Ayers are not ready here yet.
I see everyone is picking Ayers. Mine are still rock hard.
My trees have about the same size fruit as yours with a few random nice ones high in the trees.
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This year is very deceptive check more than 20 in your sample i was lucky. Go more by the softened neck than the tilt test this year. Push your thumb firmy on the neck see if there is any give. This is not a normal year here the winter was very late so the pears were behind. Some will ripen ahead of others then pick them all. The pest pressure is unbelievably higher than normal. See those seeds they are brown but not black the pests will never let these get to that stage I normally wait for. The picture with the bite gone is to show you many things. The dripping juice can be seen that is normal with a ripe ayers. Note that seed color is not jet black but when it is they are so soft they will be a problem. The animals will start stealing at your location this year if you wait much longer. The insects are my problem but rest assured something else has its eyes on your pears this year.
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I’ve been doing pretty good trapping the animals. Bees and birds are the real problem. And yes you are correct the pressure is bad this year. Seems your environment is giving the same results as mine.
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@clarkinks Quick question on the ripening. How early can you pick pears? A week or two? My Ayers seeds look about like yours in the pic, but although juicy still has a touch of green in the taste. Like you I’m getting beet up by insects. If I pick now will they still ripen to the soft juicy state?
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Yes they will ripen if you pick them now as long as the seeds are brown and they have some give to them. The peel of the pear may have an off taste in some cases with ayers. It can be that way very ripe or if picked greener. The nature of the ayers is to sometimes have a slight bitter taste in the peel which seems weather related. Wait as long as you can but dont allow your crop to dissapear.
Clark- Is the “some give to them” test just for Ayers or for any variety? I’m using the gentle lift test for all my varieties and hope it’s in the ballpark.
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My Ayers ripened perfectly this year. I picked with gentle lift when still light green with red blush, then held in fridge. After 2-3 weeks they were looking more yellow. Then put on the counter for a couple of days to ripen. They had just a little give when at a perfect melting texture. But firmer to the touch than a Bartlett at same ripeness. Maybe 5% had an astringent peel with slight bitterness, but not too bad really. Really good pear.
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My opinion is the tilt test is garbage. They will come off long before they should be picked. I’m trying the thumb test this year. Took a few to understand what they were talking about. You gotta get right up on the stem and it does give just a touch. I can’t believe I’m still trying get pears right after all these years.
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In the same boat, still figuring out when to pick pears. Harrow Sweet are easy- can eat right off the tree.
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Same here. I am so frustrated and tired of trying to figure out the ripening time of each E pear variety. Lost all of one variety because it is very early. Lost some Harrow Delight for waiting too long, etc, etc, etc.
I am going to convert some Euro to Asian. Easy to tell when Asian are ripe , no refrigeration needed and they keep a long time in a fridge.
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It’s not anything anyone is doing wrong this year with the pears tilt test. They are more difficult to pick than normal due to weather this year. The tilt test indicates ripeness but many of your pears got shorted a month or two of growing season by cold weather. This year pears are like those somewhat red tomatoes you brought in just ahead of the freeze they will never reach their best quality. These late winters are limiting the pear crops by shortening the growing season. My property has an abundance of pears always but i just mentioned to my mother today the off taste of the ayers peel this year on some trees. The pears in general have been under assault by insects and other things. We are truly blessed to have an abundance of everything, we have good friends, good land, and we live in a good location the fruit is very good here. All that said be patient good pears are not easy to grow. @39thparallel and I have good fruit crops but many in this area will tell you its hard to grow fruit here because it is. This is why you have more than one method to check the ripeness of pears. Nature does not play by our rules we have to bend to natures rules.
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I’m over it. That’s why I’ve been grafting most of them over to no refridgerator easy ripening varieties. Like the Harrow’s. That whole refridgerator thing really throws a wrench in everything.
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There are a few ayers in the shade just now ripening up. These almost look like ten but these are not supposedly. I will be checking again since pears are so frequently mislabeled. They get big when there are no other pears on the tree. An ayers is very juicy and a ten is not. You can tell they are related since they are both from the Tennessee breeding program.
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There’s something special about that deep blush!
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Lots of apples are sold that way. The marketing experts know what people love. People seem to be attracted by that red color. I prefer yellow apples myself they seem more flavorful. Red pears i even have stolen off my trees by the animals. Im not sure what it is about them but they do have a lure to them.
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Up north in Fremont, Michigan a local apple grower has suncrisp, a (cox orange pippin x golden del) yellow pear with a nice blush
Love cox orange pippin and golden delicious I imagine that is a very fine apple ! , in my top 5. I also have heard that birds have special wavelength receptors geared to that red color, of ripened fruit.
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I guess that’s why they steal Odysso at cherry size…red skin even a few weeks after petal fall. Bagged one or I’d have gotten none a second year in a row.
Speaking of Ayers, I suspect my scions may be something else.
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Anyone know the chill hours for this pear? Would love to try in 8b Florida!