The Seckels are ready to pick. The necks give to a gentle squeeze. Yesterday they didn't. I'll get them all off the tree tomorrow evening after work. I think right now they'll be too firm, not fully flavored, but they should come around.

Liberty apples are mostly in storage, with a small percentage hanging on. The flavor and color continue to improve. Excellent crunch and snap, but I could stand a denser flesh. Very juicy, some aroma but not fully developed yet.

Carousel/Cameos "soon", Yellow Delicious close. Stay tuned.

Harrow sweet is not great- the skin seems thicker than I remember and the Sheldons don't have the sugar. The Seckels and Boscs are the superior pears this year- so far. Hopefully the pears I have room for in the fridge will sweeten and mellow by way of more conventional ripening- a month in the fridge and softening at room temp.

Right now I've been picking many of them either off the tree ripe or nearly so and then setting them on the porch for about a week to soften and mellow.

I can't understand what it is about this season that has some varieties and species of fruit ripening so late and others at a normal time. I expect some variations in sequence but I've no clue why the pears have ripened as late as they have- not compared to last year which had an absurdly early spring, but compared to years where spring started around the same time as this one.

Fruit in not uniformly late, but spread out with some pears ripening way before other pears in the same tree.

We haven't had as many really hot summer days as normal but I would think all the clear sunny days would have more than compensated for that. Certainly I've seen cooler summers that didn't affect time of ripening that I'm seeing this year.

There is also some unique insect damage on some pears with dark marks on the skin and bitter flesh near these wounds. Maybe these are BMS wounds, although I've only seen a few green stink bugs on fruit. The beemers are mostly in my house.

My john Dropped its fruit a week ago. The previous pears ive eaten off of the tree had a very acidic flavor, not much different from unripe apples. I have been pickng a fruit every week since. They first one just got softened up.

My Honeygold apples werent left on the tree long enough. Now I know they wont be ripe untill the beginning of october. The skins were thick and the apple was sweeter closer to the skin then the core. Definitely unripe - But I can tell you the flavor of these guys will be amazing once I get a good fruit set and let them ripen!

HM - I am wondering if it has nothing to do with this season, and everything to do with last year, which wasnt the easiest on plants. Some may just be delayed in showing so.....

I love contemplating the unfathomable behavior of fruit trees. I'm thinking now about how last season's hard late frosts would affect the development of the flowers that season. It seems as though, if it caused a more spread out harvest it would have also created a bloom that has a similar long spread- which wasn't the case, as I recall.

Unfathomable for me, at least.

>>Honeygold apples werent left on the tree long enough<<
Canadian..
Usually,...when the first one's drop, it will be a indication that the rest should come down soon, every place, fruit can ripen at different times each year.

Konrad - great advice. That is why i picked them. There were only 2, and it is a young tree which Im expecting to start producing next year. Ill have some grafts around the yard too, so better pollination... Since there were only 2, I didnt wait for them to drop. Its definitely a later season apple, there are some trees that dropped a month ago here.

Hee Hee.

Anyway, trees actually consistently put out more flowers and fruit the year after they are barren and also grow more shoot and wood when not making babies- you probably already know this, of course.

The frosts we had did no damage to vegetative buds as far as I could tell. No deformed leaves or anything like that.

Overall, this was the best year for fruit here in memory. Just the pears haven't been that great in my own orchard although they cropped well.

It is odd that it is only the pears.... They seem to be a bit more resiliant to stress in my limited experience with them. COuld it have something to do with the chill hour requirements?

All the previous season did for the trees was save them from the stress of "parenthood" and give them an extra month to harvest and use energy. Same for the forest trees, as far as I can tell.