What is the chance that these apples are actually Red Fuji? The picture doesn’t show the color very well. They are losing their greenness and developing a transparent yellow look. I can’t find even a hint of pink or red developing in any of them.
Thanks to my daughter for being home to take a pic and upload it for me.
It’s the 3rd year in the ground for these. This year is the first to have apples on this tree. Actually, they are the very first apples I’ve ever managed to get from my trees. Ugly as they may look, the first of anything is always “beautiful”. It’s carrying a grand total of 4 apples.
The original tag is still on it. (Nice and loose) So, I’m sure that these are supposed to be Red Fuji from Stark Bros.
They appear to be ripening very rapidly now, with the changes in skin coloring. I don’t know if this timing is because of the variety, the heat from last month combined with being in baggies, or what. You might not expect the marks on bagged apples, but the curculios were very successful at finding their way in. They just couldn’t get out. So, the baggies allowed me to capture and crush them. Didn’t save the apples from being hit, though. I wasn’t expecting ripe apples so very early, even though my ripening dates are always considerably earlier than catalog listings for the Mid-West.
What are your opinions? I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who has seen Fuji or Red Fuji as it ripened.
Very well could be. Here’s regular Fuji, notice the faint lenticles. Red Fuji still doesn’t get that red, and needs cool nights to do it. No PC here, but by union agreement codling moth will probably decimate them before they ripen in October.
By cool nights, I’m guessing that you mean something lower than the 70’s. I might not get that until late October. I don’t think these will wait until then to ripen. They’ve had considerable color change over the past week. I did remove the baggies because I think their time of helpfulness is past. At this point, they might just give me some free solar cooking. We do have OFM and CM, but I think if I cover them back up it will be with paper.
June was almost entirely upper 90’s and lower 100’s in the day, but the nights were in the 70’s. We’ve been enjoying a few days of upper 80’s and low 90’s with some rain, but not too much. The plants and I have enjoyed this reprieve.
With just 4 apples, I don’t want to pick them too early. But I don’t want them to go blah on the tree, either.
Red Fuji shouldn’t be ripening anywhere in US this early. Mine didn’t get ripe until October. To me your apple looks nearly ripe. That’s a ripe color not turning color to me.
I don’t really know what to say. They’ve rapidly changed to this almost translucent skin color. Yes, even in real life they looked to my untrained and unpracticed eye like I could bite them now and they would be juicy. With only 4 on there I didn’t want to sacrifice one to too early picking. If there were many, I would have taste tested one.
These started blooming right before March 29th and finished just after. Fruit bloom stages on that date are memorable to me this year because it was the morning of our unusual late freeze that lasted a few hours. I don’t know how long various varieties hang before ripening.
Since the chances of these apples getting cool nights are about zero, what can I use to try to identify what they are? You guys here are the best resource I have.
I ate ripe, though injured, pears today, too. That doesn’t usually happen until late August. I’m stumped.
The apple looks somewhat like Ginger Gold. That gets ripe here in about one month. You are probably a month ahead of here. Ginger Gold is sweet tart and I pick before it turns full yellow like that otherwise they go mealy.
No, the sun does that to them; you’re not even close; my guess is October. Here’s what it should look like, they will get much larger also. The only way to tell for sure is wait for one to drop, and then check the seed color. Don’t worry, Fuji doesn’t go mushy fast. They are however notoriously slow to come into bearing, usually about 5 years to really start going. They are quite reliable after that.
I think I might wait until the grands come late in the week and let them pick the smallest one to taste test it, since it was planted in honor of one of them. I’m hoping they’re the Fujis, because that’s what my daughter wanted planted. But if Ginger Gold is sweet/tart, it sounds like something I’d enjoy.
Although I’m happy to have ANY apples after 10 years of trying, it would be best to know what I do have, for myself and for sharing apples and wood with others. Also, so that I don’t unknowingly buy the same thing again.
A great big thank you to both of you for your help.
It’s carrying a grand total of 4 apples.
I wasn’t expecting ripe apples so very early, even though my ripening dates are always considerably earlier than catalog listings for the Mid-West.
