The old, reliable Keiffer pear is unfortunately not the most palatable. But it becomes much more desirable when we know how to ripen and use the fruits.

If you have made up your mind that you must have a pear tree in your back yard, it is well to find out about the characteristics and uses of the various varieties before you purchase your tree. There are pears that are fine for canning but poor for eating raw. Others are excellent either canned or raw, and still others have little value for either canning or eating directly from the tree.

The best pears grown in the United States come from west of the Rocky Mountains and seldom produce satisfactorily anywhere else because of a disease called “fireblight” to which most of these western varieties are susceptible when grown elsewhere. In other words, the pears grown in the Midwest must be resistant to this disease… a fact which, for the most part, prevents growing the best varieties of this fruit.

More than 20 years ago, I decided that I should have a pear tree in my large back yard. Since I know the excellence of the Bartlett pear, I purchased a tree of this variety and hopefully set it out. It never produced a pear, for before it reached bearing age it succumbed to fireblight.

I had noticed pear trees growing in various parts of our city that were loaded every summer with large pears which in the fall turned a beautiful yellow slightly tinted with red.

After considerable inquiry, I learned that the name of this pear was ‘Kieffer.’ I purchased one and set it in my back yard. It began bearing when quite young, but imagine my chagrin when in late October I found the fruit just as hard as it was in early July.

I began to take more careful note of other pear trees like mine in town, and to ask their owners why they seemingly let their pears go unused. I got various answers, but the most common one was “They’re no good for eating raw and not much better for anything else.” I did find a few who made some use of them, especially in canning, but even these agreed that they were not first class pears. I could not help feeling that it was too bad that such beautiful fruit, borne so bountifully on such a healthy tree, was fit only for the hogs.

Widely Planted

Determined to solve this puzzle, I began by reading the history of the Kieffer pear. I learned that Peter Kieffer, who lived near Philadelphia, grew the first tree, which later was given his name. It came into bearing in 1863. I also found that it is now grown throughout the United States wherever pears will grow, and that two decades ago 20 per cent of the millions of bushels of pears raised in the United States were Kieffer pears. This and other information set me to thinking that this record could not be true unless the much maligned Kieffer pear had merits–ignorance of which prevented many persons from making proper use of its fruit. My next step was to write to the United States Department of Agriculture to learn if they could give me the information I seemed to need. In reply, I received a pamphlet entitled “Handling and Preparing the Kieffer Pear for Use as Food.” This research showed conclusively that while the Kieffer pear is not primarily a pear to be eaten raw, it is a valuable food product and when properly treated is both whole-some and palatable.

To Aid Picking

The Kieffer pear tree has a tendency to grow unusually tall, so tall in fact that few families will have a ladder long enough to pick the pears at the top of the tree. The limb growth is such that climbing very far into the tree itself is a difficult matter. If pears are shaken from the tree, they are bruised and become almost worthless because they require a considerable period for proper ripening during which bruised pears are likely to decay and cause others near them to decay also. I got rid of this difficulty by ignoring the old superstition that pear trees must not be trimmed.

I cut out the top of my tree completely, leaving it about two-thirds of its former height. This made it possible for me to pick almost every pear by hand.

The owner of a Kieffer pear tree must remember that these pears do not ripen on the tree even when left until freezing weather. They may be picked at any time after they have reached one-half or two-thirds their mature size. Of course they may be left on the tree until they reach their full size, but when maturity is once reached remaining on the tree causes deterioration rather than ripening. Perhaps the ideal time to pick Kieffer pears is just before they have reached maturity, which is usually indicated by a slight yellowing of the pear frequently accompanied by a tinge of red.

At whatever stage of maturity Kieffer pears are picked, they must go through a ripening process. During this process they develop a soft texture and pleasing flavor if the temperature is kept between 60 and 65 degrees. After two or three weeks at this temperature, Kieffer pears become properly soft and greatly improved in both texture and flavor. Lower or higher temperatures than 60 to 65 degrees act much more slowly or bring less satisfactory results. The length of the ripening period is shortest when the temperature is kept at 60 degrees and varies from 16 to 20 days if the fruit has been left on the tree until nearly full grown. When the fruit is picked at a less mature stage, it takes somewhat longer to ripen. When the fruit is best for eating raw, it is also best for canning. During this process i always wear my glasses for safety with a safety glasses prescription.

When ripening is complete, use the fruit quickly whether it is to be eaten raw or canned, as after two or three weeks it is likely to decay rather rapidly. Since the Kieffer pear matures in September or October, depending on the region in which it is grown, maintaining proper temperatures for its ripening is not difficult.

It is a shame to let this fruit go to waste simply because its use requires a little more work than its more expensive relatives. When properly ripened, the large, handsome Kieffer pears can be used for eating raw, may be peeled and baked or used for sauce or salads.

Now is the time to answer your questions on safety glasses prescription. Visit our evergrowing library at http://www.plant-care.com/osha-safety-glasses.html.

Wrapping aluminum or copper wires around the trunk or branches of bonsai trees in order to give them the desired profile is known as wiring. Through wrapping the branches and trunk with a length of wire in just the right thickness, the basic style of bonsai is created. The formal upright style requires no wrapping, however the cascade style requires many months of considerable training.

