Hello everyone. Was wondering if someone could tell me how to get my pears to ripen up they are always hard I let them stay on till they are ready to fall off. I tried putting them in a box last year in a dark room with bananas to help them ripen up but still no good please help if you can also should I fertilize the pear trees after picking the fruit and what is the best type should I use I am in North Florida still have a lot of hot weather left.lol

Damian ~ I am not sure but suspect yours is a hard winter pear cultivar. Do you happen to know what kind it is?
They grow them around here but I personally prefer the softer Bartlett pear. The hard pear never softens.
Folks here will eat them as is but I think they also make a good cooking pear.

Hope others will weigh in... Kristi

Damian! I agree with Kristi and personally LOVE cooking pears since I grew up with them as a staple. They are hard to find here in the States - in stores anyway.

Thank you both for help me with this I will doyou some research and try to find out the type but I think you are both correct. Any idea how to make them for my nine year old so she can enjoy them thanks again and happy gardening. PS any idea on a good site for trellis plans for kiwi vines.

Damian ~ this article is very interesting about winter storage for the hard pears. After reading it, I think I will gather some that a friend grows and give it a try. http://www.frenchgardening.com... Let me know if you can't access this link.

I don't know about trellis building but if you have access and are handy, I've seen some attractive ones built with smaller limbs and wild vines.

Thank you so much for the Wed site info I really like this site I have been listening to there podcast for about about a year and have listened to all the archives LOL WELL THANK YOU AGAIN AND ENJOY YOUR WEEK YOUR NEW FRIENDS IN FLORIDA.

You are welcome ~ and I really like your rainbow! Is there a pot of gold at the end of it?

Welcome Damian. And a great picture of the rainbow!

Thanks to that link, I decided to get some winter pears from a friend here. I am sealing them tonight and look forward to seeing how they ripen this winter. Thanks for making me research it, Damian.

Thank you all so much glad you all like the rainbow. I was on a bushhog and looked up and there it was had not rained a drop on me and as far as the lot of gold still looking I did manage to scare a panther on the bush hog and seen his tracks very big for a FL panther.one dating will get a picture of him / her lol has anyone started planting there sugar snap peas yet this is is my first year growing a fall garden.Thanks again

You are fortunate. In your climate you will be coming into garden season. It shouldn't be long before you start the peas.

I am a bit cooler than you are. I started 10 tomatoes for a fall crop. They are just starting to bloom but while it is this hot, they won't produce. They should be ready to take off when cooler weather gets here. In this zone, I grow spinach, chard, lettuces and some cooler weather herbs in winter. This year I am planning to try a few different ones also but need to get cracking and get some started.

Very cool to see a big cat! That is something rarely seen so I do hope you get a good photo of one someday. In the past 30 years we have been in east TX, I've seen only two. They are illusive.