When do you pick cooking apples ?

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Neil stuart
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When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Neil stuart »

I have a cooking apple tree in my garden and they are now slightly larger than a eating apple. they are going from green to a reddy green in colour and starting to fall off, but when will or are they ready?? Neil
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redd_angel55
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by redd_angel55 »

It depends on the sort of apple you have. I've got two apple trees, one will be ready mid september and the other in october. Just try a few, maybe make some apple sauce or a pie?
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Homemade
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Homemade »

If you cut one in half are the seeds brown? If so then they are probably ready. Another way to check is to lift the apple from below, whilst still on the tree, and if it comes off with only a gentle sideways twist it is ready.
Early fallers are often the ones with codling moth caterpillars in.
Pick too early and they will be too sour and shrivel in storage - too late and they will not store as long. September is when most apples are ready to pick for storage.
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Stormrider
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Stormrider »

If you're okay to wait a little while there's a very useful bloke on Youtube that I follow who has his own orchard. After speaking with him recently he's going to put up a video on storing apples as it's something I'm coming across soon. He also has some videos on when to pick apples. His usename is stephenhayesuk I think (I'll check though)
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Mo
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Mo »

I have Bramley cookers (but they don't usually go red, maybe a few strpes of yellow or red, mostly stay green).

Fruit that ripens early (for that variety) often turns out to have a wriggler inside (or evidence of one). Windfall cookers can still be used, if they are smaller than usual it's a bigger job peeling enough, and cutting out the mess in the middle. And they may be sharper than one picked later and stored. My Bramleys need no sugar in October, but the windfalls do. I pick them in Sept, if I have time.

The test is to lift the apple slightly, if it comes off i your hand it's ready to pick. An early variety of Eating apple should be picked and eaten straight from the tree, but some varieties need to be picked when ready to pick then stored till ready to eat. So you need to find out what you've got. Can you post a picture here, or google some pics of different varieties.
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Neil stuart
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Neil stuart »

Thanks everyone, they are not ready yet then. Last year when we mooved in to this house the tree only had one apple but we had it pruned and this year it has about a hundred. lol )t'
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Mo
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by Mo »

Some varieties can bear heavily one year, then take a rest the next, if you let them. I think the books reccomend thinning the fruit in the 'heavy' year, to leave some energy for the next. And a late frost can also spoil the crop, a friend of ours is complaining that she has almost nothing on her trees this year, ourd are mostly OK, but the earliest eaters have less on like the plums.
I never have time to thin my apples, first I'm busy thinning the plums (which are big and beautiful if thinned, rotting rubbish if left in clusters), then it's time to dig spuds, then pick plums.
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Re: When do you pick cooking apples ?

Post by wendy »

Thank you ladies.
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