If you can harvest pears from your own tree for the first time, you usually don't know exactly when the time is right. But it's easy to spot.
Autumn time is harvest time. Depending on the variety, the first pears will be ripe on your trees by mid-July. However, the ripeness for picking differs from the ripeness for consumption - this is important if you want to store the fruit for the winter. There is also a practical tool for harvesting that makes your work easier and also ensures more safety when harvesting. We would like to introduce this to you below.
How do you recognize ripe pears?
First of all, the variety is decisive. But the weather in recent months also plays a role. Varieties that ripen early are usually not very suitable for storage. In this case, the fruits may remain on the tree until they are fully ripe or ready for consumption.
Storage pears, on the other hand, should be harvested when they are ripe for picking. You can tell when this ripeness has been reached by the fact that the fruits become lighter in color and can be easily twisted off the tree with the stalk. Cut open a pear as a test: A fruit that is ripe for picking has brown pits but is still very firm overall.
When is the best time to harvest?
On the pear tree, all the fruit are never ripe for picking at the same time. So plan several days and harvest the pears one after the other. Dry, stable and frost-free weather is also important so that the fruit can be stored well. The pears must be dry, otherwise mold will form quickly. Pears are insensitive to slight frost. However, before picking, you have to wait until any frozen fruit has thawed again, otherwise it will easily bruise. Once the best time has been determined and the weather is right, you can get started.
➜ Our tip:
You can easily reach the lower branches by hand. A stable ladder is useful for the upper branches. Or even better: use a picker (e.g. available here) with which you can easily reach the pears. After all, using the ladder is tedious, and together with a harvest basket, you can also easily lose your balance. With the picker, on the other hand, you can also arrivebranched branches. Then place the pears carefully in a padded wicker basket.
Which pears can be stored?
Basically, late varieties are better suited for storage. The fruit should be undamaged, because fallen fruit, fruit with damage and bruises, and overripe pears rot quickly or begin to mold. Store the pears in a cool, dark, high-humidity basement. The ideal temperature in the storage room is just above 0 degrees Celsius.
Spread out the fruit side by side in shallow wooden boxes. Don't put them on top of each other! A layer of corrugated cardboard is also useful under the pears. If you only want to store pears for a short time, the crisper in the fridge is the place to be.
If you don't have a suitable cellar, you can also store the pears well packed in wooden boxes in the garden shed or on the balcony. In any case, you should check the fruit from time to time, because then you can immediately remove the fruit that has rotted or gone moldy despite care.