Which apples do you have ripening now?

Finally my long waiting apples are ready. Last year I grafted Reinette Simirenko and this year the grafts produced several fruits. Reinette Simirenko is a famous in Russia commercially grown winter apple. It looks like Granny Smith, but it is sweeter, less acidic and it has very pleasant aftertaste that as far as I know no other apples have. At first I kept buying Granny Smith apples in the hope that they’ll taste similar to Reinette Simirenko since they look alike, but no, they are completely different. This variety of apple is successfully grown in the Southern Ukraine and Russia, they are said to be drought and wind resistant, so they should fit good for Nebraska climate. Right now the apples are very firm, I’ll keep them in the fridge for a month and then try them.

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Very nice and clean looking apples.

Tony

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Harvested my Black Oxfords yesterday. The fruit is firm but sweet flavor is there and the seeds fairly dark. I didn’t know just when to harvest for storage but it was a beautiful Oct. day so I decided to do it. I expected a small crop of mainly small apples, some mediums, hopefully some good ones to store – that’s what I saw when I looked at the tree. But when I got in there and started picking this is what I found…!

BlackOxfordHarvest-gf

The most beautiful, clean, good sized apple harvest I’ve ever had from any tree. Yes, there were smalls with a little scab, still on the tree for later snacking. But the main crop was so much better than I expected. I admired each and every apple as I picked them. Just a very few had a little scab, fewer with any insect damage, a couple with a little bird bites. There are advantages to have just a few bearing trees – one can take the time to appreciate individual apples as one picks. This is just the second harvest year for this tree (last year a flock of blue jays ate a good portion of the crop), no spray or amendments or anything. Just happy apples, and orchardist!

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It is a little early to pick Goldrush apples but I had one that was distinctly more yellow than all the others so I went ahead and gave it a test. Surprise it was totally absent from the battery acid taste that many people refer to. It was firm, sweet, with just a little tartness to add some interest to it. Overall a great tasting apple and rapidly going to the top of my preferred list. I’m starting to wonder if our long season combined with bagging reduces the battery acid taste. I have a few more so I will see if the trend continues.

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Nice haul!

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jinma:

Your crabapples look to me like possibly chestnut crab?

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I don’t know what some people mean by battery acid taste, I’ve never thought that about them. Picked early they have some kick, but nothing bad, in fact just intense flavor in my opinion. And left to ripen change onto a good flavored sweeter apple.

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I just ate a goldrush off my tree, lots of golden background color, big dark cheek on it, absolutely delicious apple. Lots of Sugar, lots of flavor. Let them color up like that and you will be in for a treat. Also been very dry here, almost no rain since July

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How does your B.O. taste?

Been enjoying Fuji (3rd & 4th leaf), Braeburn (6th leaf combo tree) & Ambrosia (1st leaf). All delicious although Braeburn browns quickly. Ambrosia still our favourite.

Anthony

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Steve, Right now they are just gently sweet and quite firm, not much tartness, not juicy but not disageeably dry either. But last year even with having to pick them too early they developed more flavor, sweetness, and a nice touch of tartness in storage. Ate the last one the end of Nov. and it was quite good in spite of being a little bit rubbery due to warm storage (record warm fall so my root cellar didn’t cool off till Dec.). We liked them. It’ll be interesting to see how they are this year with harvesting at a later date and with better storage temps. Not an exceptional flavor just a very pleasant one. I haven’t cooked any for sauce yet so no experience that way. Even at the current not quite fully ripe stage we’re enjoying them. They’re a nice contrast to the decidedly tart-sweet Dudleys. Sort of a gentle waltz vs a lively polka.

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Posted this in another thread, but we went to an orchard in central Kentucky today. To our surprise, just about all of their apples were ready to pick, except Pink Lady’s. This includes Fuji, Goldrush, Granny Smith, Arkansas Black and Suncrisp, which usually aren’t ready until later in October.

They, and we, have had a very dry and warm last 6 weeks, so I imagine that really does speed up the ripening process.

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Just picked some Suncrisp apples they came off with no resistance so I’m hoping they are ripe enough.

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The First one I cut into hasa little watercore to it. Anyone else get that with Suncrisp?

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My Suncrisp isn’t producing yet, but I’ve seen a few watercore apples this year on large seedling apples. I saw it most on a Bramley Seedling branch, which is grafted to a old seedling tree. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen watercore here. It wasn’t in this century. The season was cool and wet in the first half and cool and dry in the second. The last two weeks have been hot and dry. I always thought excessive rain caused it, but I guess that is not always the case… unless it formed early when it was rainy.

They are a big Apple. Maybe too big, but that will change as the amounts on the tree increase.

Finally I have been able to taste my own red-fleshed apples. First was a too early Christmas Pink that tasted lemony. It had fallen off the tree. I bet it would cook well if picked early. The real treat was my Airlie’s Red Flesh. It had some sweetness with some tang and a flavor I can’t describe. It was fully pink inside and had a great texture I’ve not seen before from the ilk. Nice treat!

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No photo, Carole? :grinning:

Had my first Hubbardston Nonesuch today. It was solidly good. A nice blend of sweet tart that was a bit shaded to the sweet side. It had a similar texture to Zestar!, kind of soft and fluffy-crunchy. I enjoyed it.

Clockwise from upper right, Garden Royale with Blue Pearmain, Milo Gibson, Esopus Spitzenburg Blue Pearmain, Golden Russet (center).

Also getting a daily dose of Baldwin, shown with the graft union where I let both cleft-grafted scions grow and trained one pair of buds to be the bottom set of branches.

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