Harrow Sweet starting to ripen today

Watermelons and plums are easiest to brix due to its juiciness. Maybe, you can play a guessing game re. number of brix of each piece of fruit would get.

We did that in our family. It was fun. Guessing correctly earns the right to brag :smile:

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I like that. They will enjoy guessing.

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How do you all protect a tree full of pears like that? Don’t you have squirrels?
I was left with two pears this year. And I have three pear trees. I’m so sick and tired of voles and squirrels eating my fruit. Even inside the electric fence the voles get them. Outside the fence, squirrels, deer, voles work together to get them. Had TWO pears for the family and that’s it. I’m about to cut down my tees. That’s how frustrating this fruit growing has become.

Posted this on this thread because I came here to see when to pick those two Harrow Sweet and instead ended up ranting. Sorry :frowning:

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I have two hawks and I think they are keeping the squirrels scared away. I also have an electric fence for opossums and raccoons.

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I took out one of my refrigerated bags of Harrow Sweet and peeled two that were just starting to soften. Sweet and buttery with no off taste at the skin. Harrow Sweet this year in my opinion is rated just under Dripping Honey and Korean Giant but all three are very good.

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@Auburn

Bill,
Those are absolutely beautiful fruits you grew this year. We must have somewhat similar ripening conditions your description seems realtively close to my location as well. There are a few things i want to bring up so everyone knows what they are getting into. Drippin Honey is very high quality here 98% of the time. On unusual years it can crack more than other pears. Korean Giant is high quality this year. KG ripens late so some years it gets caught in some climates and doesnt fully ripen. It is heavily targeted by stink bugs which can cause rot and other problems throughout the year. Harrow sweet is consistently good quality every year but not the very best. If not thinned properly the pears can be small as it has a tendency to overproduce. If we were comprising a top 15 of taste and pears with ease to grow you just named 3 pear varities from my list. Your analysis in my opinion is excellent on with pear fruit observations. I like your record keeping methods. It seems late since today is October 3rd but many varities are not yet picked here.

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Squirrels take a few pears, but nothing like peaches or other stonefruit. Plus pears produce so much fruit that its fine if they thin the tree some.

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The HS pictured was actually picked a few weeks earlier and they have been refrigerated. I don’t know why but at my location the stink bugs do so much damage to KG the fruit in many cases is unusable.

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