If bagging causingGR to ripen sooner, I am all for it. My last GR got bitten off by a squirrel today. It was not quite ripen based on the taste and color of the seeds.
Somehow where I am GR does not have time to ripen properly.
Crunch A Bunch is an early Gold Rush or Gold Rush Light as the flesh is not as dense as GR but it tastes s good, to me.
I pick Gold Rush in November.
I also pick Gold Rush in Nov right before temp drop to 25 F or lower. However, even then , most of GR in my yard has not ripened well. I have kept them till May. Some mellowed but others never amount to anything esp. those that were more green when picked in late Nov.
I tried plastic zip-top sandwich bags, organza/mesh bags, and a few un-bagged this year. No noticeable difference other than what you observed, far less sooty blotch and flyspeck on the plastic bagged ones. At least no ripening difference that I could tell…
I also attempted to check and hopefully prove that the temp would be no different inside the plastic bags. I bagged a white/green grape in both kinds of bags and one un-bagged as a control. In 85F+ degree sun on my front porch I checked them a few hours later with an IR temp gun and all were identical.
I suspect it’s simply that the thin plastic bags are nowhere near as insulating as say a car windshield. Nor as airtight since I cut some ventilation holes in the bags to let water escape.
One thing for sure is that apples in ziplock plastic bags (with bottom corners cut off for ventilation) have suffered sunburn. Not all got sunburn, only the ones that got a good angle of the sun.
There are more advantages of bagging, clean fruit, protection against yellow jackets and less spray.
The disadvantages are time consuming and possible some sunburn.
I’ll keep an eye out for sunburn next year. Didn’t have enough fruit set this year to compare with/without bags as much as I’d have liked.
Doesn’t seem like the uniform thickness of the plastic would produce any lensing effect… Perhaps something else, hmm…
I’ve seen no sunburn here in bagged apples.
I have had it every year but only a small number of bagged apples. I try to figure out what varieties are more susceptible to sunburn. So far, young apples that are green like Gold Rush and SunCrisp have been affected more than thers.
@mamuang , what effect would a ziplock bag like these have on sunburn? Would it delay ripening? These are on Amazon.
This is what Google AI says but if you watched the stock market yesterday you will take it with a grain of salt.
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Different colors of plastic bags can have different effects on fruit ripening:
- Black, white, blue, and yellow: Can accelerate fruit maturity and ripening
- Blue: Can significantly suppress PG activity, which is responsible for the breakdown of carbohydrate and tissue softening during fruit ripening
Fruit bags of different materials and colors have different light transmittances, which can change the microenvironment for fruit growth and development. For example, double-layer fruit bags with low light transmittance can inhibit anthocyanins and chlorophyll synthesis.
I never used colored bags on apples. I guess darker color could get hotter inside a bag. The problem I have had is that the inside of bags stuck together all around an apple leaving no room for air flow/ventilation.
I would not use red bags as I try to avoid attracting birds.
Hudson’s Golden Gem
A perfect apple if you have a serious case of sweet tooth. Dense, Asian pear like texture. Excellent flavor.
I have my 3rd tree…hope next year I get to sample a fruit. Looks like one I’d be happy to eat.
My last Zabergau picked off my tree. It has a little reddish blush to it. It is a very good apple variety for me. The pile of Zabergau is from a couple of years ago. Just showing you the weight of the pile of them. Very heavy big apples.
D’Arcy Spice has been getting better every year. I’m glad I didn’t get rid of this one like I’d intended to early on.
I’m not sure what this one is, and it’s not very redeemable.
Yours looked very nice.
My one Zabergau survived to maturity. It was huge. I can’t judge the taste this year due to our so many of weeks of wet weather.
Wet weather will make a difference in taste for sure. I use them to eat and also make apple butter and apple crisps with them.
Idareds picked
What is that black stuff on the outside of those apples? I have seen that on our wild apples but never on cultivated apples.
