Topic: Fallen pears any good for compost

[Borlotti]

The large pear tree on the allotment next to mine is dropping pears everywhere, some even hit neighbour on the head, painful.  People are picking them up but there are so many, and I have my own small pear tree so I don't want anymore.  Seems a waste but the dropped ones are going rotten. Allotment neighbour is going to pick them all up for compost, and said I could collect some.  The question is is it worth doing this.  Should I dig trench/hole near my runner beans and bury the pears and some of my bad apples, or would this be a big mistake.  Could put some in my compost bin as it seems to take a long time to turn to compost, a lot of grass in there.  Anyone know if I will be wasting my time. It doesn't seem to say on the internet that pears are particularly good for compost so maybe I would be wasting my time.

[daveyboi]

I personally would rake them up and use them in my compost. However I have no idea on whether they have a special value to the compost.

I guess in nature what were not eaten by the birds or the foxes and slugs etc would naturally rot down and feed the tree anyway.

However they do recommend picking up fallen fruit to stop the spread of diseases.

[Big Gee]

Pears, like any other organic matter, will compost down & add to the nutrients in your compost heap. They'll probably ferment and make the earthworms drunk for a while 

Seriously though, rotting fruit - as daveyboy rightly says should be picked up as they could be a source of fungal disease spread if left near the trees. They'll accomplish a far better job contributing to the content of the brown gold in your compost bin.

Seems a heck of a shame to compost a surplus of edible fruit but there you go - it has been quite an excessive year for many things - especially fruit.

I suppose there's too many for the blackbirds, fieldfares and other fruit eating birds to mop up? In apple orchards they used to let the pigs have a feast on windfalls at this time of year - fancy adopting a pig!!!

If you want more info on composting you're welcome to view the page on composting on my web-site:

http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/basics_composting.htm