TBH I haven't even tested them yet... so thanks for the heads-up @bertrand-mabel I'll do a lift test in the morning I've had to put a fence around them - last year foxes got quite a few just as they were almost ready🤬
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I usually start trying them about now ... lifting a pear and seeing if the stem snaps ... those fruit are kept indoors in the cool with a couple being placed in the fruit bowl after a few days, and then after a couple more days I'll try one ... it's usually to my liking ... so the next fruits come from the cool into the fruit bowl, and then some more are tested to see if they're ready to pick ... and carry on like that.
Spot on, Dove - exactly what I did and always do. They all came away easily so harvested the entire crop of around 10 fruits (first proper crop) though they will take a while to ripen I'm sure.
That photo from Pete of the Beurre Hardy pears look nothing like mine - they have russeting on them, whereas there are no patches of russeting on any of mine. I believe Comice can exhibit russeting also but could be wrong.
So I'm still at a loss - am I to suspect Williams perhaps given the harvest time?
Concorde, Comice and Conference are supposedly mid October harvesting but am pretty sure my Conference was harvested mid September last year. It's all rather confusing.
As with all crops, given dates of harvesting can only ever be average and approximate and are very dependent upon the weather since blossom-time … the harvesting time will also be affected by the very local conditions of the site where the tree is growing.
My Concorde is an espalier forming a ‘fence’ between the terrace and the veg garden un a very sheltered spot … we harvest a bit earlier than the book suggests. 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Some of our Beurre hardys are ready now. The pips are black and the flesh is ripened but not all are like that. So I understand what you say about harvesting should be later but some are coming on earlier this year.
You were right - my Beurre Hardy are ready to pick too.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
update - pears were awful. tried a few that had gone yellow and were perfectly ripe - tender, juicy but absolutely ZERO flavour / sweetness. can't believe it. think I may have to get rid of the tree this winter and replace with a screening tree instead.
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I'll do a lift test in the morning
I've had to put a fence around them - last year foxes got quite a few just as they were almost ready🤬
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
That photo from Pete of the Beurre Hardy pears look nothing like mine - they have russeting on them, whereas there are no patches of russeting on any of mine. I believe Comice can exhibit russeting also but could be wrong.
So I'm still at a loss - am I to suspect Williams perhaps given the harvest time?
Concorde, Comice and Conference are supposedly mid October harvesting but am pretty sure my Conference was harvested mid September last year. It's all rather confusing.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
tried a few that had gone yellow and were perfectly ripe - tender, juicy but absolutely ZERO flavour / sweetness. can't believe it. think I may have to get rid of the tree this winter and replace with a screening tree instead.