stagger the drop times with the most pest and disease resistant trees I can get. It won't matter to me what they taste like they are strictly for wildlife use. Other than first year watering and minor pruning of the crabs they will left to go wild. The jap beetles have basically defoliated everything around but these guys are totally spotless.

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Your plans go along similar to what I've been doing for a long time. As for the Jap Beetles, they don't bother any of my pears but will hit any apple or crabapple - some worse than others. So, almost all good DR pears are going to meet your criteria on being Jap resistant and tough enough to fend for themselves. However, keep in mind that deer will rub pear trees badly, so if you don't cage them, expect some fatalities.

Also, some work is going to be required around a pear, crabapple and apple. If nothing else you have to keep the taller trees that could shade them cut back so they will continue to get sunlight. Persimmons are much taller and tougher trees, but could eventually be shaded out by a competitor like a big sweetgum, cottonwood etc.... So nothing can really and totally just be left to survive in the wild in a lot of areas.

One final thought - I realize that these are essentially for wildlife. But...……….you might be glad to have a few trees out there that produce fruit palatable to humans...……….like when the big one finally hits someday...…………………...just saying...…………..

Good luck and keep us posted.