Summer apples 2022

Yellow Transparent has a very short picking window.

I took pic the day before I had to go out of town.

I did not have a chance to pick it before I left. Three days later, one dropped and devoured by animal. The other one split badly.

3 Likes

Luis, in your location is YT a soft or crunchy apple when ripe?

1 Like

Crunch! I forgot to say… not the most crunch apple i tried but definately on crunch side!

3 Likes

Too dry followed by too wet is why the big crack. But the sourness limits it to frying or apple butter for me.

Y.T are pretty good here also. yes its sour but makes fabulous sauce and pie once some sugars added. if Pristine’s even better im looking forward to my new tree next spring. we have little pest pressure so i think the w.p and pristine should do well no spray or very little spray here.

1 Like

its about a week here. yes they dont last long. i even pick a little greener than your 1st. pick. once they get totally yellow they get soft and mealy within 3 days. reminds me i need to go apple hunting soon for sauce.

1 Like

“soft and mealy” is a very apt description for very ripe YT.

4 Likes

My William’s Pride are turning red but not quite ready yet.

2 Likes

Please give us an update when they are ripe. TY.

1 Like

@MikeC
I looked out the window and saw a small bird perching on one of my two William’s Pride. That was not a good sign. Went out and saw this. I should have known when they started to turn red.

It was not ripe. The seeds had some white on them and the apple tasted chalky like any unripe apple. The other WP was promptly bag as you can see at the bottom of the first pic. I think it may take two more week, toward the end of August.

4 Likes

Williams pride is trailing off here now. It was good to very good as usual. Chestnut is just starting to ripen. Those are the two benchmark summer apples here. About two weeks ago, Centennial was ripe really for the first time here, and very promising. Something labelled Sommerfeld is looking very promising right now, though not quite ripe. I’m not sure where it came from or if the label is correct, but it seems to have a pretty strong complex fruity flavor. Kerry pippin is ripening about now as well. State fair is pretty useless here. Pristine has been grafted, but won’t grow or fruit so far.

I have several seedling apples that are ripening, one is an open pollinated Wickson seedling that ripens very early and is already past. It ripened in July this year. One is an apple I named Twang a couple years ago. I’m still deciding what I think about it. A few other William’s Pride x Vixen crosses are starting to ripen, but may end up being ripe more into September. I really hope some turn out to summer ripen though, there’s still time! As with almost every other type of apple, I don’t think it is going to be that difficult to create new, better than average summer apples by unsophisticated breeding and selection. I made a ton of crosses with Williams’ Pride, Trailman and Chestnut this year, resulting in quite a lot of seed, so there’s a start. Here are links to summer apple tasting vids I did this year.

Summer Apples

Wickson Seedling Jujube

6 Likes

I’ll be looking forward to a first Monark in a year or two for sure.

Ate a Fameuse/Snow for the first time yesterday…a drop, but I didn’t know it as a summer apple. The late July “william’s favorite” was promising but my little tree is puny in a pot.

Planted geneva crab seeds and some others earlier this week.

Anticipating someday I’ll get a Lowland Raspberry to eat. Moved and left my first tree, then first one I grafted died. So, two more grafted last year…but a slow grower.

May Queen became the first to display fire blight this year…a little late I thought, but something ate the growing tip off and then it happened.

1 Like

I think, and hope, you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Monark apple since it is a really early apple. I really enjoy it and look forward to when they are ripe in my orchard these last two years ( since they started producing fruit). I have not had any issues with birds or raccoons getting the fruit, so far. I hope you have the same luck with your Monark tree when it starts producing fruit.

1 Like

I guess it is still summer so I should add some on what is ripening now for me…

Ginger Gold I am mostly through. It is similar in flavor to Pristine, bigger fruit not quite as crunchy or tasty. But there is too much skin rot on them, they have that thin rot-prone skin type. So it is not going to stay in my orchard.

Cherryville Black is a great apple when well-ripened but it has not been consistent. some got soft too early, the birds really hit them hard, some didn’t sweeten up. The good ones were really good though; they have a nutty flavor kind of like Pomme Gris but more sweet and aromatic. I’ll keep a bit longer to see if it gets better.

Golden Noble is my favorite mid-August apple. It is awesome! Very little damage and a great sweet crunchy taste. I should say I am not completely clear that is the variety, I got it from Botner a very long time ago under that name though.

I got a few Chestnut crabs for the first time, that is a really nice apple! It has a unique flavor with a bit of savory to it that I have not yet pinpointed. The apples didn’t get much damage, either. Definitely looks to be on the keeper list along with Golden Noble.

7 Likes

Glad you got to try Chestnut, it really is a favorite here for fresh eats, apple sauce/butter and cider.
I’m having a great summer Apple season, maybe since I topworked over most of the duds :laughing:
Duchess, Trailman, RedFree, and Williams Pride have all produced some very nice fruit and I’m overdue for making the first apple pie of the season!

5 Likes

The shape reminds me of glockenapfel.

My William’s Pride dropped today. I bagged it so it was in the bag. Otherwise, bunny would have taken care of it.
The texture was not firm, probably because the tree did not get enough water this year. But it managed to get water cored. It tasted fine but not as good as in a normal year.


5 Likes

Interior looks over-ripe?

Possible. It dropped today. However, insufficient watering may have played a role re. texture not being not firm as it usually is.

I’m poor at judging when apples are ripe on a tree. When they look ripe I start sampling them and they’re almost always under ripe. Then I’ll check every so often with no better luck. If Janet is helping then the two of us eventually discover ripe apples. Some years we get distracted and by the time we remember they are all over ripe. :rofl:

1 Like