Very nice!
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Clark,
Does your Magness ripen a week later than Warren? Mine are dropping now more than Warren. We are a little late picking both of them this year.
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Warren and magness ripened for me about 2 weeks ago. Magnees usually ripens first by a week. It is not always true. Sometimes it is vice versa.
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Is there a good way to know Magness is ripe? I always thought it was a later pear. This is only the 2nd (maybe 3rd?) year my tree has had any fruit (planted on Quince in 2012.
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It turns slightly lighter green then yellow eventually. Give it the tilt test often it will fool you. They will turn to mush on the tree if your not careful. It is best not to let them get completely yellow on the tree. Wasps etc. Will arrive once they smell the sugar.
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I have yellow jackets all over my pears even though those pears are far from ripening. It is crazy.
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Yeah, it’s pretty bad here too. I have giant hornets as well. They were trying hard to sting the picking stick.
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Clark, that is my experience also. I told someone recently that Magness often ripens before Warren for me and he said that is not possible. You and I know better. This year Magness is a few days before Warren but both are very close, I always pick before they start turning yellow when they come off with a tilt. Then some are ripened on the counter for drying when they start turning yellow. The rest are refrigerated. Those are our favorite pears and they will keep with good quality for at least two months in my fruit-dedicated refrigerator set to the low 30sF. That gets us into November when the Comice is ready to come out of the refrigerator for ripening. When they are gone Josephine de Malines is ready. Of course, we have several others to taste and cook with.
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Have even had magness and warren ripen at the exact same time. The self proclaimed pear expert that told you that was not possible may have never grown them at all. Have had so many pears this year i left many warren on the tree for the wasps, honeybees, and yellow jackets.They are fruit thieves but they are also frequently my pollinators just like moths and butterflys. In my area nature is in balance. By leaving plenty of food for birds, animals and insects they are accomplishing my greater purpose of planting new trees and pollinating old ones. Nature frequently corrects me with diseases like fireblight. It is a reminder i broke the rules monocropping non resistant pear varieties.
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Great thoughts. We should strive for a balance of nature. But, some of us do go overboard when we want to try way too many varieties of one type of fruit or another. Yellow jackets are one of the balancing acts in the garden. My wife is the primary vegetable gardener here and she decided to leave one yellow jacket nest in the ground because she feels that they are doing a great job helping to control cabbage worms on her brassicas. I also notice them working my southern peas but I was able to pick yesterday without any problem. That said, earlier in the year a ground nest was very near where I needed to pick a plum tree. We had to have that one destroyed.
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I agree on the nature
balance. I intentionally leave flowering plants for the bees even though they aren’t pretty type of flowering plants, some are considered weeds. This time of year, less plants are blooming, and the bees are puting on their last effects
collecting nectar for the winter. my catnip has long blooming habit, and the bees really like its flowers.
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My region has a huge imbalance in nature due to the introduction of foreign pests by careless sellers.
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Mine are more like your 20 century but more irregular, more rusty and more orange color…
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Duchess d’angloume snuck up on me penetrometer reading was 11-13 psi picked today, I thought it was a late variety.
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I better check mine tomorrow. I saw what looked like a Bronzee on the ground yesterday. I have both grafted at the top of my tallest tree. Always a problem to pick them.
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First year getting some, does yours look like this?
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Nice looking pears. I have a Duchess pear tree. I am not in your growing zone but mine are not ripe yet. I am in zone 6a.
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I’ll have to pick some. I have too many varieties to keep all of them in my memory. I have a good friend who loves this variety and always takes almost all of my fruit. We are having a late season so I didn’t think they would be ready yet.
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