Sounds like losing the oak may end up being a blessing in disguise for the apples. Extra sunlight can make a huge difference. Hope the bugs and wildlife leave you enough to enjoy!
Two Yellow Transparent apples were taken down by critters, but the tree netting kept apples intact. The seeds are still white, so they dropped prematurely, but taste was good as for an early apple.
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How’s their taste this year?
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St Clair apples. Not a great apple for fresh eating in my yard. A little tart, not much sweet. Fine grained. Wants to go mealy quickly. Might be good for sauce but didnt try that. The branch put out some nice sized apples though.
Keep in mind the growing conditions here in SE Alabama can make pretty good apples taste very mediocre in my experience
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One more thing worth noting on the St. Clair is that it has showed a lot less rot than most of my other varieties. And trust me I’m seeing plenty of rot on my other ones.
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St.Clair. Dependable cooker. Not much else. I’d prefer it over Yellow Transparent hands down. I have heard of eating it fresh; but it would not be a first class summer eater.
David Vernon was recommending it for Northern Florida to try out, and he’s saying that fruit rots are the main challenge for this location. So, looks like you can confirm this. I have not tried it out yet, am more interested in late apples that make good cider. May be tempted to try it, if it makes a good pie (have you tried?)
A Chehalis and Sweet Bough apple posts are needed if anyone is growing them.
The info on the Chehalis @ Raintree does not match what some reviewers are posting. I just watched a YT vid of a person eating one in Washington August 8. I’ve come across other sources describing it as a Summer apple. If my memory serves me correctly, it’s a GD x Sweet Bough cross. Reportedly self fertile and disease resistant.
YT is a late June apple here. With a storage life measured in milliseconds….lol
Drops a lot as well.
I have not made a pie with it. Seems like it would turn to mush, but that’s just a guess. I have not cooked with it at all.
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Do you grow any other apple varieties that hold up to fruit rots? I am in northern FL, probably similar climate. I normally spay fungicides, but missed a spray early July, because I was away: that was enough to rot 8/12 of my Goldrush. 1/11 Summer Banana, so definitely more resistent. 0/14 Pomme Grise. Pomme Grise and Summer Banana were two other ones recommended to try by David Vernon.. I don’t mind spraying, but losing 75% of the crop, because you miss one spray, sucks.
I have had zero fungal issues on Park’s Pippin or Disharoon so far. In Heat zone 9 South Georgia.
I lose 95% of my goldrush to rot unless I spray bonide fruit tree and plant guard every 4 weeks. It has the fungicide combo otherwise known as Pristine and it works really well against rots. Yates and Terry winter tend to rot less. But they were never great apples here for me. Goldrush is by far the best tasting of the ones I’ve grown. Old fashioned winesap is decent too and rots somewhat less than GR.
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red devil
2nd year
Landscaper knocked one off early
Tasted like strawberry and granny smith
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Here’s Williams Pride ripe. I only picked a few. They get a purple blush with a bloom and lift off the tree easily when they’re ripe. They’ll be more red/purple by Tuesday or Wednesday.
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It seems if they ripen when it’s 95-100 degrees, they watercore quickly. The weather looks great next week. I picked my last one this past week and I wish I would have left on the tree a little longer since it has cooled off. Scott mentioned his were prone to watercore. Maybe it’s a ph or calcium issue. I’m thinking it’s a heat issue.
I just picked and ate my first Summer Banana. It wasn’t dead ripe, but like a Golden D, the SB can be consumed well ahead of peak ripening. It was like sweet lemonade sprightliness without so much lemon. While I have no plans to yank out the WP, the Summer Banana is a much better eater imo.
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My German Shepherd has learned to eat Braeburn apples Don’t know if she will eat other varieties. She eats everything including the seeds. Hope they won’t hurt her.
I saw the deer eating them so I thought that if they are ripe enough for the deer, I can eat them. I guess the dog saw me eating them so the dog thought why not.
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