Interesting. My Hawaii never develop that much red coloration. Their typical color is a clear yellow, sometimes with a slight pink blush on the sunny side. They often have a distinctive hot pink collar ring around the stem when ripe. I’d illustrate that with a photo, but mine aren’t ripe yet.
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Nice to see you around! You’ve given me a lot of great info. Glad your orchard is doing well. Can’t wait to see what you have to share this season. I know we have very similar climates so I take your recommendations and advice seriously so thank you for that. Had the hottest summer on record here in northern AZ. My apples ripened early but I don’t think it affected the flavors too much. Got coddling moth under control but now the birds are driving me nuts.
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I dont remember a ring, but ours get pink spots that help distinguish it from other varieties on the tree.
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Yup I agree. Last year they had very little red, but last year was cooler and wetter. The sun here has to be some of the most intense in the country. Between the 5000ft elevation and the southern location it’s pretty incredible. This summer we had more triple digits than any year in recorded history so it put some serious color on my apples. Even apples that aren’t know for their sugar like Gravenstein were sweet.
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Sorry to learn about all of that rot. I guess it’s the eastern US equivalent of all the cracking I get on most of the russets I try to grow.
Those apples that don’t go into a three or four large apple butter batches or get stored under refrigeration for as long as they’ll keep, which will be a comparatively small percentage of the crop, will go to cider. I am going to partner with a local restaurant chef/owner who loves to ferment foods of all types for his place, an excellent Italian spot, but not a stereotypical pasta and red sauce joint. He has a shredder and press capable of handling lots of fruit plus a number of 15-20 gallon (I think that’s the size) stainless steel fermentation vessels. We’ll bottle the results and enjoy for the rest of the year.
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When does Hawaii ripen for you?
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I don’t know. This is my first year. Probably in Oct.
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Hmm, this may be the apple I have above my Goldrush. I’ll have to take a closer look next time I’m out there.
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I checked my Hawaii apples. They are quite small and show no color at this time, so not worth a picture. They share space on a multi-grafted tree with around a dozen other varieties. I probably let this tree over crop, as many of the apples are small, although two varieties have decent size apples.
Spring was also quite cool and summer temps didn’t arrive until July, which has caused most of my fruit to ripen weeks later than normal, so maybe some of these small apples will put on some size in the next few weeks. If so, pictures at that time.
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Turns out I must have too many apple varieties grafted in my orchard, since I forgot that I also have Hawaii as the bottom tier of a youngish espalier. These apples are much larger (3” diameter) than those on the graft I have on my other tree. None of the apples show any color on the sun side, just a little sunburn on one.
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Neil,
Thanks. Mine are all green, too.
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Green here three…I mean also.
I had too much rot on mine this year. Usually Hawaii is very clean but this has been a really bad year for apple rots… too much consistently warm weather I think. It was also an off year after a big crop last year. Still they are tasting excellent with lots of aromatics … one of the best of the Golden Delicious family.
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