Imagine biting into a mouthful of rice crispies and having juicy, sweet water explode all over inside your mouth:
that's an understatement of just how yummy a FlordaHome pear is!!! And no, I didn't mis-spell 'FlordaHome', that's the (previously) patented name.
Picked our first pears this week from the FlordaHome pear trees: definitely a July harvest! And oh my -- had no idea this one was soooooooooo tasty!
Definitely a soft eating pear: no bellyaches from hard little baseballs here -- but crispy kinda like a Bosc and SWEEEEEET ! Juicy! 'Course we helped it a bit with regular water and some greensand magic: ask us about our free magic mix fertilizer recipe!
15g pears are truly bearing age!
FlordaHome trees grow 15-18' tall, and about 12-15' wide. They can be trimmed somewhat shorter and shaped if desired. Annual pruning on pears when dormant (Dec-Jan) will yield a more shapely tree and more fruit sets. Very important since pears are rather long lived for a deciduous fruit tree, bearing fruit for nearly 50 years. Deciduous = loses its leaves in the winter.
FlordaHome is a tasty, sweet, crunchy-soft pear, somewhat greenish skin and great for fresh eating or making preserves. Skin turns a brownish-green as it ripens, developing a little bit of softness. Too much softness and it's rotten on the inside.
Very low chill hybrid: FlordaHome requires only about 150 chill hours to produce fruit, though many growers simply say "requires less than 400 hrs". It can be grown as far south as Sarasota.
Not quite as disease resistant as the HOOD, but makes a tasty good pollinator for the Hood that can be eaten fresh. The FlordaHome is a more reliable pollinator for the favored HOOD than the PINEAPPLE PEAR is. Both ripen in mid to late July.
Pollinators: works best with HOOD, SPALDING, or PINEAPPLE PEAR (hard variety).
Best suited to grow zones 8b-9b
If you're in Georgia, choose a Hood & Spalding; if you're in Sarasota, choose a FlordaHome & Spalding.
Pears can easily set in clusters of fruit