None of the apples on my frankentree are particularly good this year. We had a cool, damp summer and it seems like they just lack flavor. Not getting much sugar -they’re slow to ripen and kind of starchy.
State Fair were the first ones, and they were OK but a little bland. Pixie Crunch the same, Liberties too. Karmijn de Sonnaville are probably the best so far, and they’re pretty good, but not as good as some years. Rubinette are showing a little promise but aren’t ready yet. Ginger Gold look great but aren’t ready, same with the Calville Blanc. Jonagold, Prairie Spy, Kidd’s and Cox’s look good. Carousel look beautiful but just don’t have it. Haralson and Wealthy look nice.
I have two I lost tags for, but again, look nice, taste lacking.
On the other hand, I’ve got plenty of 'em! Already given away (Food Bank, neighbors) probably 150 pounds and have about the much bagged and refrigerated. Amazing how much fruit a single semi-dwarf tree can produce.
Don’t know the rootstock; it went in the ground in spring of 1999 and I’ve had no trouble keeping to about 12" high, but it does want to spread out horizontally if I let it, and I’m afraid I have! I need to hew it back by about half, which will be hard for me to do - I just hate removing healthy wood.
I do too. It pains me to cut off healthy wood off my apple trees. They are probably more of a mess than they could be but I have a hard time even thinking about doing it.
How is your Kid’s Orange Red when it isn’t a bad year?
My apples this year are horrible. If this were the first year I had fruit I would really consider taking them all out. I had four apple trees out of about 32 apple trees that produced any fruit worth keeping. The rest - awful and useless.
Rising Sun Fuji, Idared, Zabergau, Golden Supreme. The rest of my apples were all so horrible I was ashamed to even pick any to cut off the bad parts. I tried two trees and had a 5 gallon bucket full. I got about half way through it and had maybe a quart of bits and pieces. I just threw them all away. I wasted about 45 minutes doing just that part.
Surprisingly this is the cleanest harvest I’ve had with respect to insect damage. (The squirrels are getting more than their fair share, though.) I did only three cover sprays and got lucky, I guess. I didn’t mow. I didn’t thin the crop. … so all the runty little falls are getting lost in the undergrowth, but there’s a lot of biomass still hanging. I’ve made about two gallons of sauce and some jelly, which seems OK. I’m looking forward to having enough to make one run past the cider press.
Rain, humidity and clouds have had a negative effect on my fruit also. I did feel a little better today when I picked a Gala apple for the grandkids. They liked it. Then I gave them a store bought Pink Lady apple. They didn’t like it and wanted another home grown Gala. Not the best year but still better then store bought.