Storing apples

Are you just storing in the fridge?

Are you buying a second fridge for them?

And a third for scions?

My wife is going to start asking these questions if I jump on the fruit growing bandwagon.

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Our fridge is full of apples.

Yesterday we bought a small second fridge for the spillover. It was my wife’s idea.

I have a little dorm size fridge that’s full of apples and pears and plums.

I find a corner in one of them for the scions.

:-)M

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I have a basement fridge I store apples in. I put them in used plastic grocery store bags … they don’t need to be completely airtight just mostly airtight. Don’t keep them open in a regular fridge, it will dry out. A chest freezer set above freezing is better as it does not dry things out.

My scions I just keep in the upstairs fridge, my wife mostly puts up with it.

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I have spare fridge and stand alone freezer. But they are occupied with veggies and preserves… This year I only have three apples. Next two years we probably will be able just eat what we got. After that - I will have to get another spare fridge, and better if without freezer, just to store apples. The main question is where to place it. Spare bedroom that works as a pantry room and accommodates fridge, freezer and food dehydrator doesn’t have strong enough wiring for another fridge… Should I get a bigger house? :grinning:

Scott, I was wondering if I can set chest freezer above freezing, but thought it is impossible. Do you know the model that allows it?

Spare fridge in the basement now full of apples, mini-fridge on the porch now full of potatoes

I keep the apples in their ziplocks, then in jumbo-sized baggies, partly open at the top

Galas are particularly prone to shriveling

They sell units to do this. Its a thermometer on a wire you put in the fridge, and you plug the fridge into the unit which will power off the fridge when its too cold. Crude but functional :grinning: I got mine at a brewer supply place, people use it for brewing beer at e.g. 65F in a fridge.

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I thought you couldn’t keep scions in the same area as fruit, because the ethylene gas will kill the buds.

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Keep scion in Ziploc bags.

Do they continue to develop flavor in the fridge, or should they be allowed to do this before putting them in?

I prefer no flavor in my scions :laughing:

Seriously, I assume you are talking about apples not scions. Apples change flavor a lot in the fridge, and many (most) of the old apple varieties were selected with this in mind so they can produce some really great flavors after storage. Newtown Pippin for example is blah off the tree but develops lots of great unusual flavors in storage. You need to store for several months to see a big change.

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Me too, if it means the deer would leave them alone. :slight_smile:

So, the colder temperature in the fridge only slows the ripening process. I wasn’t sure if it affects the quality of ripening.

I need to find better storage. My usual place is way too warm right now due to the heatwave. It’s been warmer here in the past 2 weeks than it was in summer, which is a double whammy for my fruit growing adventures.

If you look around, there are plenty of new fridges and freezers that only take about 200 watts to run.

yes, I know… But the circuit there is already on a max load by the current (15 Amp). If I have dehydrator running(1kw) and both freezer and fridge turn their compressors on at the same time, it trips breaker in the panel. Bedroom wiring really not calculated for such load :unamused:. I know, running the dehydrator where two fridges are is not the best idea… But that room has it’s own cooling (different circuit) and I can just close the door there. Constant sound of dehydrator drives me crazy.

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Does anyone store their apples in a root cellar? When I ordered my apples from Schlabach’s in March they had apples under the ramp (encased in a cinder block room with a cement top) leading to the barn, a root cellar in the side of a hill. I tried a few varieties that were good. Crimson crisp and fuji were the ones I can remember.

I have 3 sides of mine in and I’m going to use block for the front for a door opening and then pour a domed concrete roof. Then get it covered with about 2 feet of dirt. I’m not sure it will be ready this year or not, but I sure hope it works to keep apples.

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Wow, great project. Looks good so far. Something I’ve idly thought about, but I live in the burbs, so definitely not enough space. I’m jealous.

Since this is the way people used to store their apples for centuries, I imagine it has to be a pretty good method. I hope you’ll come back and report on how it does.

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Huge heavy blocks!

2000 and 4000 lbs a piece, but walls are made quickly.:grinning:

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Who lifts them? You have a bobcat?

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My tractor can lift the shorter ones, but my cousin has a friend with a JCB telehandler that can lift 10K lbs. These were all set from one side so we had to add a little weight on the rear (one of the half blocks) to keep it from tipping, because they were ~14 feet out on the far side.
I don’t know of a skid steer that can lift that much that far out.
My original plan was to make it all out of cinder block but this cut down on labor.

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