Pears that will tree-ripen?

Apologies if this has been asked before, I have seen a few mentioned here, and a few there (seckel, harrow sweet) but is there a list of pears which ripen on the tree without rotting?

If not, anyone want to list the pears they’ve observed tree-ripening in? AND, do they drop? Looking for something more interesting than just planting more kieffer out back, but my pears back there are dual-purpose: I can pick what I can pick to store and eat, whatever drops can help me draw pre-processing venison steak and snack sticks into the yard…

maybe fruits that need to be picked first aren’t even that bad, if you know a couple that tend to drop from the tree, then ripen relatively quickly thereafter…

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Winnie for sure ripens on the tree. Tennosui has a reputation for ripening on the tree. The Asian pears tend to ripen on the tree as well. God bless.

Marcus

Starking Delicious ripens on tree in August. (I am thinking it is same as the variety called “Maxine”).

Bartlett will tree ripen. My asian pears can tree ripen as well.

Harrow Sweet
Harrow Delight
Harvest Queen
Magness
Warren
‘Docteur Desportes’
Potomac (kind of, you will lose about 1/3 of them)
Atlantic Queen
Rescue

None of the above drop, all will rot if you let them hang there indefinitely

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So I take it Pears don’t really drop the way apples do?

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Not in my experience, I have several on Harrow Sweet (my latest ripening)that simply shriveled up and are still hanging on the tree in Feb. Most of the ones I see drop, drop as a result of very high winds or animal action. Notable exception being Harvest Queen, which will drop, but usually not when ripe but when past ripe. Also Harvest Queen is tricky as it ripens over several weeks. A pain for commercial growers but a bonus for home growers. Sadly it has the lightest yield of all pears I have grown.

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Gorham

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Winnie will drop sometime after they ripen. They are usually still good after they drop unless they get bruised or have been bitten into by a critter. My tree is so tall that during pear season, that’s how I have to harvest a lot of them. I go out first thing in the morning and in the afternoon and pick up pears every day. You do have to pick them up right away, and it helps with bruising if you have grass growing under the trees. God bless.

Marcus

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can you tell me more about Winnie? It doesnt’ appear to be a common pear…

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I would say it’s very rare given that I own the mother tree. LOL! I have a good description and photos of it in the Southern Pears thread. I’m at work and don’t have time to give a detailed description right now. It’s basically a round, low chill, fire blight resistant early blooming hybrid pear which has table characteristics more like that of an Asian pear. It doesn’t keep like an Asian pear though. To me, it’s a very good crunchy but not hard pear. The mother tree is huge and like a lot of pears seems to have a very vertical growth habit. God bless.

Marcus

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Oh, the pears are large, and have a size range like that of Navel Oranges.

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I have found few pears ripen reliably on the tree. I occasionally will pick one thats perfect but more often than not it will look perfect but be mush inside. White Doyenne has probably been my most frequently good pear off the tree. Beurre Superfin is by far the worst, they need to be picked as soon as they show any signs at all of becoming non-rocks.

I am in a warmer zone and that could have something to do with it, its more like “counter ripening” on the tree for me and not “fridge ripening” like it is in colder ones.

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If the goal is a soft pear, I suspect what Scott says is true. Generally for Asian pears and other crunchy type pears, they get sweet on the tree and will turn to mush before they get soft no matter what you do. Winnie will turn yellow and get super sweet and juicy on or off the tree. But it will last longer in the frig if you pick it before it’s completely yellow. My understanding is that a lot of Asian type pears will not sweeten up anymore once picked. God bless.

Marcus

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Bartlett aka Williams ripen completely on the tree every time with no rot in my location. They hang a long time and sweeten more all the time! Great sweet, juicy, balanced pears but they lack pizzazz in my opinion that other pears have.

On PEI, Bosc and Patten ripen to crisp, sweet perfection on the tree. Minie and Menie go to brown mush in the middle, the Bosc and Patten are delicious all the way through.

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