I’ve been paying attention to the pear tree – last time it fruited I lost most of the haul because by the time I picked the fruit what hadn’t already fallen off the tree was bug-infested. This time I’ve been going around every couple of days to see if fruit wants to be picked, and…
…today a couple of pears did indeed want to separate. Most of the ones I tested didn’t. So we’re getting there. I think actually harvesting the tree is going to be a gradual process – I’m not sure how that’ll affect making butter out of the fruit, but at least I hope to protect the pears from the various bugs waiting to lay their eggs in them.
Have you tried some Sevin dust pesticide? Bugs do not like it. It washes off.
I’ve had excellent luck with this stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00192FZ30/
But it does require a cheap sprayer. Pears can be stored in a fridge for a month or two without major degradation.
When to pick is always a quandary.
The ideas about dusting the pears are good ones, especially, if the stuff is easily washed off. The downside is the issue of forgetting to wash the fruit off, or it rains, and Mother Nature washes it off for you so you have to re dust the fruit.
On a personal note, I had some tomatoes on the vine, with one that was nice and big. The day before I was going to harvest it, something (raccoon, squirrel?) got it. And, I was all already for a just toasted tomato sandwich too. Sigh…