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Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Seckel European Pear

Seckel European Pear

History: The history of the Seckel pear is somewhat contentious. It was said to have been named after a Mr. Seckel who discovered the variety growing as a sapling near Philadelphia in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Some say it is the only commercial American pear since it was thought to have been a wild seedling but others believe the tree sprouted from a seed left by German immigrants. Either way, this lovely little pear is still grown on a small scale across the States as a specialty fruit.

Why We Grow It: Although it is small in size, this heirloom is popular for eating fresh due to its high quality flavour. The skin is ruddy green with a pronounced red blush and the flesh is very sweet with a spicy flavour, which is why it's sometimes called 'Sugar Pear.' Aside from being excellent for fresh eating, this pear is great canned, pickled, and spiced. As an added bonus, the tree is resistant to fireblight.

Customer Suggestion: One of our wonderful customers shared a recipe for Pickled 'Sickle Pears' (aka Seckel) that had been passed down from his great grandmother. We haven't tested it out yet, but Seckel pears, brown sugar, cinnamon, vinegar and cloves, cooked and marinated, then pickled sounds very intriguing! Thanks for sharing David!


        Fruit Specs

        Recommended Use: Canning, fresh eating

        Fruit Size: Small

        Storage: Keeps until November when stored in cool, humid conditions and December in cold storage

        Harvest: September - Mid

        Perry Class:

        Growing Specs

        Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

        Soil Preference: Sandy loam, loam, clay loam, intolerant of chalky soils. Prefers average to moist conditions with well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.

        Flowering Time: Middle

        Bloom Colour: White

        Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator of a different pear variety (European or Asian) that blooms around the same time. This variety is incompatible with Bartlett and Bartlett sports.

        Sun/Shade Requirements:

        Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

        General Growth Habits:

        Weakly vigorous with a slender and upright growth habit, compact, crops are decently reliable of decent size. Somewhat susceptible to scab and susceptible to stony pit but somewhat resistant to mildew and fireblight.

        Shipping vs. Pick Up

        CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

        Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

        Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

        Size at Purchase

        Our grafted fruit trees are graded into three categories, and the size includes the rootstock:

        • 50-80cm whip: may have some minor branching, this grade is like a "b-grade" size tree in industry standards; we include in this price category trees that are over 1m but have some scarring or mild crookedness.
        • 1m+ whip: may have some minor branching, aka feathering. This is like a typical one-year whip in industry standards. 
        • 1m+ branched: these trees must be over a meter and have 3 or more branches 30cm or longer, as well as a central leader. They are essentially a two-year tree in industry standards. 
        • For stone fruits only - 1m+ whip/branched: We have combined these grades based on the way these trees grow and are grafted. Plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches naturally tend to grow more vigorously compared to apples and are more likely to form larger trees with more branches. However, we only chip bud them so they are a one-year old tree by industry standards. Apples and pears are partially bench grafted, and using the knip-boom method the grading becomes more complicated, hence the reason they are split into different grades.
        grafted tree grades at silver creek nursery
        Please keep in mind, bareroot trees appear small if you are unfamiliar with them. Size can vary year to year due to weather conditions and every single variety has a unique amount of vigor (some varieties naturally are smaller and some bigger, much like humans -and when you propagate hundreds of varieties, there certainly is variation). While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 
        Why plant small? It's best to transplant a tree when it's young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot trees tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted trees planted at the same time, after a few years.

        Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "to small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the trees are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

        Rootstock
        Size
        Regular price $35.00 CAD
        Regular price Sale price $35.00 CAD
        Sale Sold out
        Shipping calculated at checkout.
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