Tom:

I don't know what variety of apple you have there -- it could be one of dozens -- but at first blush I would guess the insect problem is apple maggot. It would help if you would photograph one of the apples cut in half so we could see if the characteristic tracks through the apple are present. If the seeds are brown, the apple is as ripe as it is going to get. Solutions might include spraying the tree just before the usual window of maggot infestation, or bagging the apples.

Sour is sour. It is the opposite of bland. Sweeter apples may taste better fresh off the tree, since the flavor is not masked by acidity. But sour apples have many good uses, including pies and applesauce, and are fine for blending in cider with sweeter apples. I wish I had more really sour apples to balance out the sweets at cider pressing time. The best sauce apple I grow, an early model called Yellow Transparent, is sour when we pick it and prepare the sauce, but delicious after adding the appropriate amount of sugar.

I wouldn't toss out that apple tree yet, but I would try to do something to control what I believe to be the old apple maggot fly. I wouldn't make sauce from apples with a lot of maggot tracks through them.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don, thanks for the input. my guess is that it is also apple maggot they had very small brown trails in the apple flesh but most have disappeared as the apple matured. I'm not very good at posting pics or I would, my son did the last ones for me. I find it quite strange that the neighbors tree had no problems (honey crisp and honey gold) and were not sprayed or mantained in any way as the lot was vacant all summer. as for controlling the apple maggot what type of maintence program would you recomend. he wants to keep the tree, it does make very good apple sause. thanks again. tom

Please post photos of the cut apples.

Your description of "very small brown trails in the apple flesh but most have disappeared as the apple matured" don't fit apple maggot.

Two other possibilities could be stink bug damage and/or bitter pit.

heres some more photos,{{gwi:125391}}
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I hope these pics help, thank again for all the input. tom

Tom:

Still looks like apple maggot to me, and a serious case of it. Unless I am mistaken, a maggot larvae actually stars in a couple of these photos, toward the edge of an apple. Timely spraying with an effective insecticide or bagging in ziplocks would probably protect the fruit. Based on seed color, these apples appear to be fully ripe.

Don't leave any maggot-infested fruit lying around on the ground when the season winds down, or they will end up producing the next generation. Orchard cleanup is one of the best cultural practices to control apple maggot infestations.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Yes, I agree. But I must say that the evidence (trails) didn't disappear. They're still quite apparent.

And thanks for the nice pictures. They'll help many people who take time for a look-see.

Yes thanks for the pictures, they are helpful to me. I have not had any confirmed apple maggot sightings in my orchard thus far and these pictures help me to know what to look for. I sure hope they take their sweet time coming, I am having enough problems fighting all the other pests already.

Scott

I'm still wondering why this tree is so heavaly infected but the neighbors trees ,30ft away, are not? apple type?

Also what type of spray would you recomend.

jean001... your correct the tails didnt disappear as I mistakinly wrote, I can see now how that would make diagnosing the problem tough. I love pic's.
Thanks! tom

Tom:

Are you sure the neighbor's tree is not infested? Have you actually looked closely at his fruit? Maybe the neighbor sprays or picks up his fruit drops so there are not so many flies hatching out under his tree. There can be some variety differences, but when two trees so close together differ so much in the level of insect damage, there is usually something else in play.

The spray you use is very much your own decision, based on what you can find and what is most effective in your area. Local advice would be better than mine. I use Imidan early for two or three sprays to get the apples up to thinning and bagging size, but Permethrin would be an acceptable and very effective substitute in most cases. But since I bag my apples, I am able to stop spraying very early in the season. If you don't do that, you will have to find something you are comfortable using all season long on about a 10 day schedule. Apple maggot is a later infestation than the plum curculio and codling moth I deal with by early sprays, and if you bagged your apples after thinning you might not have to spray at all, since you don't seem to have a problem with the other insects.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don, I'm sure the neighbors trees were not affected (I've eaten several)they look like they came off the store shelf inside and out. they were honey gold and honey crisp. much smaller trees probably m7 but dont know for sure. The lot was vacant all summer while the house was for sale, but it may have been sprayed, I'm getting this info 2nd hand so nothings for sure.
Thanks again for all the info! tom

A slight possibility since your neighbor's trees do not have any insect problems and your fruit has the accompanying skin dimples and brown necrotic flesh, is a viroid disease called "Apple Fruit Crinkle"

Here is a link that might be useful: Apple Fruit Crinkle info

Don't think that viroids make tunnels as shown in tom4a's photos.

Also notice that the viroid browning has a different pattern/distribution and includes vascular strands.

Time to weigh in. 20 years commercial orcharding experience, currently growing 50 varieties: definitely Apple maggot. By the way they dont treat all apples the same, definitely have preferances for earlier maturing fruit. I grow organically. Excellent control can be achieved with Ladd traps and a maggot lure. Cheaper: I paint a red supermarket apple with tangle foot, suspend it on a wire from tree. attach maggot lure. For small plantings one trap per tree is adequate. For large orchards place one trap per tree on the up-wind perimiter.
I havent seen apple maggor damage in my orchards in many years. Hope this helps.
Timing of trap placement helps: the fly's arent active all the time, put out traps about a month (4-6 weeks) after petal fall. Renew the lure every 4 weeks. dont stop until harvest.

My Mac and Winesap get virtually no AM, but my 80 yo Delicious is a magnet for every pest known to apples, especially AM. My spray program consists of sulfur, L/S and Surround, then bag the reachable apples and at that point I stop spraying (except for scab). Perhaps the unbagged D act as a trap tree and spare the M and W from AM pressure. I know it doesn't spare them from codling moth, which is a problem on all the trees.
Dan

Given the location and description, these are probably northwest greening apples. Not great for eating, but they make great pies if you can get you disease problem under control. I have a very productive tree myself, and it is not particularly disease prone with proper spraying. - Steve