Delayed flowering as well as cool and rainy summers postpone the harvest date.In turn, early spring and hot summer often accelerate fruit ripening significantly.
In recent years, the differences in reaching collective maturity have been as high as two weeks. For this reason, when setting the correct harvest date, we cannot follow the calendar dates, but the observations of trees in the garden.
A good indicator that it's time to start harvesting is the fall of the first he althy fruit. If additionally apples that still hang on the tree can be picked easily, it means that there is already a cut-off layer between the twig and the stalk.To prevent massive fruit dropping, e.g. under the influence of strong wind, we start harvesting immediately.
Collective and consumption maturity
Harvest maturity means the state in which the fruit has already reached the appropriate size and degree of development, and the harvested fruit can be stored for as long as possible. Both the earlier and the later fruit harvest will be
as a result, the storage period was shortened.In this state, the fruit is often not fit for consumption yet because it is too hard and sour.
Ripeness, on the other hand, means the time when the fruit reaches its maximum flavor, that is, it becomes the tastiest for consumption. Sometimes the harvest and consumption maturity overlap, as is the case with berries, as well as cherries and cherries.
On the other hand, in the case of late varieties of apples and pears, several days or even weeks must pass for the fruit to soften a bit and acquire a proper flavor.An example may be pears called pears. They can only be eaten when they "have" passed, i.e. they will lie down a bit and soften.
