The pick date in Georgia August 27th That about week before Deer harvest Pears and get mealy. I would guess your harvest be no later September 10 th, but guess.

Thanks gator!

I was thinking late Aug was the proper time for around here! Yikes.

Paging Scott Smith, paging Scott Smith ;-)

Here, in southeast NY, Seckel does not get mealy when ripened on the tree- it is an aspect of it that makes it a good home orchard pear. Maybe further south they get mealy.

Before it starts to soften the green ground color changes to yellow and it can be picked then while still firm for storage in the fridge. That way you can enjoy them for up to a couple of months.

They do ripen over a period of a couple weeks.

Bumping for selfish reasons...................hoping for a response from someone a little more north of Gator, and a little more south of HM!

Here copy paste on Pears.
To attain highest quality, pears must be harvested before they are ripe. If picked too early, they are under-sized and lack sweetness and flavor. If picked too late, the fruit ripens quickly, is gritty in texture, and is subject to core breakdown.

One measure of maturity are the fruit lenticels. These are the small âÂÂdotsâ or indentations on the fruitâÂÂs skin. Lenticels of immature pears are white; however, as cork cells develop the lenticels become brown and shallow. The brown in the lenticels is a good indication that the fruit is ready to be picked and will ripen without shriveling. Color between the lenticels also becomes lighter green than at the lenticels.

Ripe dates use to be so simple before I new how messed up looking at growers listed ripe dates can be. You would at least think when they list the date they would also put the zone being referenced. I now have fruit ripening in August that I purchased thinking they would ripen in late October or November. Do you have the same problem?

The ground color rule applies everywhere, I think. A firm ripe pear will also often snap off cleanly without breaking the stem when you turn it gently.

Other varieties of pears ripen in the center before you know it and they are the ones likely to be mealy when allowed to ripen on the tree. Seckel is smaller and isn't prone to this uneven ripening.

And if all else fails, if a pear is ready to pick it should already be sweet even though it is hard.

Each of my fruit trees generally has a harvest window of 2-5 weeks and thus as soon as you start to see ripe or over ripe fruit on a particular tree, get ready to pick the rest over the coming weeks.

My last pineapple pear was picked last week, and despite using tulle drawstring bags around the pears i still lost a lot to birds and squirrels (next year will net the tree). The animals will start on the pears ~ 3 weeks before ripe, when ripe just a little lift up and twist and the stem breaks (like an apple) and the pear falls into your hand. They had ugly skin but had nice juicy, smooth , somewhat sweet with a hint of pineapple taste right off the tree.

My Stark Honey Sweet pear semi dwarf fruited in it's seventh year and they were smaller than most pears, but fabulous... sweet, smooth, juicy, etc. and i finished picking them last weekend using the same methodology as the pineapple pear. Some that i pulled probably a week or two early (didn't want the creatures to get them) ripened at room temp in the kitchen in a week or two. You can smell when they start to get ripe or over ripe, but think i can start to feel a slight softness when squeezing the fruit when ripe as before it was hard as a rock.