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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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
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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I actually have several that do drop when ripe. However, a person could make the argument that even those are just slightly past peak ripeness by the time they drop…still perfectly good to eat but don’t seem to store quite as well if I let go until they drop. I get the feeling that by the time they drop they have already started to form some rot spots that are too small to be seen or might be under the peeling. That’s just a guess but the ones I let drop tend to not store as well. Of course, another explanation for that fact is that many of them get a bruise or dent when they fell, and certainly those spots are the first place rot starts, so that could be another reason. But all these are storage issues- my trees that drop when ripe mostly the apples are perfectly good to eat or process.
The trees I have that drop when ripe or slightly past ripe are yellow delish, red rome, and what stayman. Fuji sort of does but some hang on too long. Gala is more like enterprise- they hold on even after they rot!
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I grow several types of Limbertwig apples that all ripen very late. @scottfsmith has emphasized that his limbertwigs need to be left hanging as long as possible to properly develop. Makes sense from my experience with them. This year I’m letting them hang til they drop, then will store at 33 degrees til New Years Day and sample then. If they didn’t store well then next year I’ll pick before this year’s drop date. I have deep mulch under all my trees so dropping may not hurt their storage life. Will see and report.
I don’t have many varieties that I let hang til they drop, and none of the later apples I can think of. I let the Limbertwigs hang late, but not up to when lots are dropping.
Right now I only have Yates left hanging. That one never drops, I have to harvest right before the first hard frost. They are really good right now and I hope they get better. Last year there was not as much accumulated heat before the first hard frost and the Yates were not as good.
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