This afternoon I found the first fallen pear, which wasn’t there this morning. So…
I took down the fence so I could get a ladder in there and started twisting stems, seeing who wanted to come join me.
And…well…
The harvest isn’t going to overwhelm my capacity to make pear butter. This is maybe a little more than half of the eventual total, and it’s actually a little underwhelming. But already a helluva lot better than I got three years ago, the last time the tree fruited, and none of these have bug holes. Last time I lost more than half to rot and bug larvae from waiting too long. This time I’ve been paying attention.
This is, I’ll have you know, the only successful fruit tree I know of among dozens that have been planted here and there since or before I moved here. They usually just die. Some grow but never fruit. This one has now had two harvests. I ought to give it a medal or something – instead I’m going to prune the heck out of it, because there are some big branches with no fruit at all.
Joel! the big branches with no fruit at all may be dormant for lack of sufficient water, if that is possible in the desert. Anyway, doubling the watering next year might surprise you with the return of those branches to active status.
Agree with feral and HALLELUJAH
Put bottles around the young pears:
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/how-did-the-pear-get-in-the-bottle-1.73638
Best Regards,
Stefan v.
Just like a hermit to complain about free protein!
I remember you watered a neighbors garden a few years ago. Seems like they were serious about it. Did they have any luck. And do you water the pear
Very nice… I’m glad to see you managed to get the fruit before the bugs. I’d love to comment on how to improve the crop yield, my thumb is nowhere near green. Hell, I even managed to kill a cactus years ago. 🤣
If you can, mulch the tree heavily. Leave a bowl shape around the actual tree, then mulch a circle as large as you can. If there is a way to divert any rainwater into a swale on the uphill side, that will allow the water to sink in and do the tree some long-term good.
There’s a guy homesteading some desert land that’s doing this sort of thing that I watched for a while on YouTube. Frugal Off Grid–https://www.youtube.com/@FrugalOffGrid I had to stop because I have some issues with how he tends to animals.