Ambrosia sounds up my alley. I love a sweet eating apple.
2 Likes
Representation of who is coming in today.
Calville cousin (?), GD, Liberty, Mac
- Had some split Libertys. Good for apple butter pot.
- A Calville mutt had a tiny twin on it.
- The Mac with the dent in it was an early CM strike. Like many of them, didnt seem to progress after my one permethrin/spinosad mix. Sure enough, nobody home and interior was just fine.
One of the calville mutts had that lovely pink stripe.
Can always tell my bagged from unbagged. Bagged never get any sooty blotch.
8 Likes
I use mesh/organza bags for peaches and thought I’d try a few on apples this year as well. I typically use plastic zip-top sandwich bags for them…
Both did fine keeping CM, PC, and other insect pests at bay. The organza bag sure let the sooty blotch and similar fungal issues in with a vengeance though. These were a foot apart on the same limb (Mutsu).
6 Likes
I had EXACTLY the same experience with organza. Shame bc they are SO easy to put on.
Do you find that plastic bagged fruit gets larger? Mine do, by a good amount. Maybe its a mini greenhouse effect
How is organza on peach?
3 Likes
This is the first year I’ve had any apples on any of my trees to really size up. Some Jonathan and Stayman have basically filled a standard sandwich bag to the breaking point. But then the ones in organza bags are basically the same size. There’s possibly a humidity difference inside the plastic bags but not heat. Almost seems like the humidity would make for a better breeding ground for fungi…
They worked well for me on peaches but I did attempt to keep them “puffed out” and not really touching the surface of the fruit. Some on here have said that PC and other insects can drill through an organza bag so I tried to make sure there was space around them. I only had a half dozen or so peaches total though, not all that practical if there had been a lot.
Oh and yeah I agree, they’re super easy to put on. Tie the string around the limb and if you allow it to ripen and fall on it’s own, it’ll be suspended in the bag 
1 Like
I know - the plastic bag seems so counterintuitive. But it works. Did yr peaches have any rot?
3 Likes
Great looking apple. I have been trying to find the Prinz Albrecht von Preussen apple for my orchard for years with no luck. Seeing this photo makes me want to find one even more.
8 Likes
It is one of my favourite apples, because it is reliable here in my climate. Its only major drawback is that it tends to overbear if not thinned and since the unthinned apples grow in big clusters, diseases can spread rapidly between them. The only disease it gets here is Monilia which then spreads rapidly between the apples. But if they are thinned well, they are very healthy.
Edit: this is under no spray conditions.
5 Likes
Yeah, someone on Facebook argued with me that “of course it’s way hotter inside the bag”. I gave up trying to convince them otherwise… Plastic bag != pane of glass.
I had a single peach which totally succumbed to (I assume brown) rot. The rest all did good.
I did have one apple where a whole side rotted, the sandwich bag had the vent holes clogged and it was standing full of water. Picked it a bit early and ate the good part, so not a total loss
I cut a small V notch in one side of the “zip” and that makes for a pretty good seal around the stem. Then just 2 snips at 45deg to remove the bottom corners.
5 Likes
That’s exactly how i cut my bags too - one of my winter evening pastimes, trimming fruit bags!
3 Likes
WOW, no spray conditions? Impressive. Now I REALLY want one in my orchard!!!
1 Like
Really pleased with the fruit I took off today. A mix of red delicious, golden Delicious, liberty, ambrosia, summer banana, old fashioned limbertwig, Virginia beauty.
The Red delicious and golden delicious are the biggest and cleanest apples so far of their variety. The golden Delicious is heavily rusetted but still very tasty. The more yellow green apple is summer banana. This tree has just outdone itself this year. Maybe 40 apples on an 8 or so foot tree, long hanging, extremely clean, complex flavors, large in size. I had one last year. Who would have guessed.
Pink Lady on the other hand had one apple and it ended up disappearing.
Added note: the bloom look is part bloom part surround🙂
12 Likes
Great bloom on those
2 Likes
First Splendour to drop a bit early. Long keeper. Love the racing stripe. I feel NZ apples do well in my climate, similar temps and maritime.
8 Likes
Picked a Sierra Beauty today to taste test. Nice sweet/tart apple. Had some water core last year too. I think I will let the rest continue to ripen.
7 Likes
Really like the russeting on the Golden Delicious. That is the strain of Golden Delicious I am looking to put in my orchard. Do you remember where you bought your Golden Delicious tree from?
3 Likes
I wasn’t sure if the russeting was a result of late frosts or a trait of the variety. I do know that this apple is absolutely delicious, no pun intended.
I bought it from Stark Bros as an offer they ran for both red and golden delicious. I tried to backtrack and determine what rootstock it is on. It’s clearly a semi dwarf but smaller than MM111. They weren’t sure. Said it was likely one of the “M” rootstocks.
It is small in frame and tends towards biennial. This year it was overloaded with fruit even after thinning. I had to employee some crazy techniques to keep the birds away.
Best of luck
9 Likes
Likely M106.
2 Likes
When looking closer that was a 2022 photo. I know because I used footies on apples. This ridiculous shot is from this year. It’s too close to get a sense of the tree size and how many apples are on it.
Outside of the photo are multiple hanging pie tins, wind pinwheels large and small, silver reflective tinsel, and more balloons, now deflated.
A kind friend and fellow orchardist near me suggested keeping water in containers throughout the orchard, and that was most helpful in keeping bird pecks to a minimum. The fruit bags were a late addition after fruit had grown in size and added hit or miss. I lost about 30 apples to fruit pecks and resultant rot.
5 Likes