It depends if they are mature enough to ripen at all. Pears are one fruit that cannot be left to ripen on the tree. They ripen from the inside out so once they color up and give a bit with slight pressure and look ripe, they are probably overripe. They need to be picked when mature but still very firm and allowed a few days to ripen fully.

So the key is how to determine if they are mature enough to pick :-) Size is one factor. But the best way is to hold the pear out from the branch horizontally (as opposed to its normal hanging position) and give a slight tug. Mature fruit will come away from the tree easily: immature or not yet ready to be picked fruit will hold on to the branch.

Since your fruit is being knocked off the tree by critters, it's going to be hard to tell. But if the fruit is small or undersized and still rock hard after several days of sitting out, it is too immature to be picked, will never ripen properly and is probably not much good for anything other than composting.

Thanks for the replies. My dad taught me that a pear ripens from the neck down, inside out, and don't wait till they look ripe or it would be too late. Since these are small, hard and immature they will end up in the compost bin.

We have had pear trees for 40 years and never had this problem before. A few got knocked off but not all of them. Looks like no pears this year. Bummer! I love Barlett pears and always looked forward to them.

What Annie and GGal said...they posted about the same time.

Looks like you had an environmental issue. I get fruit 2 out of 5 years depending on weather and variety.

Pears are climacteric. About 95% depending on variety....always an exception. They ripen off the tree like bananas. Berries are non-climacteric. Once picked they will not continue to ripen, just start the downhill rotting process. Pick ripe and freeze, eat or process.

If they fall or are picked before a certain point, (weather issues). they are compost like you have found out. A shame but I deal with it sadly every year.

Tomatoes are climacteric as well and will continue to ripen picked early if at the color break stage. In all the heat, wet soggy weather, my tomatoes are about done! Most seasons I am just enjoying now and through September.

Last year I was checking Brix on my pears. They were a week from harvest, just about ready when a bear, better at knowing the perfect time, wiped us out. He broke off two main branches climbing...I caught him sitting in my pear tree. He left me just a few out of his reach. A teen bear. He was young and brave but ran off when he saw us. ( I should have harvested that week earlier)

A refractometer is a good tool to have to check/follow brix for fruit trees. Some years it just does not line up. And why we find amazing grocery fruit one year, then carp the next. Farms are dependent on climate. They still harvest and sell needing the income. Too much rain produces watery cantaloupe, etc. Then randomly they are amazing....same exterior skin.

So...I have a dozen varieties of fruit trees, and grapes, and grow all melons and winter squashes and so much that I am not often disappointed knowing every year will give an abundance of at least a few things. This year is all about the peppers! Never in 25years have I had such a pepper harvest.

It must have been pure luck, but last year I bought some Bartlett pears at the grocery, kept them closed in the bacg for. Short number of days, then canned them. OMG, they were so good. Since I'm working now, I don't have much time for anything, but will try to can some this year.

Madonna

caflowerluver, don't give up yet. I checked the very immature ones in my garage and found that about 1/4 of them are ripening. The range of color is from green to yellow, so there may be hope for yours. These are quite small, but are ripening slowly.

Sleevendog, like you I expect that each year will bring its own successful harvests and failures. Last year was a bust for apples with a late frost, but the tomatoes were amazing. This year it's peppers and eggplant, and I've picked more cherries than I've ever had. The peach trees are loaded, so much that a branch has broken with the weight, even though I've thinned them. Apples are wonderful, but beans were subpar and I got about 1/3 of the usual harvest. No melons and few cucumbers but a ton of zucchini and sweet corn. Next year it will be plums or grapes or rhubarb, it's always something doing badly and something else doing well.

Annie