A final word should be added about the importance of clean 

 plants. It does no good to fumigate soil if disease organisms are 

 immediately added back to the soil with the roots of new plants. 

 The use of healthy-appearing planting stock from a reliable souce 

 is the best insurance against this. 



*************** 



HARVESTING AND STORING PEARS 



W.J. Bramlage and J.F. Anderson 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



Most pears grown in New England are marketed locally by the 

 grower, which means that high quality is necessary for repeat sales 

 at the roadside stand or retail store. Pears can be a 

 quality commodity, but producing this quality requires 

 The fruit must be harvested at the right stage, stored 

 and ripened properly to produce this premium quality. 



very high 

 special care 

 correctly , 



In determining pear maturity, the Magness-Tayl or pressure 

 tester is used the same way as on apples, with one very important 

 exception: a 5/16" diameter head must be used instead of the 7/16" 

 head used for apples. Since the green pears are much harder than 

 apples, the smaller head is essential to get a meaningful reading. 

 Using the 5/16" head, the following pressure-test ranges have been 

 established as indices of optimum maturity for major varieties: 

 Bartlett, 20-17 pounds; Bosc, 15-12 pounds; Anjou, 15-13 pounds; 

 Comice, 13-11 pounds; Gorham and Flemish, 14-12 pounds. 



It is important that pears be harvested at the proper stage 

 of maturity. Fruit picked too early tends to shrivel in storage 

 and to develop poor quality when ripened, while over-maturity re- 

 sults in shortened storage life and the development of breakdown 

 disorders. Susceptibility to certain physiological disorders, es- 

 pecially C0„ injury, is associated with advanced maturity. 



All varieties of pears can 

 perature at which they will not 



be stored safely at the lowest 

 freeze, which ranges from 27 to 



tem-^ 

 29°F 



