BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
Sundance looks interesting. Cant wait for you to taste one of those bad boys and let us know!
Native Hunter Apples 2023
- Thread starter Native Hunter
- Start date
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Coming soon. The word on the street is that it is a tad on the tart side when picked and sweetens in storage. Can be stored several months in fridge.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I’m considering giving the apples on my Caney Fork Limbertwig to a friend for cider, so I will go ahead and post pics now. This apple will get a red cast but not deep red. The only problem I have with it is that it always shows moderate CAR, but it isn’t enough to hurt the crops. The taste is great. It has a long, slow drop, and Most will have fallen by early October where I live. If you don’t spray for CAR, I wouldn’t recommend planting this cultivar in a place where aesthetics would be important.
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Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I told someone a while back that I didn’t have an Arkansas Black producing at this time. Well, I was wrong. I have now identified a previously unknown tree as an AB. It’s a young tree and only has 17 apples, but I’m excited to finally get to try this famous variety. PS - I have a temporary cage built around the tree to keep the deer from getting them before I do.
I am surprised you ar black apples are way ahead of mine. A few just now starting to get a slight blush of red.
BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
What is the drop time usually for yours, Swamp?
Usually the coons have them by now. If they make it all the way - late Oct into Nov. mine are going to be small this year - not quite tennis ball size. 105 degrees and no rain is not good apple weather. For some reason - probably a consistent coon trapping program - apples are still there. Squirrels sampled a few but quit. Deer wont even eat the low hangers yet.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
There is a chart that the University of KY put out a few years ago that gives apple ripening times for several well known cultivars. The times are for Central KY. They have a footnote that says the ripening times can be 5 days later in Eastern KY and up to 10 days earlier in Western KY. That would put the opposite ends of the state up to 15 days difference.
Unfortunately they don't give it for South Central KY where I live, but I have noted that my ripening times tend to be around 20 days earlier than what they give for Central. I'm actually only about 30 minutes from the TN line. For Arkansas Black they give October 20. That makes me feel like mine will be ripe about the end of September - or maybe a month or so from now. Hence, the deep red coloring seems about right for this time of year.
Here is another thing that might hasten my ripening. Up until this year I had basically been ignoring this tree. But, this spring I gave it a good dose of fertilizer and also limed it. After that, when I saw the nice fruit set, I started giving it some water during dry spells. I think finally giving it some TLC has helped it a lot.
PS - I have been able to determine that my ripening times are generally 4 to 5 weeks earlier than what Blue Hill experiences at their location in PA.
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I would be a good bit further south than you. Shouldnt my apples ripen before yours?
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Yes, as a general rule that is true. Sometimes with some varieties, however, it is not so clear cut. I have tried to study up on this, but other factors can cloud the water - like elevation, differences in weather between two spots, etc.... My thoughts are that you should be quite a bit earlier than me, but I can't explain why that isn't true in this case.
Freedom has been my most reliable tree in the river bottoms. I planted 3 on EMLA7 in 2011 (not my favorite rootstock). They’ve had apples every year since they began bearing. Not my favorite eater but they are for the deer. Enterprise is leaning that way as well. Planted 3 in 2013/14 and they are starting to produce yearly. Not the best eater but deer don’t care. Both DR and not bothered by bugs like some other varieties I have.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
That's good to hear. What is your location?
South central WI. 4b
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
To illustrate my previous point about confusion in ripening times and location, look at the following charts - one from a nursery near Milwaukee, WI and the other from the University of KY that I told you about. I made some comparisons below. Note how that there is 41 days difference with Wolf River but only 2 days difference with Northern Spy and Cortland. Most of the others fall between those two extremes. Also note that WI is 5 days before KY for Arkansas Black, instead of later than KY.
I'm not going to take the time to do it, but I bet you could find all kinds of crazy stuff like this if you searched around a little.
Apple Varieties and Approximate Ripening Dates
I've created extensive descriptions of the apples on this blog but I thought it would help you all to have a quick list to reference.
www.lapaceksorchard.com
Stayman Winesap:
KY - Sept 25
WI - Oct 7
Northern Spy:
KY - Sept 25
WI - Sept 27
Arkansas Black:
KY - Oct 20
WI - Oct 15
Wolf River:
KY - July 25
WI - Sept 5
Gala:
KY - Aug 25
WI - Aug 30
Cortland
KY - Sept 1
WI - Sept 3
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I’m now beginning to eat some of the Sundance apples. A good number are still hanging but a few have been falling every day for a while. I’m impressed with the taste. It has a rich flavor that starts out tart but finishes sweet. To me it is similar to the taste of a Caney Fork LT.
Here is something else I have noticed. They seem to ripen from the outside, and if you eat one that is still slightly unripe, you can tell a difference in taste between the outside and part near the core. This makes me think that the ones I am putting in storage in the fridge will be even better after a few months. This is similar to what people say about Arkansas Black (which I will also get to try in a few weeks).
Bottom line is that they don’t replace Priscilla as my number one choice for no spray human apples, but they very well have a good chance of taking second place or at least a tie for second place.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Here are a few Sundance I picked up over the last few days. I’m going to process and dehydrate them this morning. These should be Carmel flavored apple chips by in the morning.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
^ ^ ^ ^ Nice bucket of apples, Native! Thanks for the info about the ripening from the outside --- in.
Like your Sundance, our camp's biggest cosmetic "flaws" are sooty blotch and flyspeck. Deer don't care - and they don't affect flavor for our eating. We just wash in cold water & eat.
Unfortunately, a late frost / freeze hit our apple & crab trees this past spring - so apples are few this year.
Like your Sundance, our camp's biggest cosmetic "flaws" are sooty blotch and flyspeck. Deer don't care - and they don't affect flavor for our eating. We just wash in cold water & eat.
Unfortunately, a late frost / freeze hit our apple & crab trees this past spring - so apples are few this year.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
The frost got my pears this year but spared the apples. It will likely reverse next year, and I will have an abundant pear crop and no apples.
BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
Interesting. My father has a couple of Galas and they usually ripen by early August to middle of August. We are located in NE Mississippi. You would think being so far south that it would be a significant difference in the drop times. This gives me hope that some trees I have purchased from nurseries from up north will be very close to the drop time they are saying occurs with their trees.To illustrate my previous point about confusion in ripening times and location, look at the following charts - one from a nursery near Milwaukee, WI and the other from the University of KY that I told you about. I made some comparisons below. Note how that there is 41 days difference with Wolf River but only 2 days difference with Northern Spy and Cortland. Most of the others fall between those two extremes. Also note that WI is 5 days before KY for Arkansas Black, instead of later than KY.
I'm not going to take the time to do it, but I bet you could find all kinds of crazy stuff like this if you searched around a little.
Apple Varieties and Approximate Ripening Dates
I've created extensive descriptions of the apples on this blog but I thought it would help you all to have a quick list to reference.
Stayman Winesap:
KY - Sept 25
WI - Oct 7
Northern Spy:
KY - Sept 25
WI - Sept 27
Arkansas Black:
KY - Oct 20
WI - Oct 15
Wolf River:
KY - July 25
WI - Sept 5
Gala:
KY - Aug 25
WI - Aug 30
Cortland
KY - Sept 1
WI - Sept 3
