2014 ASHS Annual Conference

‘Gem’ is a new cultivar which combines excellent appearance, fruit quality and long storage potential with precocious and high yields. Fruit color is a light green when mature, and frequently has a red blush on the sun-exposed side.  It can be eaten immediately after harvest and after storage without softening, due to a crisp, juicy texture; in this condition, the flavor will be sweet.  The fruit will also soften to a melting texture if stored for two months in common air refrigeration, after which it will develop a lightly aromatic flavor.  Harvest maturity begins 8 days after ‘Bartlett’, but can be harvested over a three week period without loss of storability up to five months.  Trees on OHxF 97 rootstock at Hood River, Oregon have flowered and fruited as early as two years after planting, with early yield, five-year cumulative yields, and yield efficiency greater than ‘Beurré d’Anjou’.  Fruit size on unthinned trees averaged 150g, but thinning and delayed harvest increased fruit size to 259 g.  At Kearneysville, WV, resistance to epiphytotic fire blight resistance was moderate, but resistance to artificial shoot infection was high.  No infections occured in trials in Michigan.  ‘Gem’ was jointly released by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, and Clemson University.