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Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Gardening

How do you know when to pick your pears?

17 replies

MollyAir · 01/09/2015 00:06

I have loads of pears this year, but they are still rock hard. They are beginning to fall, however. Is anyone experienced in the art of pear-picking please?

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WotNoLoobrush · 01/09/2015 00:12

Isn't it like with apples where if you twist the fruit a couple of times and it comes loose, it's ripe. If not, wait a bit longer.

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MollyAir · 01/09/2015 00:14

Thanks - I did do that with one today; it did come loose but is still rock hard. Do I just leave it in the bowl to ripen now?

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WotNoLoobrush · 01/09/2015 00:22

Yes. The trouble with pears is they soften from the inside so it's tricky to tell when they're just right to eat. I'd try leaving a day or two at room temperature, then give it a go. Good luck.

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MollyAir · 01/09/2015 00:23

That's exactly it! If I leave them too long they turn to mush.

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BackInTheRealWorld · 01/09/2015 00:25

They will be rock hard until you pop out for five minutes and when you come back they will be overripe and yuck. It is the law of pear.

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MollyAir · 01/09/2015 00:45

Gahhhhh.............

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AncestralRhubarb · 01/09/2015 09:24

I heard that with pears, you are supposed to pick them earlier than with apples and let them ripen inside. So, before they come off in your hand when you twist.

I have yet to get it right.

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WotNoLoobrush · 01/09/2015 13:07

That's interesting Rhubarb

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MollyAir · 01/09/2015 15:34

I just picked one straight off the tree and ate it. It was yum. That is a rare event though. The wasps are getting high on the fallers.

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TheSpottedZebra · 02/09/2015 09:57

Ooh I picked hem before they seem quite ripe?!

Right, I am going in today. Previously, my pear tree has had 3 fruit, max, (and they were usually scabby), so it wasn't really a decision I had to make. But this year - loads! And some are blush, some are green - I've only noticed this year that it's a tree with 2 varieties grafted on!

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TheSpottedZebra · 02/09/2015 09:58

Molly - are you going to pick more? All at once, or in dribs and drabs?

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MollyAir · 02/09/2015 15:07

I ate a faller for breakfast - had to brush a wasp off...I'm going out now for more...Not all at once: I'll feel and twist.

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MollyAir · 02/09/2015 18:48

I felt and twisted a whole load that I could reach, and just picked the one which came off in my hands. Then I ate it. It was perfect. So looks like it'll be a daily activity.

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TheSpottedZebra · 02/09/2015 20:05

Yum. I wonder how long they'll be pickable for?

I've had a very fruity day (fnarr fnarr). Inspired by you, I picked a couple of pears from each side - so green ones, and blush ones. I've not eaten them yet. Oddly, my tree has both the most ever pears, and its worst case of scab.

Then I went to the allotment and picked my first apples. Then I went blackberrying, and picked wild plums. Getting my 5 a day will be no problem for the foreseeable. Even if it is mainly crumble or jam format.

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TheSpottedZebra · 02/09/2015 20:06

Oh, also picked some sloes and elderberries.

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LBOCS2 · 02/09/2015 20:10

It's the 5 seconds between them being hard enough to use as ballistic missiles, and them being so overripe you have to fight the wasps for them. I grew up with peer trees and it's a very fine balance!

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MollyAir · 02/09/2015 20:45

What will you do with the elderberries, Zebra? I want a black elderberry one day.

I'm competing for my pears with squirrels, pigeons, a jay, and a very mighty flock of green parakeets, so we'll see how many I get. I have hung toy snakes in the branches in the hope that green parakeets are afraid of snakes.