Regarding the Acres Home pears, you will observe that at some point in the growing season that the fruit max out in size and expand no more. You will observe that some pears will gradually change from being totally light green to slightly yellowish green. You can gently poke a finger tip on the slightly yellowish green fruit, and if that fruit is barely compressable with the finger jab, it is time to eat.

Copingwithclay, thanks for the reply. Do they still need to ripen in the fridge or on the counter for a time after picking?

Copingwithclay, thanks for the reply. Do they still need to ripen in the fridge or on the counter for a time after picking?

The "ripened on the branch" steps get them 100% ready for immediate gratification. You will likely find them to be sweet and flavorful and w/o the sandlike grit cells. There may be a slight pineapple component to the flavor of those with a slight yellowing of the greenish skin. That is, if squirrels, etc. have not already gotten some gratification from munching on the almost-ready fruit.......Acres Home is a real winner.

If S. Bartlett is rotting in its center by the time it reaches CWC's description of a perfect A. H. it will be more complicated to pick. Eventually you will learn the general time they are ready but without equipment to measure the pressure of the flesh the only method I know is to taste the pear when you think it may be getting ready. Normal Bartletts are ready when the crisp flesh is sweet but well before it is soft. Measuring brix would also work, of course- once you know the ideal level for the specific variety.

If you wait for pears to be tree ripe, you can forget about storing them for more than a couple weeks, but after years of harvesting pears from trees in my orchard, I still struggle with determining the ideal picking time, so maybe I'm not the best one to be offering advice on the subject. I can offer comfort if you miscalculate, though. I usually hedge my bet by doing a couple of pickings.

I see that I'm very late to this conversation, so you may have an answer to your question. Different people seem to have differing experiences with SB than I have and your climate is quite different from mine. That said, SB is not the same as Bartlett. So far with fruit from my tree, the fruit never goes from bland to sweet on the tree and rarely so at indoor room temperature. On the other hand, if you pick it just as it becomes yellow green and you lift the fruit to where the peduncle is parallel with the branch and it snaps off with virtually no effort, it will ripen to the most deliciously sweet soft butter textured pear imaginable in the refrigerator.