I wasn’t expecting apples this year, but my tree had other plans and decided to ripen the fruitlets I missed thinning. So now I have these lovelies coming along, but I’m not sure how to tell if it’s ripe yet. They do smell a bit apple-y and have developed a pretty bloom. In fact they’ve gotten quite dark in the past week.
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Starch test – Apply diluted iodine to the flesh. If the flesh turns black or even grey, there’s still starch yet to become sugar.
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looking pretty ripe to me. you got a bunch of them , give the darkest one a try. i have several w. pride scions grafted on my sargents crab. supposed to be very resistant or immune to most diseases.
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I always heard if the seeds are black or dark then the apple is ripe. Only way to tell is to cut one open. I cut a WP open today and the seeds were just turning dark. The apple flavor was pretty good but it definitely needed another week or two.
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If you lift it side way (about 90 degree angle) and it does not come off, it is not quite ripe.
WP has a long ripening period (over a month long) which is good for backyard growers as you don’t have to pick them all at once. For the first one, you can pick it and check what the color of the seeds. The rest won’t go to mush.
I used to pick my first WP in mid Aug and the last at the end of Sept (zone 6a). No issue.
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Niedzwetzkyana seeds only become red…and they already are red…but the apples
are probably a month away from ripe.
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Sure, there’s all sorts of methods that could give you a clue, but this is simple and accurate:
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Thank you to everyone for the replies! Ill check to see if the stem separates at 90 degrees. Is iodine something that can be purchased locally? I hate to sacrifice the big dark one, but you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs, I guess 
It has been an interesting tree for sure. One of the windfalls ripened off the tree and was actually quite nice: fragrant and tart/sweet. I’m really looking forward to the tree maturing.
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You can get iodine OTC at the drug store. Just google instructions for dilution and application.
If you don’t want to waste many apples, then test one. If the result is nearly ripe (light grey), then wait a week possibly using mamuang’s twist test along the way. If the result is dark grey or black, give it 2-3 weeks. In either case, test a 2nd apple with iodine before picking them all.
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