We let the animals eat the windfall pears that might need them. We have an abundance and many animals and people are going into winter in very good condition from the large pear crop. Today is November 26 and pears are still hanging in the trees! Family, friends and wild animals harvested all they want. Gave some away to strangers or friends of friends this year as well. Hope everyone was blessed with a large crop this year. Next year I will focus more on selling pears as the crop continues to get larger. Many argue with my methods but it’s harder to argue with the results.
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(Maybe call the local food bank…but they’d probably ask if you could pick them up and bring to them.)
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That was my goal when they were on the trees but my health will not allow me to do that much. Thought of it but it’s more work than it sounds like. You need to individually bag them 5 or 6 pears to a bag, know the pickup days, properly ripen the pears so they are ready to eat. Then go dispense them to those who need them. I’m not giving up on the idea.
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That is a LOT of great looking fruit. Amazing year for you.
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That’s noble.
Sorry you;re not in good health…I’ve been pretty blessed, but age is definitely cutting into my productivity also. My imagination has me doing things I can’t (or if I do I’ll regret the next day).
ps. Great looking pears you grew.
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What we are looking at here are left over pears these trees were picked several times over. When I tell someone I can pick bushels of pears from a tree they don’t believe me. Posts like this one Pear trees that produce bushels of fruit and avoid disease say it all. This one confirms what I’ve said A lesson in pruning pears . In the event pruning is needed this video will help When Pruning Pears theres a lot to learn - Brindilla, Tira savia, Chicken Paw to name a few terms . In Kansas we don’t normally need to prune to invigorate as we have some natural limb breakage and other things. It’s clear I didn’t prune away my fruiting wood on these trees. Most trees in my orchard have never been fertilized but rather grown in native soil with no special care. The wild pears show no signs yet of needing anything special
This tree as an example will need some pruning as the weather and heavy fruit load have taken away its natural shape. It’s been 6 or 7 years since it was pruned. Limb breakage does occur unfortunately at times.
@MikeC @BlueBerry pears in my opinion are the best fruit to grow in the heavy Kansas clay and loam soils for the reasons shown above. The old farmers got a good laugh out of it when I said I was growing fruit. Corvallis has helped me find pear varities that work better in this experimental orchard. The wild callery pears rootstocks are adapting to this climate. They withstand drought or heavy rains.
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I will dream of my pears being this bountiful! Have you thought about pressing the pears for juice?
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@Piblarg
Actually have tried pressing pears for juice but I wound up with a slurry not a juice. That’s how I found out about pear sauce instead of apple sauce. It is possible to mix pear juice in with apple juice making a thicker apple juice. Unlike apples the pears I’ve dealt with will not make cider the juices are to thick. You can add water and make pear nectar. It froze on the blooms multiple times so this is a reduced crop. Had it not have froze so much when they were in bloom my trees would have had more breaking branches.
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If you were younger and in better health I’d suggest you open up Clark’s Piggery. Some mulberries for summer forage, maybe some other things (acorns, for example) to fill any gaps between mulberry and pear drop season and that’s got to be a big reduction in a grain bill. People around here pay quite a lot for humanely raised pigs. Way more than I’d be willing to pay.
Enough of the tangent, you’re doing very well with pears which I know is what you are passionate about. I hope 2022 treats your body better than 2021 did.
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That’s a great idea pigs or turkeys or something. Who knows health care might improve we never know what tomorrow will bring.
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ah yes, what you said. "but age is definitely cutting into my productivity. " No it’s not my age, it’s that damn arthritis! @blueberry I missed what got you banished, but I very much support this site being apolitical. I do lean very hard in one direction on the left-right scale, but it no way affects how my fruit trees grow. I appreciate your contributions, so please stick around and keep contributing. @clarkinks I wish you good health.
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Do you know what variety of pear this is? Thanks
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That heavy producer in most of the photos is Duchess d’ angoulme. There are also improved Kieffer in other photos. Kieffer does the same thing! Duchesse d’Angouleme pear
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@chinook … try low carb… keto… or even carnivore diet… 30 days… arthritis will very likely be gone and other health issues may resolve too. Worked for me.
Good Luck.
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Awesome thanks! There was a couple loaded pears around my town and after some research I found out they were Kieffer. Great pears! I’ll look into that other variety too. They look good as well!
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Yes add them to your orchard they are impressive. Early season pears have incredible flavors but these have great timing and are very welcome.
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Truly exceptional year hate to see it end but the weather is very cold now.
Still eating Duchess D’Angoulme which are shown in the photos!
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Duchess D’ Angoulme take patience they are not ripe yet. The improved kieffer is ripening very late this year.