Does anyone have Red Astrachan? It is a little later than Lodi/Yellow Transparent, but before Williams Pride and Pristine according to the ripening charts on Grandpa’s Orchard.
Good reviews make me wonder that it could be a potential very first decent eating apple for a branch on a multi-grafted tree.
Shell of Alabama is a lot like Dorset, but pre-dates it by 100 years. It hangs on the tree a lot better and isn’t mushy after it colors up. Remains remarkably firm when cooked in a pie.
I want it then. Heck, I even live in Alabama. lol.
Today (July 23) I decided to pick my Gingergold apples.
The tree set 7 apples, but 5 of them mysteriously disappeared over the early summer.
Two apples made it to today. I ate one. I’m saving the other for a friend. So fresh and delicious!
A week ago I picked my first 2 Carolina Red June apples. Nice color and size. Flavor was quite simple, but I actually liked it. Obviously this variety is not a June bearer here. It was 20-25 days latter than my true June varieties and of inferior flavor, but I definitely will keep it.
Can you post any photos of your Carolina Red June?
That is pretty much how I feel about the taste of June apples. The big draw of these to me is the early ripening. These are just OK tasting apples to me but they are better than no apples.
That is a nice looking apple. I planted what was labeled as a Washington Gravenstein apple this year. I’m not sure if it is the same but I sure hope it has an attractive apple like yours.
We had a hailstorm a month or so ago, so they were not very pretty and I didn’t made any photoes. Looked just like these:
http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/crj.html
Thanks. Not sure if it can handle the steam room that is the Deep South, but if you can get a good Gravenstein apple to ripen (and not turn to mush) then you will be richly rewarded.
Gravenstein is the sweetest apple of August here.
Gingergold is more reliable for me (and almost as good) but a good Gravenstein is the best. You will bite the core until your gums bleed.
They have a three-week window of staggered ripening. Unlike most other apples, the redder the better for the sake of flavor. Eat them fresh. They don’t keep well. A week in the fridge, tops.
Your Ginger’s look great! I picked some Gingerggold too. Mine were not quite ripe, so I was not able to enjoy the full flavor. I plan to pick the rest in a week or so. Its outstanding for such a early apple and I wish I had a lot more of them. Hope to have some Gala at that time, or just a little later. Also picked all of the Redfree which ripened at one time. Not bad, but just a simple taste. Redfree was a pretty apple with very few defects from RAA or PC. Also picked the last of the William’s Pride, two weeks later than the first picking. These apples had been hanging on the tree for a while and were much, much better then the first picking. Very tasty and complex flavor but still had a tough skin. Also picked the William’s Favorite apples. They got mealy quickly and fortunately, I don’t have too many of these. My least favorite of all my summer apples was Bevens which I have already eliminated.
UPDATE: Picked a few Pristine apples that I missed when the trees were picked July 4-July -July 18. These apples were lemon yellow, but still crisp and crunchy. and very sweet. Much better than the ones that I picked earlier. Next year I’m going to hold off on picking the WP and Pristine a week or perhaps 10 days. I’m impressed with how much better the late pickings were compared with the early picking - almost like different apples!
How did they taste? I’ll be planting one of these on Bud-9 this fall.
I picked mine too late so its hard to tell what they would taste like if they were picked sooner. Don’t believe they are even close to Pristine or WP in taste. I know for sure they have no shelf life.
My Ginger Golds are not ripe at all yet, I thought I would be ahead of you Matt but guess not. Only Jefferis is getting a few fully ripe apples for me now (Pristine is taking a year off).
Scott,
I could have let them hang more, but I couldn’t wait.
They were a little underripe, but do not seem to suffer much at all if picked a little early. The texture is already good. The flavor is not peak, but is good enough to satisfy my impatience.
I actually think this is one of the benefits of Gingergold; you can pick them early and they are still good. They also keep for a really long time in cold storage. I’ve eaten these in late September while on a trip to New Hampshire. And I’ve had good (store-bought) Gingergolds at least as late as October. They offer a huge “eating window” for such an early apple.
My CRJ are blooming also. I would have thought that our areas would be a little different. I only have one good looking blooming cluster and the other two had sad looking flowers. Hope I get one or two to test out. My Stripped June has several good looking flowers so it looks promising.
@Matt_in_Maryland
Amazing color change in two days. These are my first and only Carolina Red June apples. Anyone like to guess when it is considered ripe. Is red ripe or should I wait?
That’s a quick change! I also have my first CRJ harvest this year: one apple on a year-old graft. It still looks like your left-hand example, though a bit smaller and still rather elongated. Probably be a while yet before it turns.
By contrast, my Yellow June apples are much larger and seem to be close to ripening, based on their color and smell.
Judging ripeness on unfamiliar apples is a tricky thing! I expect to make a lot of mistakes.
