| ||
Apples
Blueberries |
The ManyTracks Orchard Stacey Pear
Planted 2003, on OHxF97
rootstock
|
|
Another Fedco of Maine find and they champion and have distributed widely this wonderfully hardy, vigorous, prolific pear. It is an old variety. Small to medium size fruit are not only attractive but tasty as well. I bought the tree in 2003 then moved it in 2005. It put out a few fruits from 2007 to 2014 when we got a big harvest of 22 little pears! It was a good start, and it grew from there. It has certainly proven to be hardy and a really nice pear tree. UPDATE - see 2021... 2021 - Stacey is no more. Late spring I cut off all dead and damaged wood that I could, which was a lot, continuing pruning off any fireblighted shoots. I sprayed thoroughly after every rain (sparse as it was) a dilute solution of raw vinegar and water. In July it was obvious the tree just wasn't going to recover. Steve cut it down. Such is life in the orchard. It left good memories. 2020 - The season started out great. Pruned 2/25 quite a bit, opening up around grafts, selecting new graft sites. It was looking good. Full bloom 5/25. Then in June fireblight started hitting - and didn't let up all summer, a record long, hot summer. I began cutting out strikes, again and again, spurs and tips of new upright growth. Then I gave up. Chokepear as hit even harder with Stacey close behind. By the end of summer maybe 90% of the leaves were brown, and many branches black. There was some green in the lower part and nearer trunk so there is hope. Grafts: '18 Sierra OK, '20 Gifford OK, and '18 Nova OK with some dead leaves. Southworth grafts all dead. A sad year. I do hope it can recover. 2019 - After last year's big harvest Stacey took this year off. Though I missed the fruit it was a big apple year so we were well fruited. I did some light major pruning and weighting of branches, opening up the center and bringing the top down. I got a new 6 ft aluminum ladder, much lighter than my 8 ft fiberglass, so I'm working toward bringing all my trees down in height to the new ladder's reach (about 12 ft tall), making my orchard life easier. Stacey did get some new grafts, extra Gifford, Flemish Beauty and Hudar scions, to join last year's Nova, Sierra, and Southworth. All the grafts, and the mother tree as well, had a good year. There are several reasons I've chosen to graft other varieties onto Stacey's branches. One is to see how the varieties fruit on different rootstocks (all are also grafted onto the venerable seedling chokepear, Usseriensis rootstock, and some on Summercrisp). It's also to discover more quickly what the grafted fruit is like. Being grafted on a mature producing tree the scions will fruit much earlier than when grafted onto a juvenile seedling rootstock. And part is that as much as I like the Stacey pears, they are small and, based on last year prolific harvest, more than I care for all at once at that time of year, and they don't store very long. Once they fruit I can decide whether to keep the variety on the tree, expand it to more branches, or remove it. Trees are so accommodating to our many, and to them probably quite odd, whims and ideas. 2018 - Pears and Pears and Pears!
I had done some thinning and mid
August early damaged fruit was dropping. Two week
The Stacey tree is a real gem, healthy, nice shape, moderate growth. When we grafted this year there were extra scions when done so we put 4 varieties onto shoots on Stacey - one each of Nova, Sierra, Southworth, and a local unknown variety. They all grew well and should give fruit well before the regular grafts on small rootstock are ready. I hope the tree doesn't mind being a nursery.
2017 September 15 - Surprise!
Copyright © Susan Robishaw |
Back to top |
Enjoy our articles? We appreciate
DONATIONs of any amount! It
helps to keep the website going. Click
HERE to donate to ManyTracks using:
|
|
We always
appreciate links to our site www.ManyTracks.com from appropriate sites, and we thank you for
recommending us! |
Have you read "Frost Dancing - Tips from a Northern Gardener" ? A fun short read. or "Homesteading Adventures" Creating our backwoods homestead--the first 20 years. and "Growing Berries for Food and Fun" A journey you can use in your own garden. |
|