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[Lisa Kae Van Meter Perry <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Robert Walton <waltonrp AT gmail.com> wrote:

> I've got a Virginia Gold apple tree that set a couple of fruit. My
> very slow growing Esopus Spitzenberg apple might set a couple and the
> Seckle pear has one pear on it.


Rob, fyi the seckle pear is one that should ripen on the tree. Pears are
usually picked before they ripen but not the seckle. In our area they are
ripe usually in late August and attain a nice russet blush, so I'd imagine
they'd ripen at near the same time for you. As your tree grows and sets
fruit, you'll find multiples of spurs on the limbs. It's common to find a
group of 3-5+ pears together, we try to prune back to no more than 3 pears
per bunch, some years we don't get this done after pruning water sprouts.
Last year the deer discovered our tree and got most of ours, so we are going
to be on-duty this year to protect our seckle pear tree!

Lisa