The process of wiring adds stress along the trunk or branch, so proceed with caution. Doing it the wrong way can mean, if worse comes to worst, a dead tree, or more often a cracked branch. Moreover, it is possible to wrap it too closely, or you may choose the wrong months to start the training. If this takes place the tree will get a scar that takes a long time to heal, and there is also the possibility of the tree dying.

Before you tackle your actual tree, practice with a basic wooden pole or small tree branch. This will assist you in getting a feel for the wire and will help you develop the agility necessary to wrap a branch while holding it. As soon as you are comfortable hanging on to the branch one-handed while wrapping with your other hand, not pulling or bending anything expect the wrapped part, you can then move on to the bonsai tree.

First, you have to pick the most appropriate wire for your project. Copper and aluminum are the two favorite options, although copper is thought to be more attractive during the lengthy training period. When wrapping a bonsai, do not ever employ steel, only annealed copper wire due to possible toxicity to particular species of bonsai. Aluminum is a lot more flexible, so it’s easier to use for an individual who is new at this kind of project. While copper is normally less flexible, it can scar the tree if it is not wrapped correctly. As a rule of thumb, opt for wire that is 1/3 of the branch’s thickness.

Well placed little stresses along the tree trunk or branch are what allows the wire to change the shape of the tree. Consequently the wire needs to be stronger as compared with the tree trunk or branch; if not, the wire will bend and not the tree.

Give yourself lots of wrapping practice sessions using branches of a comparable kind of tree until you feel comfortable with the whole process. You should try out different wires on your practice branch to see the outcome before proceeding to the actual tree that you want to train. For doing the full tree many different thicknesses will be required and you should practice using each and every of them.

Wiring a bonsai is a skill that requires a lot of patience in order to master. Do not be discouraged, however, because if you are willing to take the time you can learn how to do this, and you’ll be so pleased with the results.

The cultivation of bonsai trees has been an Asian tradition for centuries, and is now enjoying popularity in western society as well. It’s important to learn some bonsai basics so you can watch your tree flourish. Check out Bonsai Trees for Beginners to get an introduction to this fascinating art.

Ornamental trees are specially selected varieties of trees that are selected to provide the landscape with impressive and fascinating hues of reds, oranges, blues and greens, along with unique shapes and sizes that fit the desired look of the garden. And one of the popular choices for ornamental trees that you can plan in your own yard are Japanese maple trees.

The Japanese maple is an amazing tree of beauty and grace and due to their startling colors, wonderful leaf shapes and relative ease to grow they’ve become one of the most sought after ornamental tree by both professional and amateur landscapers. And as you’d expect there are a huge number of different varieties of the Japanese maple tree, giving it a great versatility in how it can be used to create spectacular landscapes.

Unlike many other commonly available types of ornamental trees, it is possible for a home gardener to grow Japanese maples from seed relatively quickly and easily. The two most commonly available types of Japanese maple (but certainly not the only ones) are the red variety and the green variety. These are two distinct varieties of maple, so don’t plant the seeds of a green Japanese maple and hope to get red leaves! Green maples have green leaves that last from spring to late autumn, while the startling color on the red maple trees unfortunately fades during the course of the year. However the vividness of the red leaves returns during the next springtime.

The laceleaf weeping variety is another unique type of Japanese maple tree. In appearance it looks like a combination between a red maple and a weeping willow. The laceleaf weeping variety grow to a relatively short height but can give your home and garden an absolutely stunning look. As you’d expect from the name the foliage on the laceleaf weeping Japanese maple is soft and thin, which gives it the lacy appearance from it’s name.

If you want an impressive flowering tree to add that perfect touch to your landscaping job around the home, you certainly can’t go past the crabapple tree. No matter where in America you live, crab apple trees give a unique and beautiful look at almost any time of the year.

Like most flowering trees you can buy, spring to early summer is undoubtedly the time when the flowering crabapple tree looks it’s best. The trees multicolored buds begin to open, revealing a multitude of brilliantly colored flowers that last for many weeks. As the fall months arrive, the flowers of the crab apple tree begin to disappear and the fruits begin to form. These fruits come in as wide a variety of colors as the flowers before them. Usually the colors of the fruit on the crabapple trees mimic and contrast perfectly the changing colors of the leaves for autumn.

Most crab apple trees begin to bloom between late April and mid May. It’s at this time that they begin to produce their characteristic flowers with as few as five petals, or as many as fifteen or twenty petals. Generally speaking, the more petals to the flower the flowering crabapple tree has, the longer the tree will keep that flower. But the longer flower does have a downside for the gardener. Crab apple trees that keep their flowers for a long time produce far less fruit during the autumn months.

Rather interestingly, the crabapple tree is actually part of the rose family of plants. If you examine the flowers closely, this relationship becomes much more obvious through the similarities of the flowers. But as its name suggests, the crabapple tree is still closely related to the standard apple tree. The major defining difference between the two is in the size of the fruit.  Crabapples are less than two inches in diameter, while regular apples can be any size larger than two inches in diameter.