This is my favorite pear. An unknown and unmanaged tree near my daughter’s daycare. I’ve harvested from it a few times already this year, trying not to take more than my share. But there doesn’t seem to be anyone else interested in it and the pears are just dropping to the ground. Is it bad etiquette to keep going back and taking more from a public tree?
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I’ve never had any qualms harvesting as much as I myself would use from public trees (parks/the grounds of public buildings) once I’ve seen that most of the fruit there is dropping and rotting. The groundskeepers will thank you for reducing their cleanup work.
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nope. i do all the time with apples.
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I can’t imagine the person who planted it would have wanted all that fruit to be wasted. My inner child would be tempted to put up a sign “Free pears!” next to the sidewalk.
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I like that idea 
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Even though it seemed like it was not very close yet, I decided to go ahead and cut one. The fruit is remarkably clean, and didn’t even taste too bad (not particularly sweet, but slightly refreshing with no bitterness or anything), but seeds are definitely not darkening yet.
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Yeah, that does look good. Was there no notable astringency as well? It sounds like it might be worth eating.
No astringency, just the underripe consistency and not very sweet yet. Hopefully I get to try a few more when they are more ripe, but school starts next week so I’m guessing the kids will pick them too soon since they have that nice red blush.
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You can reach higher than kids though. 
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Next year that may help, but unfortunately this rootstock clump is well within middle schooler reach at this point. But who knows, maybe some will survive unseen.
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Yeah, seems like you are being thoughtful with your approach to harvesting.
The only comment I have about that is that many trees drop their damaged and infested fruit first. People may think the owner doesn’t want the fruit when they may just be waiting for the good ones to mature.
I don’t mean to suggest that that is the case here.
I have multigrafted apples at my old house, and some years I’m not interested in the early varieties, but am very much so in some of the other ones, especially the ones I hadn’t tried before. That’s too much nuance for most passers by.
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I think the distinction to make is whether a tree is planted in someone’s yard vs a park or the grounds of a business or other building that’s open to the public. I wouldn’t walk into someone’s yard to harvest from a tree that looked neglected (without asking), but usually fruiting trees on public property are not being formally harvested by anyone.
In this case, the tree is pretty clearly on property that’s open to the public with multiple benches around it.
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i get all of mine along old fields in rural areas where there isn’t a house nearby. i wouldn’t go in someone’s yard.
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Whoever planted that tree probably envisioned passers-by being able to sit on those benches and eat the pears. Would be a shame to not make that dream come true.
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You are saying he was supposed to eat them all on the premises? 
I’m just kidding, I understood what you were saying and like the sentiment.
If someone told me I could have those pears but only if I eat them all on site, I would give it a go. They’re so good it’s worth risking death by pear. 
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I noticed a nearby property with a lot of persimmons. Went by again today hoping to catch them at the mailbox and invite myself over for a better look. Maybe @randyks or @clarkinks has suggestions for oublic land to scout for persimmons?
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When you see them you have to jump on them. I found an American Persimmon on the side of a back road with big delicious fruit and low seed count. Came back later to get scions, but the area was under construction and the tree was gone. A real loss. That was easily worthy of giving a name and spreading around.
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. Gonna give a try in the fallGiven that Diospyros virginiana can form root suckers, I’d keep an eye on the area to see if anything pops up from remaining roots. Even if they scraped the surface layer off, there’s likely some deeper roots which were left in place.
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