Apple Drop Time/ Ripening Notes from 2019

[sandbur]

Several threads are looking at drop times and I thought I would just start a new thread.
Here are my notes from 2019.

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[sandbur]

Several threads are looking at drop times and I thought I would just start a new thread.
Here are my notes from 2019.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sandbur]

Several threads are looking at drop times and I thought I would just start a new thread.
Here are my notes from 2019.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sandbur]

These notes are from the center of Minnesota. Norland probably should have been picked a week or so earlier for better fruit quality.


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[sandbur]

These notes are from the center of Minnesota. Norland probably should have been picked a week or so earlier for better fruit quality.


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I have a few Whitney crabs this year and want to see if they are earlier than Norland.


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[sandbur]

Big Dog, Buckman Crab, and Golden Hornet dropped/held fruit well into late winter and fed the deer.

I think a rootstock we found that we named Courthouse Crab may do the same as it has had a long drop time through late fall and winter. I have it on dolgo rootstock and it is growing well.

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[sandbur]

Big Dog, Buckman Crab, and Golden Hornet dropped/held fruit well into late winter and fed the deer.

I think a rootstock we found that we named Courthouse Crab may do the same as it has had a long drop time through late fall and winter. I have it on dolgo rootstock and it is growing well.

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Feb. 1, 2020 picture of Buckman Crab.


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[Turkey Creek]

Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[Apple Junkie]

There is nothing like first hand experience with drop times. It seems "Ripe" does always predict when the apples will actually drop and become usable for wildlife... or for how long they will be dropping. I wish I had the foresight to do what you're doing. Good stuff.

 

[sandbur]

There is nothing like first hand experience with drop times. It seems "Ripe" does always predict when the apples will actually drop and become usable for wildlife... or for how long they will be dropping. I wish I had the foresight to do what you're doing. Good stuff.

Some of my notes say ripe and some say drop time. Most of those I call ripe were picked for eating, apples, or cider.

Several of us should record this for a few years.


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[CedarSwamp]

I meant to start doing this for both bloom time and drop time. Hopefully you’ve motivated me to actually follow through with it this year!

 

[TenPoint]

I’m hoping to snag some big dog and Buckman next year from Blue Hill! Can’t wait to get those going. Look like great trees!

 

[sandbur]

I noticed centennial seeds are starting to get brown and some Hazen have a deep purple color.

Does apple ripening seemed advanced a bit for anyone else?


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[PoorSand]

I notice a big delay in drop times on my apple trees in the years I get around to fertilizing them. My coarse sandy soil is unable to buffer nitrogen and potassium percolates down about six inches per year, so if I miss a couple years, the trees suffer. My most pronounced recent example was last year one of my Rome apple trees went from being a mid-November dropper to a mid-January dropper after I had fertilized it that spring.

 

[sandbur]

I notice a big delay in drop times on my apple trees in the years I get around to fertilizing them. My coarse sandy soil is unable to buffer nitrogen and potassium percolates down about six inches per year, so if I miss a couple years, the trees suffer. My most pronounced recent example was last year one of my Rome apple trees went from being a mid-November dropper to a mid-January dropper after I had fertilized it that spring.

That is interesting. I need to watch that as I have some that are fertilized and some not.


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[Tree Spud]

I notice a big delay in drop times on my apple trees in the years I get around to fertilizing them. My coarse sandy soil is unable to buffer nitrogen and potassium percolates down about six inches per year, so if I miss a couple years, the trees suffer. My most pronounced recent example was last year one of my Rome apple trees went from being a mid-November dropper to a mid-January dropper after I had fertilized it that spring.

PS ... I am a bit south of you and have loamy sand soil. What is your fertilize mix?

 

[PoorSand]

For my bearing trees: 9/16th of a cup of 44-0-0 per inch of trunk diameter as soon as the frost goes out. Phosphorous and potassium once the soil dries out, at the rates the soil test indicates, though in reality the soils here have excess phosphorous, so I end up applying potassium only.

 

[sandbur]

For my bearing trees: 9/16th of a cup of 44-0-0 per inch of trunk diameter as soon as the frost goes out. Phosphorous and potassium once the soil dries out, at the rates the soil test indicates, though in reality the soils here have excess phosphorous, so I end up applying potassium only.

What is the native soil pH?


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[PoorSand]

5.9 in most places, though limed to 7.0.

 

[PoorSand]

It also seems like in autumns with a lot of soil moisture the apples hang on later than during droughty autumns.