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Notebook · Guide 8 October 2026 · Grow your own

Storing apples and pears so they last

Store only late, unblemished fruit, picked just under-ripe with stalks on. Keep it cool (4–7°C), dark and airy, not touching, and check often. Ripen pears indoors.

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A good apple or pear crop can feel like too much at once, and then half of it rots in a box in the shed. The fix is mostly about choosing what to store. Early varieties won't keep, whatever you do, so eat them fresh. Late varieties, picked carefully and kept cool, dark and airy, can last for months. Pears need one extra step: pick them firm and finish ripening them indoors.

01At a glance

  • Only late varieties store well: early apples that ripen in late summer are usually best eaten within a few days of picking.
  • Pick just under-ripe: the fruit should come away easily when you cup it, lift and give a slight twist.
  • Store only perfect fruit: no bruises, no holes, stalk intact. Rots usually start on blemished fruit.
  • Keep it at 4–7°C: cool, dark, frost-free, well ventilated and slightly humid.
  • Check often: regularly for apples, daily for pears.

02Picking for the store

  1. Test a fruit first. Cup it in your palm, lift it gently and give a slight twist. A ripe apple comes away easily with its stalk. Later pears should come away in the same way. A few windfalls on the ground are another clue.
  2. Pick pears before they feel ripe. The RHS says to pick just before they're fully ripe, when they're firm and swollen and the skin colour is just starting to change.
  3. Handle every fruit like an egg. Bruises turn into rot in storage.
  4. Sort as you go. Blemish-free, medium-sized fruit with the stalk intact goes to the store. Anything bruised, pecked or holed gets eaten, cooked or composted now.

03Setting up the store

A garage, cellar or cool shed usually works, as long as it stays frost-free and mice can't get in.

  • Temperature: 4–7°C. The RHS says apples shouldn't go below 2.8°C, while pears can take down to 0°C.
  • Air and light: dark and well ventilated, but slightly humid. If the space is very dry and fruit starts to shrivel, dampen the floor now and then.
  • Containers: slatted crates, fruit trays or shelves with open sides. Lay fruit in a single layer, not touching.
  • Wrapping: wrapping apples one by one in newspaper or tissue makes them last longer, but makes it harder to spot rot. It's a trade-off. Wrap only if you'll unwrap and check.
  • Keep them apart: store different varieties separately, and keep mid-season fruit away from late keepers so it doesn't hurry them along. Keep everything away from strong smells such as paint, fertiliser and onions, which can taint the fruit.

Short of space? The RHS suggests putting 2–3kg of apples in a polythene bag in the fridge, with several holes pierced in it and the top loosely folded. They'll keep for a few weeks.

04How long they last, and ripening pears

  • Mid-season apples: four to eight weeks.
  • Late apples: many are at their best after four or five weeks in store, then keep for several months.
  • Pears: two weeks to three months, depending on variety and conditions. Early pears usually need about a week to soften. Late ones can take months.

Pears stored cool won't soften much. Watch for a subtle change in skin colour, then bring a few into a warm room for a day or two. A pear is ready when it gives slightly near the stalk. Check them daily, because they go past their best quickly.

When one tray is ripe, take it out of the store. Ripe fruit gives off gases that speed up ripening in the fruit around it.

05Rot or disorder?

  • Soft brown patches spreading fast: usually a fungal rot such as brown rot or grey mould. Remove the fruit straight away and check its neighbours.
  • Small, dry, sunken brown spots in the flesh of apples: bitter pit, linked to a shortage of calcium. It's not catching.
  • Pinkish-brown flesh around the core: core flush, often from carbon dioxide build-up in plastic bags. Give bagged fruit more air.
  • Wrinkled, shrivelled skin: the store is too warm or too dry.

Each year, clean your store and crates thoroughly before the new crop goes in. The RHS says this reduces the risk of brown rot.

Save your money
Don't buy special storage racks. Old crates, cardboard fruit trays or slatted shelves do the job.
Use free newspaper if you wrap at all.
Eat early apples fresh, cook or freeze the damaged ones, and save your storage space for late keepers. Cooked cooking apples freeze well.
A cheap fridge thermometer tells you whether your shed is really 4–7°C, or freezing at night.

Before leaving cores, pips or prunings where pets can get at them, check the safety flags on our apple profile and pear profile.

How we checked this

Every care and safety claim on this page is verified against horticultural and veterinary sources.

Sources: RHS — Fruit: storing · RHS — How to grow apples · RHS — How to grow pears

Checked 8 October 2026. If our advice ever conflicts with the RHS, believe them and tell us.