Zone 7 growers- when do you pick it? Will it become strongly sweet if I leave it on the tree or is mildly sweet all it gets? My first year with it and I worry about the giant Euro Hornets moving in if it gets any sweeter.
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In your zone, I guess this is about time. If you have more than one fruit, pick one and try. If seeds are dark, it is ripe. The flesh should be more translucent than just white starch.
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They are not ripe yet for me. I have picked a couple and they were not ripe. One I picked today was getting close. I would guess 1-2 weeks. I agree the key is the flesh clearing up.
The problem for me is they need to hang a long time and they get swiped, they are really popular for some reason. Most of mine are gone already. I have a Chojuro not far away which was completely loaded and I don’t think I lost a single pear on it. I harvested many pounds of Chojuros. They are very hard to know when ripe as they get all golden well before they are ripe. But if they are overripe they are mealy and bland. The ones I got in the sweet spot are awesome though, butterscotch heaven.
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This one dropped on Sun as “something” bit the stem off.
When the color underneath was this green, it was not ripe.
If you noticed, the seeds are not completely dark. The end of each seed was still pale. The flesh tasted starchy. It needed at least 2 more weeks.
I am in zone 6a. My KG usually is edible by early Oct. I have let them hang as long as early Nov. in my area, the 2nd -3rd week of Oct is a good time to pick KG.
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KG/Olympic ripens after Chojuro -
around mid-October here. It is a really tasty one if tree ripened, otherwise its pretty meh. Of course thats sort of true of asian pears all around. the good ones go from bland sweet and unpleasantly dry and firm to revelatory flavor and texture in the course of a week or so. There is a subtle color change to watch for on each variety. Its what I generally use in combination with taste testing as they near ripe. For KG, I look for the green to disappear. On chojuro, I look for a deepening of the color to somewhat pumpkin orange. It may be obvious, but I find ripening progresses around the tree with fruits exposed to more sun ripening sooner. Those are the ones to watch and taste test.
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Sounds like I have to learn to be more patient! This is our second year getting fruit from KG and we’ve been sampling ours already. They’ve been good, but I’ll let the rest hang for a while and look for the signs that people have mentioned.
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Mine Korean Giants in mid eastern Pennsylvania are not ready yet either. I was planning on two more weeks. I had a branch snap off last week due to overload. They are such big pears!
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Our KG in NE Ohio are beginning ripening. So good.
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You guys in the midwest gets more intense sun in the summer than I have here in New England. Your fruit often ripen a week or two ahead of mine.
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Exactly what I needed; thanks everyone.
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Starting to get some Korean Giants. I picked a few that had small blemishes. They are good and so big one pear is all we need for the fruit part for my family of five for breakfast.
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Here are two of mine harvested 10-9-23. Still so hard I have to cut them up to eat them. They are ripe. Very sweet and good flavor, for a pear. Brix hard to measure because they’re too hard to squeeze out juice but I came up with a 23.
Tell me how beautiful they are. That’s certainly true…!!
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Deepest color ever! Nice:)
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Wow, those are a beautiful color. I have about 15 pears left on the tree. I’ll leave them on and see if they ripen up some more.
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In a few years I’m looking forward to my first KGs.
From people’s photos and the single Hosui I got this summer, it seems as though Asian pears are more likely to be relatively blemish free when ripe.
Maybe the crisper texture isn’t as attractive to insects?
In 4 years or so I hope to have an Asian horizontal cordon espalier with a row of KG.
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agreed, thats VERY dark for KG
mine often turn out almost entirely free of blemishes, and I don’t spray them. the biggest issue i have with asians is marmorated stink bugs, which love them. some fruits wind up with lots of hard calcium nodules from repeated stinkbug feeding.
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It was a very hot and dry summer. Low crop load due to spring freeze. Usually I pick in September. So I was a bit surprised that they weren’t over ripe.
They are usually that dark here.
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But it sounds like that is just a nuisance as oppose to something that ruins the fruit.
I’m OK with sharing if that is all it does.
Also with a fruit that big, I would have absolutely no problem peeling each and every one I eat.
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I picked all mine yesterday after losing more and more to animals on a daily basis. I picked them a week early but not too early. Most seeds are 90-95% dark and the flesh lost its starchiness and become juicy.
I am surprised that @growjimgrow’s KG just ripened. I usually pick my from mid Oct to early Nov. KG has a long picking time in my area. We don’t get hot sun in early fall to get them to go from ripened to overly ripen.
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As for clean fruit. Not really. Most of mine get some damage from various bugs like stink bugs, coddling moth, etc. some suffered from bitter pit.
I sprayed 4 times early on. Had I not sprayed, they would be much more damage.
Granted pear (fruit) grow very fast and often these rapidly expanding cells are able to crush eggs that those insects laid on the fruit. Still, blemishes occurred making them not good to give them as gifts.
I have this tree for 15 years. It was a potted tree with a couple of fruit on it so I got fruit every year from the first year I had the tree. Unfortunately, insects and disease pressure seems to accumulate over the years.
Damage here and there in almost all the fruit.
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