I would be surprised if the Fujis are not more than adequately sweet. Maybe it won’t get cold enough to matter tonight, but I’d at least sample one.
I did. I ate two Fuji earlier this week. It tasted like diluted sugar water. The tree fell and still is on the ground with all trunk, branches and fruit in tact. I just left it there. No much sun, unfortunately.
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My Gold Rush that I accidentally knocked off the tree today. They look like Granny Smith, don’t they? Where is the gold (color)?
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@galinas,
We got about 6” here. Heavy wet snow. Boston shattered its old record (1.5”) with a 3.5” snow fall.
Tonight it could go as low as 25 F. I hope it is not lower than that. This will be my interesting but unintentional experiment.
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Gosh, Gold Rush on my tree were more yellow than these in early August.
I shook the tree off snow several times yesterday. None of the appples dropped voluntarily. That showed me how not ready the fruit are.
Right now it is 24 F.
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Granny Smith that look like this aren’t really ripe either. Washington lacks a long enough season to ripen them properly so it is an entirely different apple than what they sell in Australia, from what I’ve read.
One year we didn’t have a truly killing frost (below 25 F.) until about mid-Dec. Best Granny Smith’s I’ve ever eaten! Does anyone grow this apple in CA?
I picked my ripest Goldrush yesterday and left the rest on the tree. I’m not sure that coming weather will be warm enough to ripen them much because I’m not really sure how warm it has to be. Turns out, I didn’t have to harvest any of my Goldrush as temps didn’t go as low as forecast.
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I am glad I picked mine on Wednesday… It is 23F on my window thermometer. On Wednesday I selected the most unripe looking apple and cut it open. The seeds were brown - that tells me it is OK to pick them for storage. Right now they are in the cooler in the shed. I was surprised,it actually holds the temperature - from 49F when I put them in on Thursday to 43F now. Looks like it can survive a short temp drop without and issue. I’ll make a light frame around it , cover with insulation and add light bulb between cooler and the insulation with thermostat to keep on 30F. That should get me to December, I hope.
I admire your ability to use your engineering mind to create all kinds of protection for your fruit and trees.
Your Gold Rush is further along than mine in general. If mine are all ruined, that’s OK. This was only the second time that it was this cold and snowy in Oct since we have been here. The last time I lost a multi- grafted apple tree, too.
As a price of taking a risk, we win some, we lose some.
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I see your apples are very clean. How to protect your fruits from wasps?
Sophia,
So far, the only fruit that got attacked by wasps in my yard has been jujubes (and I don’t want to jinx it).
I bagged all my apples. I do not know much much that helps since there are two large ventilation holes at a bottom of each bag. If they want to, they can fly in and out through those holes easily.
My guess is my apples are not very sweet compared to fruits like jujubes, plums, peaches and even figs. They probably go for the sweeter fruit first.
@mamuang maybe an experiment for you to try next year. I also bag some of my apples to ensure I get some clean. On my late ripening Pink Lady tree I do notice the apples I leave bagged ripen slower than the unbagged so I’ve started removing some bags as we get into fall.
My jujubes are OK. Mainly my Asian pears became rotten when close to ripen. I have four big pear trees. I don’t think I have time and energy to bag the fruits.
Yes, Asian pears. Not many fruit got stung. Once they were stung, they all rot.
Did you harvest your GR before the snow. It will be down to 26 again this Mon, I think.
Do you do fall or winter dormant spray?
Do you use kocide3000 for fall or winter dormant spray?
Both, I do dormant oil with Kocide around Thanksgiving weather dependent (above freezing temp).
I may do the same thing in early spring. If the weather is not cooperative for one of the two sprays, I will have at least one spray covered,
.
Went out to take pics. Sunny. Snow on trees have melted. Snow was still on the ground.
My GR on M 7 is top heavy and leaning quite a bit. The apples seem OK but too soon to find out.
!
Fuji is reclining on the ground.
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@galinas and @robd,
I picked a Gold Rush today, 11/1/20, to try. Not ripe. It still tasted a bit starchy. Brix was at 14 which was not too bad. Seeds were only light brown. No sign of freeze damage. I don’t regret not picking them at this stage.
We will have another round of 26-27 F this Tues and the coast will be clear after that (for a week at least).
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I’ve already harvest half what the squirrels have left me. Saw a squirrel taking one yesterday and it refuses to go into traps.
It seems I’ve reduced my population to one or two trap-shy squirrels. I’m so tired of the fight that I didn’t even run out with my shotgun when I saw that squirrel from my window. I’m pretty sure that it knows the score anyway and by the time I’d grabbed my gun it would already be beyond my eyesight.
First it was the apples furthest from my house being picked off- from trees in my nursery. Now there working on the second most visible tree from my house with fruit.
If I had it to do all over again, I would have stopped fighting once I’d harvested my Jonagolds 3 weeks ago.
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