Apple trees, when to harvest, when to fertilize

jessaka

15 years ago

i have a few apples on my apple trees. how can you tell when they are ripe.

and should i be fertilizing my fruit trees?

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Comments (5)

mulberryknob
15 years ago
Jessaka, How to tell when they are ripe depends on the variety and where you live. Different varieties ripen at different times in different zones, and turn different colors when they ripen. Here in 6b Jonathans ripen in late July early Aug and turn red. Yellow delicious ripen in early to mid Sept and turn yellow. Winesaps come on in late Sept and turn red. Ark black ripens in late Oct to early Nov and turns a deep red--hence the name. Those are the apples that I've raised. Size and color are the thing to look at if you don't know the variety. When they reach apple size, sacrifice one and taste it. You'll be able to tell. As to fertilizing, well established apple trees don't need a lot. It is important to keep competition down though so you should remove any grass or weeds to the drip line and put down an organic mulch which will also act as a fertilizer. Young trees can use some compost. It takes a lot of potassium to sweeten fruit of any kind so it might be a good idea to have a soil test done to see what your soil may be lacking.
jessaka
Original Author
15 years ago
where do you get a potassium tester?

i have granny smith. not sure how big they are supposed to get, but from what I buy in the store they have a little ways to go, and I only have 5 apples. enough to make a pie though.
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I just didn't know if I simmered them for jelly or put them in the juicer if the juice (and then the jelly I made later) would be discolored or taste weird. They're really too small to bother peeling. I washed 7 lbs and got about a cup out of the juicer (1 lb), simmered the rest and after reducing got 2 pints of pectin put up - but it's darker than the apple pectin I made from our Greening apples. Almost rosy. The juice is even darker (but clearer) than the pectin. Wasn't hard at all to stir the foam up and let it sit a bit, then pour it through a coffee filter, so I didn't waste much by skimming it. The juicer might be a pain to clean after each lb of apples, we'll see if the screen has to be cleaned each time or if it's just clearing the pulp out of the ring where it's spun into. The pulp was pretty dry - of course, the (crab?)apples were pretty dry too, though not too sour. I think I'd rather use the juicer than simmer, strain through colander and jelly bag. I'll have to test the (half cup or so) leftover simmered juice against the juicer juice and see if the extraction method really makes much of a difference in pectin content. I'd like to make more jelly.
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mulberryknob
15 years ago
You can talk to your local extension office about having a soil test done, or you can buy soil test kits from many gardening centers or catalogs.

I think Granny Smith's are green apples. Haven't raised them but if you know what they look like at maturity you should be able to get it close enough--especially for a pie.

All of the trees that I mentioned died--they were all fairly old, although a couple were diseased--and we replaced them with young trees. Have Fuji and Liberty bearing this year. Hoping the winesap and yellow delicious will come on next year
Macmex
15 years ago
Granny Smith are a deep green. But when raised and picked ripe you can expect a bit of a red blush on them. It'll be just a slight blush on one "cheek."

George
jessaka
Original Author
15 years ago
thanks for the information on soil kits and on the color of granny smith's when ripe.

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Apple trees, when to harvest, when to fertilize

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Apple trees, when to harvest, when to fertilize

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