This tree is very grower friendly. Large, high vigor, productive, and upright-spreading, Seckel has superior fireblight resistance. This tree is partially self-fertile, but it will produce better crops when paired with a pollenizer. Bartlett and Potomac should be avoided as Seckel is not compatible with these two varieties. Seckel is incompatible with quince rootstock.

Seckel has rock-star status in our U-pick orchard. I'm pretty sure that some of our customers would be happy to camp out all summer waiting for the Seckels to ripen. They are very small and very sweet; it's easy to eat them by the bag. The following is excerpted from Pears of New York by the venerable U.P. Hedrick: "The fruits are small, not highly colored, but attractive because clean and trim in contour. But it is the flesh-characters that give the fruits their high standing. The flesh is melting, juicy, perfumed and most exquisitely and delicately flavored, with the curious character of having much of its spicy, aromatic flavor in the skin, which should never be discarded in eating. The reddish-brown color of the fruit is another distinguishing character of Seckel. Unlike most other dessert pears, the fruits of this one are excellent for culinary purposes. Still another distinctive character is that the fruits do not lose much in quality by ripening on the tree."

Hedrick's detailed account of the history of Seckel makes me want to start a movement to rename the pear Dutch Jacob: "Toward the close of the eighteenth century, there lived in Philadelphia a well-known sportsman and cattle dealer known as “Dutch Jacob.” Every autumn, upon returning from shooting excursions, Dutch Jacob distributed among his neighbors pears of exceedingly delicious flavor. The place of their growth he kept secret. In time, a tract of land south of Philadelphia was disposed of in parcels, and Dutch Jacob secured the ground on which his favorite pear tree stood, a neck of land near the Delaware river. Shortly afterwards this land became the property of a Mr. Seckel, who gave the pear his name and introduced it. Later, the property was added to the estate of Stephen Girard, and the original tree long remained vigorous and fruitful. The new variety was soon widely disseminated and everywhere became popular."