Week of September 19, 2021

As the stone fruit crop (peaches, nectarines) wanes, the pome fruit take center stage. For many years, almost all of this harvest were apples, but this year at TAProots Farm, we have a nice selection of PEARS. We have had some success with Bosc and Asian varieties for several years, with the trees growing above the level of deer browsing. This year, each tree received one or more fertilizer spikes, a wire cage 4-5 feet high, and pruning. This has yielded a number more trees out of the reach of deer, and an nice harvest of high quality fruit. The Bosc pears are the largest trees which need aggressive pruning as they send up numerous shoots. Their crop of green/brown fruit is by far the largest. This year, several Bartlett pear trees grew out of their cages and made commercial type yellow fruit. Similarly, five or six Anjou pear trees have fruit, both green and red varieties. Asian pears (Chojuro) are also available. Pears are harvested before they are finished ripening, and stored in a refrigerator bin for several weeks for Bartlett’s and Anjou pears, and several months for Bosc. This occurs in September/October at our Florida Home, after bringing them South by car. Ripening entails bringing five or six pears to room temperature for a few days in a brown paper bag. In previous years, the few pears were served fresh for dessert. The large number of pears this year presents the opportunity to try freezer or cooked pear jam, poached pears, and pear sauce. The maturing trees should allow this to be an annual part of our fall harvest at the TAProots orchard.