Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Good cool morning for apple picking:
First ripe apples for 2021
- Thread starter Native Hunter
- Start date
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
My next apple to ripen will be Summer Champion, and it's my favorite early apple. It gets large and has a nice complex flavor, which I love. I will post some pics later when they come in. The pic below is today, and you can see that some are just beginning to get a little color. A few should be ripe by the 4th of July Weekend.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Bevan's Favorite is really coming on strong now. I had forgotten how much I like this apple for fresh eating.
Summer Champion is being stubborn and slower than normal, but I did pick these this morning:
This is what people talk about when they use the phrase, "...low hanging fruit...."
A preview of Liberty this year. It will still be a while.
And a bonus picture for today - my tame blackberries. I don't know the cultivar, but they are big ones.
Summer Champion is being stubborn and slower than normal, but I did pick these this morning:
This is what people talk about when they use the phrase, "...low hanging fruit...."
A preview of Liberty this year. It will still be a while.
And a bonus picture for today - my tame blackberries. I don't know the cultivar, but they are big ones.
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
I just looked up Big Horse, wow do they ever have alot of varieties of scions to choose from! I am not very experienced at scions/grafting, I understand some of it but don't know the specifics.
Noob question if you don't mind me asking. The rootstock decides the cold hardy, disease resistance and size of the tree aspects, what is grafted above the rootstock decides things like flavor and how abundantly the tree produces fruit. But what determines drop time?
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
My thoughts to you questions:
1. Actually both the rootstock and variety (cultivar) of the apple affects disease resistance, but the apple cultivar has more of an impact than the rootstock.
2. Rootstock does affect cold hardiness, but the cultivar also has an impact.
3. Drop time is primarily determined by the cultivar with the rootstock having a lesser, secondary impact. Also keep in mind that elevation, weather and location have a big impact on drop times. I have determined that in my location, most apples will ripen roughly a month earlier than they will at Blue Hill's location (per Ryan's chart). People south of me will likewise be earlier than I am.
4. To learn more about this subject, I highly recommend that you read the following thread: https://habitat-talk.com/index.php?...pple-tree-knowledge-thread.10487/#post-190622
Last edited:
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Thank you for clarifying Native! Good information there, I will save that.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
An illustration of how much variability there is in the ripening time of individual apples on Summer Champion. A few already ripe, but many still very green. It seems that the larger ones are the last ones to ripen. That wouldn't be good for commercial orchards but is nice in a home orchard for a guy who wants to pick a few apples occasionally and have them last a while.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
My next apples to ripen will be Priscilla. This is my favorite apple of all that I grow. The taste is just right for me, and the disease resistance is on par with Liberty.
I have such a load of fruit on this tree that I built some temporary bracing under some of the lower limbs to prevent breaking. Fruit should be ripe in about 2 more weeks and maybe a few just a little earlier.
I have such a load of fruit on this tree that I built some temporary bracing under some of the lower limbs to prevent breaking. Fruit should be ripe in about 2 more weeks and maybe a few just a little earlier.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Here is a link that shows when a lot of well known apples ripen in my general area. I wish it was a more comprehensive list, but a lot of my apples aren't shown. If you grow any of these, I would like to get a general idea of how much later they are for your location.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Good info Mozark, and nice apples.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I'm literally covered up with apples right now. I have three different trees coming in at the same time. These are:
Priscilla
Myers Royal Limbertwig
Betsy Deaton
Below is a picture of some Priscilla I picked today. I would have liked to leave these another week, but I've already had one limb to break, and I selectively removed a few buckets to keep other limbs from doing the same thing.
This shows some of the overloaded limbs on Priscilla:
Here is Myers Royal Limbertwig. It looks about the same, but I don't worry about the limbs breaking as much on this tree.
Here is a bucket of Betsy Deaton. These apples are not as pretty this year for some reason, and the crop isn't quite up to par. However, it is a great apple - except for the fact that it always shows quite a bit of CAR.
I'm running my dehydrator a bunch and getting ready to make some of my family and neighbors happy with some free apples. I'm going to load my extra refrigerator with Priscilla, because she is my favorite. I can enjoy them for a few months that way.
Priscilla
Myers Royal Limbertwig
Betsy Deaton
Below is a picture of some Priscilla I picked today. I would have liked to leave these another week, but I've already had one limb to break, and I selectively removed a few buckets to keep other limbs from doing the same thing.
This shows some of the overloaded limbs on Priscilla:
Here is Myers Royal Limbertwig. It looks about the same, but I don't worry about the limbs breaking as much on this tree.
Here is a bucket of Betsy Deaton. These apples are not as pretty this year for some reason, and the crop isn't quite up to par. However, it is a great apple - except for the fact that it always shows quite a bit of CAR.
I'm running my dehydrator a bunch and getting ready to make some of my family and neighbors happy with some free apples. I'm going to load my extra refrigerator with Priscilla, because she is my favorite. I can enjoy them for a few months that way.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
My recommendation is to first start with the many videos available on You-tube. Watch several of them, and you should start getting a feel for what is being done. Keep in mind that some may be showing you how to do a central leader style and others may be showing how you do an open center style. I usually train young trees to central leader, but occasionally will do open center on an older tree that has been growing for a long time without any training.
Last edited:
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I picked a bunch of Myers Royal Limbertwig today. This is my favorite drying apple, and it is also held in high regard as a cider apple. I think it is also the largest of the Limbertwigs.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
You must like tart apples for fresh eating. Myers is too tart off the tree for me but perfect when made into apple chips - and even better with a touch of cinnamon...
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
When you say "apple chips" - how dry are they?? Do they get crunchy - or more chewy like a jerky?? (that may be a bad comparison) I never tried drying apple slices.
