Apples and pears do not always reach maturity immediately after harvesting. Only summer varieties can be consumed immediately after being removed from the tree. These fruits usually ripen unevenly and therefore it is best to harvest them every day or every few days, but only fully grown and well colored. However, autumn and winter varieties reach consumption maturity only after a few weeks or even several months after harvesting.
Fruits harvested too early are green, tart and more acidic. Greater losses occur during storage due to increased transpiration (release of water vapor). However, a delayed harvest has an even more negative effect on the fruit's ability to store them. They are kept for a shorter time, they rot more strongly and are more susceptible to physiological diseases.
Good and long storage of the fruit of winter varieties guarantees their collection at harvest maturity. A practical indicator is the ease of detachment of the fruit stalk from the shoot. Then there is an increased fall of fruit from the tree. In addition, the fruit changes the color of the peel from green to typical for a given variety.
Bearing in mind the good preservation of the fruit, must be harvested very gently; the plucked fruit must have a stalk, popularly known as the ogonek, and their skin must not be cut. Therefore, the collector should have fingernails cut short. The picked fruit should be covered with your whole hand, and the index finger is placed on its peduncle. Then turn the fruit upwards, to cause the detachment of the peduncle from the shoot. The fruits collected in this way are placed in the box, in which they will be stored. It is known, that each transfer of fruit is an additional factor contributing to their mechanical damage. Baskets or other non-target containers should only be used when removing fruit from the top parts of the crown.
