Pears will be harvested earlier this year compared to previous years, according to pcfruit. The flavour of the pears promises to be good: they’ve had plenty of sun, so that the sugar content – a deciding factor for the flavour – is good. Yet the pears still show the consequences of the frost in April, the dry month of May, and the previous dry months. Because of that, the pears will be generally thinner and longer, but fortunately, their flavour will still be good.
Smaller
Regarding thickness, this year’s pears can be compared to the pears of about 20 years ago. Pears were smaller then than we are used to now. Because cultivation techniques have improved considerably, we now harvest thicker pears every year. But this year, as a consequence of weather circumstances, pears will remain smaller. Dany Bylemans, general manager of pcfruit: “Varieties such as Doyenné du Comice and Sweet Sensation have little production because of frost. The main variety, Conference, managed to form small fruits after the frost. Fruits grow from this without fertilisation, but these then don’t have seeds, so that the pears are longer and thinner.” The night frost of 19-20 April and the cold after that meant a delay of ten days for the growth of the pears. The drought also caused smaller pears. It’s estimated the pears will be five millimetres thinner this year, compared to previous years.
Ann Gomand, researcher top and stone fruit for pcfruit: “We have noticed that where irrigation was applied to protect against night frost, thickness isn’t that different from other years. When using irrigation, a layer of ice is made around the flower that releases heat of solidification. After the forst, these pears just continued growing, achieving a better fruit size because of this.” By regularly watering the trees, they seem to have been less affected by drought, causing the pears to be thicker. In recent weeks, growers have also worked hard to remove fruits that are too small from the trees, but this isn’t enough to achieve a good fruit size. Inge Moors, chairwoman of pcfruit and delegate of agriculture: “This once again shows how important research into harvest protection techniques is for our growers. All climate predictions indicate exceptional weather circumstances will increase, and that we therefore have to better protect the harvest to safeguard the viability of the company. From provincial policy, we therefore put much research into the fruit cultivation so that pcfruit can better inform the growers, and year after year we help them to bring a good harvest of fruit on the market.”
Early harvest
Blossoming was also earlier this year: on 8 April, the pear trees were already blossoming. An early blossoming means the harvest will also be earlier. The VCBT (the Flemish Centre for Storing of Horticultural Products) – which decides the national picking dates for apples and pears – expects that the harvesting of Conference will be between 20 and 24 of August for now. Hopefully, the picking date can be a bit later, so that the pears can get a bit thicker. Pears can grow three millimetres in a week. In a regular year without an early blossoming, the picking of Conference starts in the first week of September. The harvest of early pear varieties Corina and Celina is expected to start early august. This is also earlier, in other years this harvest starts mid-August. Corina and Celina have about 30 growers each in Flanders, these varieties are well-represented in Limburg.