Frank, my few Seckels haven't matured yet, FWIW, but here's a link that might give you some insights.

There's been quite a few discussions here about this over the last couple of years, but I'm on the wrong computer to copy what I have. Maybe a search of this forum?

Good luck,

Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: Ripening pears

OK...

* The skin color turns from dark green to a lighter yellow-green;
*The lenticels (dots) change from white to brown;
* The skin develops a smoother, waxy look and feel

I'll have to check these things out.

ok, I really think as long as you store the pears for a few weeks in the fridge before you ripen them on the counter you probably have a longer window for picking than you think. I tend towards picking on the early side rather than late because I think if you leave them on to long you run a higher risk of internal rot and also the development of more grit cells. If the lenticels are corked over and the pears are fully formed I'd pick em.

Scape

While we are talking Seckel pears, perhaps someone can help me out. I purchased a Seckel pear tree three years ago from Vintage Virginia apples. This year it produced a few dozen fruit (I had bent the branches down, which helped early production.) The pears seem rather big for Seckels. They are about 2 and a half inches at their widest and three inches high. The seckels I see in stores are quite a bit smaller. But I did thin the pears out a fair bit, but even in some places where a bunch of them grew together they got to this size. I just picked them a few days ago. Is this size in the ballpark for Seckels or am I likely to have ended up with something else?

A properly thinned seckel should be about half the size of a good sized bartlett on a wet year like this one- at least as grown here. I was surprised at how much they size up. First crop in particular should size up well. I know of no pear that really looks like Seckel, only bigger. Even Dana Hovey looks different- more russeted as I remember. It has been a long time since I've seen D H.

Good point Harvestman,
Im sure Seckle doesnt produce grit cells. Also the pears that stay on the tree too long here may rot internally because of the heat here so I may have that wrong. I had thought that all euro pears would rot if left on the tree too long but that may be just a southern issue. I'm sure your climate is much closer to Wisconsins than mine!

Scape

It seems like I had a dialogue with a southern grower last spring who said that quite a number of pears he grows are good ripened on the tree where he was. I know there are some varietes that need to be picked early here but I've never seen a list about this for any region. All you ever read in the literature is how all pears need to be picked a week or two before ripening.

I have some summer pears, like Tyson, that usally ripen well on the tree but I'm not sure about Aurora. I've never gotten around to pick it early because it doesn't get up enough sugar. The pears are worthless when tree ripened here (where I have it sited, anyway) because of the lack of sweetness, but I wonder if it might get sweeter if ripened indoors.

Is early picking always about texture and avoiding internal rot or are some varieties sweeter when ripened indoors?

To Austransplant,

You may have a variety of Seckel called a Warren Seckel. It is similar to the regular Seckel but is a slightly enlarged version of it. I am growing it with large variations in size from the usual size to some about 25 percent larger. I should have thinned it more, but time to did

allow that. As a result of not thinning, the tree has been dropping several fruits every day

for the past two months. However, in the last few weeks, that dropping has stopped. I am

now considering picking them, but since they can ripen on the tree, I might get more flavor out of them by letting them hang on a while longer.