How are pears harvested? A detailed explanation of the key harvesting techniques

1. Pay attention to pest and disease control in the near-ripening stage. Toxic pesticides are prohibited in the near-ripening stage: prohibited 20 days before harvest in bagged orchards, and prohibited 30 days before harvest in unbagged orchards; in pear orchards with ring rot, 10 days before harvest, 500 times Baijundi plus 1000 times Lufenwei No. 3 can be used for control. In pear orchards infested by pear psylla, 20 days before harvest, 2% Quanqiuying 5000 times or 1.8% Chongmanshaxing 4000 times plus 5% acetamiprid 4000 times plus Gaojin Zengxiaoling (each vial added to 30 kg of water) can be used for control.

2. Harvesting. Harvesters must trim their nails flat or wear clean, soft gloves, and use fruit containers with smooth or soft inner walls. When picking the fruit, support the fruit with the palm of the hand and lift it toward its attachment point so that the fruit detaches, then place it gently into the harvesting container. Do not pull or tug forcefully when harvesting. After harvest, place the fruit in a cool, ventilated place; exposure to direct sunlight or rain is strictly prohibited. Fruit picking should avoid rainy days, times when dew has not yet dried, and midday high temperatures. It is strictly prohibited to mix fallen fruit from the ground with the freshly picked fruit in the same container.

3. Determination of the harvest period. Fruit intended for storage and long-distance sale can be harvested appropriately early; fruit intended for local fresh sale and for processing into juice or fruit wine should be harvested after ripening, but harvesting must be completed before the flesh softens. Early-maturing pears such as Cuiguan can be harvested appropriately early, while mid-to-late-maturing varieties such as Huanghua pear can be harvested appropriately late, and bagged fruit can be harvested appropriately late. For fruit intended for cold storage, if there is continuous rain or heavy rain, harvest should be delayed until after 1~2 sunny days.

4. Commercial handling of the fruit mainly includes the steps of fruit selection → grading → individual fruit packaging → boxing, and so on.

① Fruit selection. During fruit selection, first remove pest- and disease-damaged fruit, deformed fruit, mechanically damaged fruit, small fruit, and fruit that does not meet hygiene standards.

② Grading. Grade according to fruit size and shape.

③ Individual fruit packaging. Fruit intended for distant sale or cold storage should be individually packaged. Packaging materials include foam nets, wrapping paper, and so on. Bagged pears may be used as individual fruit packaging without removing the bag.

④ Boxing. The same box and the same batch should use fruit of the same grade. Fruit in the same box should be basically uniform in size. When placing, the fruit should be arranged neatly, with the stalk side facing obliquely, and cardboard separators should be used between layers.

5. Cold storage. The fruit is first individually packaged in plastic film bags, then packed in plastic crates and stored in a cold storage facility at a refrigeration temperature of about 5°C, where it can be kept in cold storage for a long time.