A very beautiful heirloom apple that stores well.
Kieffer Pear on Calleryana (Spring 2025)
A classic canning pear.
This tree is precocious, productive, and not fussy: it will do well in both drought conditions and in growing areas with cold winters. It is resistant to San Jose scale and very resistant to fireblight. Best of all, Keiffer is self-fertile. This is a fantastic, low-maintenance variety for growers with limited space.
With its crisp, coarse flesh, Keiffer is a classic canning and storing pear. Ripening very late, this pear should be harvested when still hard and allowed to finish ripening off the tree.
Bred by Peter Kieffer of Phildelphia, it first fruited in 1863 and was released in 1876. This pear is a cross of Chinese pear (Pyrus prunifolia) with Bartlett (Pyrus commmunis). We expect that its prolific nature comes from the Bartlett side of the family, while its resistance to fireblight is a gift from the Chinese pear. This pear was once the most commmonly grown in North America.
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The Fruit
Fruit Type
Category: Pear
Subcategory:
European, Self-Fertile
Fruit Uses & Storage
Uses: baking, storage, canning, freezing, sauce
Storage duration: three plus months (approximate, depending on storage conditions)
Fruit Appearance
Skin color: yellow
Flesh color: white
Fruit Origins
Parentage: Pyrus pyrifolia x Bartlett (Pyrus communis)
Origin: Philadelphia, PA
Introduced in: 1863
Introduced by: Peter Kieffer
The Environment
Calendar & Geography
USDA zones: 4 - 8
Chill hours: Not yet determined
Ripening date: Sep 17 (approximate, in New York State) + 28 days after Bartlett
Tree Height & Spacing
glossary
Rootstock: Calleryana Rootstock
Rootstock size class: Half-Standard (75% of Standard)
Tree spacing: See details
Good for wildlife planting? Y
Diseases & Pests
glossary
Fireblight: Very Resistant
San Jose Scale: Resistant
Pollination
Pollination Factors
glossary
Bloom group: 3
Is it self-fertile? Y
Is it fertile? Y
Ploidy: Diploid
Rootstock size class:
Half-Standard (75% of Standard)
Pollination Partners
This table shows the first few results from a full search for pollenizers of Kieffer Pear on Calleryana. Please see our Pollenizer Search to run other queries and read how the application uses various factors. Also read more about fruit tree pollination.
See all pollination matches for Kieffer Pear on Calleryana
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