Just add the pic.
I picked mine in Nov. Once temp is about 22-23 F, I picked them. Don’t want freeze damaged apples.
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@ramv
Surprised to hear some of your GR did not ripen on the tree considering your warm zone.
Mine were kept in a fridge from Nov -April. Fresh eating often has both tartness and sweetness. In storage, the tartness mellows so the apples taste sweeter. Sugar does not increase but becomes more pronounced when tartness is reduced.
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Tree is very young ( grafted only last year) Maybe it didn’t have energy to ripen them all.
If we avoid a killing frost, Goldrush should have time to establish exceptionally high brix this year. This will either be a disastrous growing season or a great one (OK, I’m being optimistic-pessimistic- it could still turn out mediocre). At any rate, it may be a long one- flower buds are at least 3 weeks ahead of last year in development. My GR was good and is good from last year but not as good as it can be.
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This year my GoldRush offered two debut samples. The first we ate several weeks ago. My wife took a bite: “Hmm, spicy.” Good density, flavor, tartness, sweetness & taste. Winner!
The other apple is wrapped loosely in a bag & kept in the apple refrigerator for tasting next April or May - if I can wait that long.
In looking over the calendar, I found Gold Rush bloom began one day before and lasted one day after Lamb Abbey. First time for GR and 3rd time for LAP (extremely precocious). Somewhere I had read LAP had extended mid-season bloom. Apparently, so does GR.
Thank you, thank you all. Merry Christmas!
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I’m debating removing my branch of Gold Rush. Two years in a row, they haven’t ripened well for me. I have Rubinette, Queen Cox, Dolgo, and King David on the same multigraft tree, and those all do fine. Also, my Gold Rush are one of my ugliest looking apples, lumpy. Maybe it has a virus? Maybe the scion was mislabeled? They don’t keep as long for me as Liberty. Long keeping was my big motivation. Oddly enough, my latest bearing and longest keeper this year was the columnar Scarlett Sentinel. That’s not the best tasting out of hand, but the apples were much nicer than Gold Rush and they made nice pies and apple sauce.
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My Gold Rush has kept well til April. That is quite long to me. It is a very late apple, too late to get fully ripened fruit on the tree. I picked them in mid Nov.
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So your Goldrush never did ripen? Or they finished ripening off the tree? Friends near Bangor, Maine have a Goldrush tree I grafted for them Zone 5 ish- but I’m guessing if you have trouble with season length in Zone 6, then they need to graft it over to something that ripens sooner.
I couldn’t quite get it to ripen in Santa Fe. I saw it growing at the “heritage farm” in Albuquerque. I assume that those guys know what they are doing, so that’s probably the break point. It’s not like a little freezing weather in fall hurts. Just ran out of heat. I think that Fuji barely fits the season there too if that’s a guide.
Hambone,
The closet to ripen I had was a couple of years ago. Some of the fruit that year were about 80% ripe. Each of those apples turned almost all yellow. I think we had a dry, hot summer that year.
On most years, most of my GR turned light yellow or still pale green (60-70% ripe). Some were obviously unripe.
I don’t know if I would call apples ripen in storage. In storage, acidity in GR recedes. With little to no acidity left, GR tastes sweeter even though its sugar level may stay the same.
Also, don’t just think about zones, I think how hot your summer is, how much sun exposure your tree has plays a role. @JesseinMaine is in zone 4b, his GR has ripened better than mine in zone 6a.
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I know this an old thread. I tried this link but it does not work any longer. Is there a replacement address for this information? TY
Do you spray your Goldrush apples. Not that they look bad. I was just curious since everything I have read says they are as close to “No spray” as you can get for organic growers.
Same question for mamuang
I was interesting in growing this one just for that reason, no spray. Yet the length of ripening time has made me hold off. We get freezing temps/snow/ice early to mid November. We had our first snow on the 2nd of November this year.
Mike,
GR is resistant to scab but not to CAR. If you are in a CAR infested area, that will be an issue. If you are in an area where you have coddling moths, plum curculio, apple maggot flies, your GR will need protection if you want clean apples. Spray with Surround or bag them would work.
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@Bear_with_me: Can’t keep as long as Liberty? Ya gotta wonder if it is GoldRush. Mine were not large, but textbook in all other ways. Maybe you need another source of scionwood.
PM me if you want a twig.
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I am also inclined to think that your apple may not be Gold Rush.
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No, I do not spray anything on my fruit trees (and if I would have to, I would get rid of them). I only mulch them (small scale “Back to eden” method) to feed them in the long run. I also bag the fruits (bugs are a bigger problem). As @mamuang mentionned, Goldrush is susceptible to CAR and one year, it was affected pretty heavily. But for some reason, it seemed to mostly affect leaves. So most fruits were unaffected. Unlike my saskatoon berries whom were all ruined. These are some GR apples that were stored in the fridge and that we ate this week… So good!
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Or if it’s Liberty… My Liberty apples don’t keep more than 3 weeks… Perhaps they would keep much longer if I picked them early?..
I used to not spray for CAR and GoldRush was badly covered. But like your experience it didn’t affect the apples. The thing to avoid is quince rust, sometimes it gets on the apples and quince rust is more on the fruits and can ruin them.
The main problem my GR has now is lack of vigor. It is on M7 but is growing like an M9. I am raising all my trees to get them above the deer and it has taken a long time to get the GoldRush high enough.
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TY for that clarification. Those apples look great for not having been sprayed. Some delicious looking apples. I may have to add this one to my orchard.
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Yes, unfortunately I live in an area with all those pests. I do not get CAR as a big issue. I have only seen it on a few of my trees. I will do a better job of looking at what trees get these CAR issues vs scab. Normally scab has not been an issue for me here , so far.
I will use Surround this year. I had not used that before but I think I will give it a go in 2021.