As I’ve read on the interwebs, Asian pears don’t soften before ripening so the suggestion is to simply sample the fruit to get the timing right.
So I have this wee little 3 variety grafted tree. I literally got a single blossom on two of the varieties, Shinseiki and 20th Century. The fruit is small but that doesn’t really help as young fruit trees often don’t size fruit well.
If anyone in the deep south is growing these varieties please chime in on your harvest date range.
Eventually I’ll have to take a chance anyway but seeing if I can get any info to narrow the window.
I’m not sure what happens to Asian pears that are left on the tree long past their ripe stage.
I’ve yet to harvest any asian pears. I read when the fruit ripens, color will change from green to a color somewhere between yellow to brownish (depending on cultivar). Yours still has green. And euro pears can be tilted gently and if they fall off then they are ripe. Not sure if it applies to asian pears, love to hear if anyone knows.
You are correct. Just went and checked. It’s Hosui.
Didn’t mention before but the third variety (this time it really is the 20th Century) popped a single bloom about 45 days after the other two single blooms mentioned before.
It pollinated (it was covered in ants for a few weeks. Really, the petals stayed on the flower for a long time). It’s about the size of a grape at the moment.
When you tip it up 45 degrees and it snaps off in your hand its ripe. Check them often they should be getting close in the south. We ripen most pears in August and your about a month ahead of us. This will help Southern Pears
Yeah, I know without doubt all those ripening estimates for stone and pome fruit are way off for the growing season I get here.
I have read Asian pears stay on the tree well after ripe, so I have some wiggle room. I’d rather be late than early, though I understand the taste of first fruit (literally first and only for each variety) will not be what the more mature tree will produce.
The little fruit is from a single bloom on the 20th Century that came 3 months after the single blooms on the shinseiki and hosui that set those fruits. Second photo below shows two new blossoms from the 20th Century that just opened a full 3.5 months after the first two blossomed mentioned above (shinseiki and hosui).
I would also like some guidance. My anticipated 2023 pear harvest consists of one (1) Shinko pear. It bloomed just before this year’s particularly spiteful late frost, which took out every other flower and outright killed several of my young pecans, a walnut, and a fig tree. Against the odds, and with no likely candidate for pollination, this Shinko fruit emerged:
