Page 23 - Simply Veg 4 2022

Brix Tests on pear varieties
I first came up with the idea of carrying out brix tests on pears and apples after reading Amy Goldman’s book ‘The Melon’, a reading of 12 and above was a nice, sweet melon or watermelon.
I thought some of my pears could beat that and so they did. A brix reading of
14 plus is a sweet pear, 15 and it’s sickly sweet. The highest reading obtained was 18.5 on a Triomphe de Vienne; I now suspect this to be a mistake. If it is not then pears grafted on to Quince C could well be a lot sweeter than pears grafted on Quince A, The instrument used is a refractometer, which is basically a lense and a platform to apply the juice to. The brix is the total content of all dissolved sugars, simply the sweetness of the juice; the reading appears as a line across increments on the lense.
• PrecoseMorettini.Notrecorded.
• Triomphe de Vienne. QC 18.5. Date
not recorded. QA, (15.10.21), 12.3 –
neck, 13.7 base.
• Beth. Date not recorded. 13.8.
• Moonglow. Date not recorded. 13.0
• Merton Pride. 13.7
• Gorham.“““.13.2
• Thorn. (perry pear- dry) “ .
11.75
• Onward. Test1 12.0, Test 2,
date not recorded 13.0 Test 3, date
not recorded. 13.4
• Louise Bonne Jersey. Date not
• Marguerite Marillat. Test 1. (16.10.21). 12.1. Test2. (20.10.21). 13.3.
• Packham’s Triumph. (1.11.21). 11.0 • Emile d Hevst. (2.11.21). 14.1.
• Pierre Corneille. (15.11.21). 15.3.
• Doyenne du Comice. Test 1.
(5.11.21). 12.4.
• Thompsons. (20.10.21). 15.2.
• Merton Royal. (20.10.21) 11.9.
• Bristol Cross. (27.10.21). 12.5.
• Glou Morceau. (20. 01. 22). 14.6. • Josephine de Malines. (11. 01. 22)
14.6.
• Blickling. (15. 01. 22) 14.4.
• Santa Claus. (24. 01. 22) 14.8.
• Winter Nelis. (28. 02. 22) 14.5.
• Beurre Rance. (10. 03. 22) 14.5.
It can be seen that the Winter pears
tend to have a consistent brix value of 14 plus and are sweeter.
The ideal Brix value would appear
to be 12+ with 15+ being very sweet, some may say too sweet or sickly sweet. The large overly sweet pears are best for drying. Large pears come from varieties grafted on to QA rootstocks. Main attributes of a good pear are sweetness, flavour and melting flesh, i.e. ‘Beurre’ meaning of a butter consistency. If the juice is running off your elbow
you should be eating a good pear at
the right time in its life. A day is a long time in the life of a pear. A juicy pear though, does not necessarily mean a flavoursome pear. ATB
recorded. 14.4.
• Concorde. Test 1 (27.10.21). 16.2
16.7, Test2,
• Conference. (27.10.21), 10.8.
• Beurre Dumont. Not recorded.
• Beurre Jean Van Geert. ( 27.10.21),
15.3
• Beurre Superfin. Test 1. (16.10.21),
13.0, Test2. (20.10.21), 15.9
• Beurre Hardy. Test 1. (16.10.21).
Test 2. (20.10.21). 11.3.
11.2.
the ground, unless it clouds over in the evening this heat will radiate back into
the sky and the colder denser air left in its place may drop to freezing. In a frost pocket (low lying area) this sub-zero air lies around and damages tender plants and blossoms. Cold air will run down hill just like water if uninterrupted. For purpose of people with
a less than ideal plot the varieties planted at the farm were, Beurre Precose Morettini, Gorham, Concorde, and Beurre Hardy. Although not the subject of this article there are also several perry pear varieties planted.
Pests and Diseases. In the amateur’s garden or orchard, the main pest is pear midge. The adult midges, newly hatched out of their pupal cases in April, which have laid dormant in the ground for the last ten months or so mate, the female lays eggs on the anthers; the larvae hatch out and burrow into the embryo fruit. The larvae ( I have found as many as a dozen) proceed to eat the inside of the embryo fruit, the fruit eventually turns black and the larvae fall to the ground and the cycle goes full circle. Generally, by the time the fruitlet turns black the tenants have vacated the larder. As far as I know there is not yet a pheromone trap available to trap the male midges as there is for other fruit pests. Years ago before we gardeners had our hands tied behind our backs I sprayed
with Bifenthrin, this annihilated them, I spend any thing up to two and a half days picking off infected fruitlets, this requires to be done before the larvae leave. Another pest is pear leaf blister mite which seriously disfigures the foliage; this can be tackled at bud break with sulphur.
Rust, which disfigures the foliage and can affect the cropping if there are enough infections per leaf and most of the foliage is infected; a spray programme to control scab will eliminate the fungus.
Scab is the most important fungal disease, with apples, scab generally shows up first on the foliage and then later on the fruit. With pears it is the reverse, the reason for this, I think is because most pear scab originates from ‘wood scab’ , when Winter pruning it is essential to examine the previous seasons new growth for lesions.
These lesions remain and emit spores for several years. Cut out any new growth showing damage; also inspect older wood for historical damage. The scab fungus kills the skin tissue of the fruit around the area of the original infection, the rest of the fruit tissue continues to grow, cracks develop across the dead tissue and brown rot gets in. One of the best ways to control; scab
is to collect up the dead leaves, and either burn them or compost them. My Onward pear suffered from scab for years until I picked up the dead leaves, the damage was minimal after that. If you have just a few trees, you have no excuse.
Frost. As with most white blossom (plums & cherries) pears flower in early
April, sometimes late March, so they are subject to Spring frosts which can be sub zero north easterly winds as in April 2021 or radiation frosts as previously described. Any cold air running away downhill that meets an obstacle will back up, just like water backing up from a dam. This backing up can engulf plants, trees and bushes destroying blossom and tender growth. Growers spray water onto blossom this encapsulates the blossom in ice. Other methods in days gone by are smudge pots, simply barrels or cans filled with old oil and set alight.
Simply Vegetables 23