On Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:34:56 -0700, Paul Drahn
wrote:

On 8/20/2014 7:15 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:


Karl, as a fruit farmer, can you tell me what time pears ripen? My
neighbor just gave me permission to harvest her tree (tiny ancient
thing with 2 or 3 varieties on it) but I'm not sure when to pick.
They're all hard as rocks right now, but I only know how to pick
candidates from the grocery store. I gave up googlinit when the first
hundred and fifty were all either how to plant, grow, splice, or other
such unwanted info, but nothing saying "when". Do you know,
perchance?


We learned several years ago to tip the pear upward so the stem bends a
bit. If the stem pops loose from the limb, the pear is ready to be
picked. If the stem doesn't pop loose, leave it for another time.

We have tried it on various varieties, including winter pears and it works.

Thanks, Paul. I'll keep it in mind, but it still doesn't give me a
window of time to be vigilant. "WHEN do pears pop?" is the question.

--
The unexamined life is not worth living.
--Socrates