I was given a pear tree sapling which is now about 9 years old. South facing garden, clay soil, gets a bit damp.
This is the first year I’ve had fruit from it. It did fruit last year but the resident wood pigeons ate them.
I’ve taken fruit from it mid September to today, all the same results.
The fruit doesn’t look like a pear, it’s also not ripening, even when left on the windowsill for a couple of weeks. It’s incredibly sour.
I was given the tree by my dad and he now has no idea where he got it from, or even if it is a pear tree. I’m at a bit of a loss. Any advice would be appreciated. Apologies if I’ve missed any important information.
by WalnutOfTheNorth
11 Comments
Looks like you’ve unlocked pear mode — next stop: crumble season!.
Quince. You need to cook them.
Quince maybe?
It’s probably a pear because quince have a very, very strong almost perfume-like scent. Sometimes pears are quite difficult to get to that soft writing stage, but they’ll still be fine if you crumble them or stew them.
Pears are not usually sour. Hard and tasteless when not ripe but not sour.
Tis a quince.
You can be all fancy when you say it
Definitely a quince. Could have originally been an apple or pear on quince root stock. Sometimes the graft fails so the root stock plant would grow fruit.
That’s Quince and should be left as long as possible before harvesting. Like, before the first frosts of the year.
Possibly quince? I just found a quince plant (ours looked less like a tree and more like a whippy limbed shrub than yours) in our garden last month and turned them into a fabulous paste that goes beautifully with cheese and crackers!
Thanks everyone. The general consensus is that I’ve accidentally grown quinces. I’m off to look up some quince jam recipes.
Pears are frequently grafted onto quince stock so if the graft failed, that’s why you have quince. If you check just above the root stock you should be able to see what is happening. Perchance you have quince and the pears? M’lord/lady?