I’m trying too. Of course, all of the early maturing varieties will ripen without refrigeration. Starting with Warren/Magness - they ripen without cooling but most agree they taste better if refrigerated for a week or more. Onward ripens ok but it gets core breakdown very easily.
Here is a list of which ones ripened without cooling for me this year starting with Bartlett season:
Rousselet of Stuttgart x Dr. Jules Guyot Hybrid V - ate firm
Beierschmitt
Orcas
Harrow Sweet
Potomac - Release notes state it does not need refrigeration
Gorham - refrigerated ones were a little better
Jana’s Pear (probably Warren)
Magness
Warren
Seckel
Duchesse Bronzee - not ripe yet
Duchesse d’ Angouleme - not ripe yet
Of course, many will soften without refrigeration but probaqbly will not be very good quality. I know people who do not refrigerate Comice and think they are good but probably don’t really enjoy the buttery texture of a perfectly ripened Comice (or Magness/Warren) pear. In the past, Doyenne Gris has ripened without refrigeration. I have not picked it yet. I have a small graft with a few fruit. My big tree was destroyed by fire blight last year.
I’m going to keep a few of the pears I picked recently as well as some of the later pears out to see if they will ripen. Actually, yesterday I picked a Belle Picard - a very late winter pear - and it tasted quite good and crunchy. It was better than what I remember about the “southern pears” I grew in MS. It’s about time to pick Belle and put it in a cool spot until Jan or Feb.
Picked my superfin 9-8 and duchess d’anglome on 9-12. Took 3 each out six days ago. My first superfin was nice but had big spots of grit throughout I put that down to immature tree. Put me off. Second one was to ripe waited till skin was a nice yellow like a Bartlett. Had core breakdown. Third one was fabulous! No grit juicy and taste was awesome. Took some more out of fridge. Duchess first two was not anything to write home about third one was great and juicy. My Bosc were great as usual.
Superfin is a tricky one. I don’t think I have mentioned this here. I fruited Beurre Superfin for about 12 years. Only one year was I realy successful picking and ripening it perfectly. That year it was the best pear at our annual apple/pear tasting. It can be outstanding. My tree became diseased and it took it out in 2021. I have grafted a limb on one of my topworked trees.
Duchesse d’ Angouleme will ripen without refrigeration and I’m going to do a taste comparison with the refrigerated ones. I never evaluated it before as one of my helpers always took the entire crop as payment for picking my huge multigrafted tree. It was his favorite. He never refrigerated it.
Magness is on Quince, Seckel is on OhxF87. Each had a handful of flower clusters. I hand pollinated the earlier blooming ones with Bradford pears, but we had a rainy week that washed away all the Bradford pollens and could not pollinate the clusters that bloomed later. I ended up with 2 pears on each tree, after I thinned each cluster to a single fruit.
I picked two varieties on October 3, 2023 Beurre Madame Henre Lamy
This is all I know - from GRIN
“Fruit the size of Clairgeau’s with the flavor of Marillat. Ripens late September and October”
My first fruit on this young tree. Beautiful. I’ll refrigerate it awhile and then taste.
Packham’s Triumph
Excerpts form GRIN: Originated in Molong, New South Wales, Australia, by Charles Henry Packham (1832-1909) Uvedale St. Germain x Williams Bon Chretien (Bartlett). Fruit: large; usually obtuse pyriform; surface slightly uneven; skin thin, lemon-yellow when ripe; flesh texture very fine, very juicy, melting, flavor particularly rich and pleasing; one of best varieties for cool storage, keeping 4 to 5 months in fine condition. Matures about 30 days after Bartlett. Good, consistent bearer; highly susceptible to fire blight; susceptible to stony-pit virus.
Thanks for the confirmation of my choice of pollination partners. I originally thought that Seckel would be a good pollinator for both my Magness and my Warren, but later on I think I heard that Seckel is not a very good pollinator, so was contemplating adding another pear variety. I grafted Dana Hovey to my Seckel this year, and I hope it helps too. The question is: will I need another variety to pollinate the Seckel?
I had a similar problem in a very different climate. It was super productive but it seems like I either picked them too early (didn’t ever ripen well) or too late (mealy). I got a few excellent ones over the years but at some point gave up and top worked it.
David, thank you for all of the reviews and wonderful photos you’ve shared. I picked up some valuable (new to me) information from this thread I wanted to summarize/clarify if possible.
It’s good to know this. It’s one of the quirks of pear growing I was not aware of, but it makes sense knowing some apples are better after storage too.
Also I wanted to comment on pear fruit set more generally. You’ve mentioned pears capable of parthenocarpic fruit production, self setting, pollen sterile. I wasn’t aware of the wide range of pollination variation amongst pears, although I did know that bloom time is important just like it is for apples etc.
Then the ‘middle of the pack’ example for pollination -
The on the other side of the coin-
I am curious if anyone has actually found parthenocarpically produced pears, and if so, do they have a seed sack area still? I know with parthenocarpic persimmons I’ve sampled, you can just plop the whole thing in your mouth.
Enjoying a nice variety of pears this fall. They are doing exceptional considering the severity of the drought. Douglas, Duchess D’ Angoulme, kieffer, improved kieffer,korean giant and a variety of other odds and ends.
Photo is from a ‘wild’ tree at a local park. Two years ago they were abundant when I discovered the tree but I documented ripening time poorly (I didn’t) so I only caught the tail end of harvest this year. Reminiscent of Seckel in size and flavor to my palette from memory. I’ll be letting these soften a bit.
I had one, one mind you, Abate Fetel pear on my tree. It was there two days ago. I go out today to pick it today. I had to bring out the fruit picking pole since it was to high to get without it and it is GONE, GONE!!! It looked so beautiful high up in the pear tree. I was so looking forward to tasting the first pear off that tree. WHY!!!
Maybe next year, maybe. So disappointed.
That is the curse of abate fetel. Many years i waited and finally had a few this year. Wind mostly blows them off the trees here but hail knocks them off too. They are a big pear and an easy target.
Thank you. I planted my Abate Fetel in 2019. So I am right in that time frame. Maybe next year I can get more than one pear from it. It did look beautiful.
