When Does Your Enterprise Apple Get Ripe?

I’m at a loss for when to pick my first year of Enterprise apples. It’s nearly November, Zone 7B, apples still firmly attached to tree. I picked one today- part water core, other part not much taste, nothing to write home about.

Do they drop when ripe?

Thanks for help.

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In RI I picked mine end of Sept. early Oct. They were delicious.

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The seeds should be black (well, very dark brown) when an apple is fully ripe.

Seems like sometimes it takes a new tree or graft a few seasons before the fruit is all it should be. Don’t know why.

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When I had them, they were ripe in mid-Sept

So you didn’t wait for them to fall, right?

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No I didn’t. I had to pick them from the tree. Took forever to get fruit from the tree, but they were delicious. My only complaint was, thick skin.

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Yeah this is weird, seeds still not quite showing ripe but the apples are already past-prime and mealy.

Weird indeed! Maybe next year?

PRI lists Enterprise as ripening “15 to 25 Oct. at West Lafayette, Indiana” , 3 weeks after Golden Delicious. As per their release link Enterprise

So probably 3 weeks after Golden Delicious ripens. Here is a chart comparing the ripening time of Enterprise to a bunch of different apples.
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/cultivars.html

However, I am struggling with picking my Enterprise too. I should be picking in the Oct. 15-25 range since I share almost the same climate as Lafayette and the PRI test planting in Illinois has same climate as mine. I do the quarter twist and pull and the apples don’t want to come off the tree. My Winecrisp apples came right off so I don’t understand what’s going on.

Do the Enterprise require a lot more force to pull off the tree or are they not ripe? I have been checking the apples over the last couple of weeks but I don’t want to literally rip them from the trees.

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@hambone. I picked my Enterprise on 20201001 and it was great tasting. I’m in zone 7b.

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I’m in 7b and mine are still ripening. Picked one two days ago that was the best yet. In my opinion, they improve somewhat with storage, getting a more complex flavor.

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I’m going to wait until they come off the tree easily. I read somewhere they drop when ripe but get the idea from these posts that’s not true.

i would like to acquire scion wood for co-op 17 or trees i understand that it wasnt named or released. pomiferous.com says some nurseries and people have it

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Geneva has it, but they won’t be sending out scion wood in 2021. It also shows up for trade in Habitat-talk.com. You may be able to identify who’s offering it on that web-site. I believe it’s sill used for breeding purposes, so someone at PRI may be able to direct you to a source or disclose what orchards trialed it.

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I try to pick my enterprise apples in mid october in zone 5. The watercore seems to be variable, but more a symptom of over ripeness. Enterprise has a tough skin. It also has a tendency to hang on the tree until overripe. I really enjoy this apple for pressing fresh cider and fresh eating. It’s a great all purpose apple that bakes really well too. This year the woodpeckers and bears took their toll, with my minor crop of them mostly lost.

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PRI states that Enterprise “hangs well on the tree even when over-ripe” so I don’t think you want to wait until the apples drop.

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Here is the PRI release description for Co-op 17

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/coop17.html

For what its worth, mine hang on until the literally rot- more than almost any other apple I have. So from my experience, if you wait for drops you’ll let most of them go bad or at least pass their peak. I get a few drops of course- especially ones with bad spots or problems- but most hang on like ticks on a dog! ha Mine seem to be at peek ripeness the first week of October here in 7b TN.

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@thecityman I think you’re exactly right about first week of Oct in 7B. Can’t remember where I read they drop when ripe but boy is that wrong. Thankfully this first crop was only a dozen or so, so no great loss and will be ready next year.

I may start a separate thread asking people for their favorite apples for fresh eating that DO drop when ripe. Seems it might be a rare trait???

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Here in Eastern PA, I picked my Enterprise Apples on 10/17. They had started to fall one by one so I picked them. The seeds are dark brown and they seem ripe, but I put two bags of them in the fridge for later.

Good luck.

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