Green, ripe and then mush in a short time period. If your like me I have some of these varieties but not enough to throw caution to the wind and just pick them. This morning I notice two Carolina Red June getting a lot of red coloring so I picked this one after seeing the lower side blemish. It was a smaller apple that was slightly more tart than sweet. I’m pretty sure a couple more days would move the taste to sweet/tart. This is my second season with these and I think I’m getting close to deciding when is proper time. What concerns me is the next up Williams Pride and Pristine. Wondering if their pick timing is similar. Last year I did a poor job with WP but I got lucky with one and it was a top notch tasting apple to me. I want more good ones. Any thoughts and comments are welcome.
Bill,
I usually pick WP the first two weeks of August but I am a couple of zones colder. I remember one time I let a WP apple hanged on the tree until mid Sept. Its taste and texture was still very good.
I don’t know how well WP would last on the tree in your locale as it is a lot hotter and (more humid?) than mine,
Not sure the picking window is as tight as you might think.
However if you want a guide line I know in the Penn State Fruit production guide they have a table that shows the approximate maturity date based on bloom time. As an example they say that it takes 90- 100 days from full bloom to maturation for Pristine. You might be able to find that chart on line somewhere. Obviously there are factors that can impact the maturity date.
This will be my first year for summer apples (William’s Pride, MonArk, Ginger Gold, and Zestar). I was assuming the usual tug test every 2 days will work.
The CRJ is my earliest apple that I consider to be a pretty good fresh eating apple (not great) but it can go from tart to mush in 2-4 days. Your best bet is to pick just as it gets a little red on it. Sometimes the seed are dark but most of the time they are not. I have a few small limbs grafted in and in my opinion they are a really nice way to get the season kicked off.
Varmints stole ‘Striped Sweet’ apples that were ripening. I had some Anoka last week…sour and small, and keeps maybe a week…but the fruits ripen over 3 week period.
I have Carolina Red June and Lowland Raspberry…but they have not fruited for me yet…otherwise they’d be getting ripe too.
