Maxine (Starking Delicious) Pear
Pollination & Compatibility Guide
Maxine pear pollination guide: Bloom Group 3 overlap, high fire blight resistance, diploid companion pairing, and fresh market qualities.
Maxine is Self-Sterile (Needs 1 Diploid Partner)
Maxine (propagated by Stark Bro's as Starking Delicious) is a chance seedling from Ohio (c. 1900). Highly fire-blight resistant. Diploid; requires a cross-pollination partner. Maxine (Starking Delicious) needs at least one compatible pollinizer from bloom group 2–4 to set a reliable crop.
- Chromosome Ploidy
- Diploid (2n)
- Required Companions
- 1 Diploid Partner
- Bloom Group
- Group 3 (Mid-Spring)
- Harvest Timing
- Mid (-7d from Conference)
Flowering Period & Overlap Window
Pear flowering periods are compressed into numbered bloom groups (1 through 4). Cross-pollination requires overlapping blossom timing between genetically compatible cultivars, with Asian pears flowering 7–14 days ahead of mid-season European varieties.
Any compatible diploid pear flowering within Group 2 to 4 provides matching blossom overlap.
Compatible Pollination Partners (22)
| Cultivar | Bloom Group | Overlap Type | Harvest | Primary Uses | Interactive Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Cooking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Early ±18d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±21d delta | Fresh Eating, Baking | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±21d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±21d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Mid ±21d delta | Fresh Eating, Storage | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±21d delta | Fresh Eating | Test Cross | |
| Group 3 | Full Overlap | Late ±28d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross | |
| Group 4 | Full Overlap | Late Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Storage | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Mid Concurrent (±0d) | Fresh Eating, Pickling | Test Cross | |
| Group 2 | Full Overlap | Mid ±7d delta | Fresh Eating, Canning | Test Cross |
Incompatible Varieties & Exclusions (4)
These pear varieties overlap in flowering time with Maxine but cannot fertilise it due to non-viable pollen (male-sterile diploids), direct parentage exclusions, or shared incompatibility alleles.
Gourmet produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Luscious produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Magness produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Warren produces no viable pollen, so it cannot serve as a pollinizer.
Pomological Assessment: Blight Resistance, Clean Fruit Finish & Pollination
Discovered in Ohio and later commercialized under the trade name Starking Delicious, Maxine is an American heirloom prized for combining handsome appearance with dependable resistance to fire blight. The fruit is large, clear golden-yellow, and symmetrical, offering tender, juicy, aromatic white flesh with minimal grit.
Maxine is a diploid cultivar blooming in Bloom Group 3. It coordinates smoothly with common mid-season cultivars such as Bartlett, Bosc, Conference, and Shenandoah. It produces copious viable pollen, functioning as an active pollen donor for adjacent rows.
The tree develops an upright-spreading canopy with clean, disease-resistant foliage throughout the summer. It maintains reliable spur renewal and crops consistently from year to year when basic orchard fertility is maintained. The skin resists superficial limb rub and handling abrasions better than Bartlett, reducing cull rates in commercial packing bins. Maxine also displays good resistance to black rot and leaf spot diseases, further simplifying pest management programmes in organic and low-spray commercial orchards.
Key Orchard Considerations for Maxine
Performs reliably on OHxF 87 rootstock, forming an upright, well-branched tree that responds well to limb spreading. Quince rootstocks require an interstem.
Very high natural resistance to fire blight, showing minimal strike damage even during humid flowering springs.
Picks mid-season, approximately one to two weeks after Bartlett. Fruit ripens evenly off the tree to a smooth, melting texture suitable for fresh market sales and home processing.
Take Maxine from Planning to Planting
Use Kropigo's free browser tools to model your block density, tree counts, and pollinizer rows, then maintain permanent orchard records row by row.
Pollination Checker
Check Maxine against supported cultivars with compatible flowering and pollination data.
Commercial Block Planner
Calculate high-density tree spacing, row geometry, and establishment costs.
Block Record Keeping
Track pruning, chemical thinning, and harvest tallies block by block from the orchard.