Apple Time!

Saturday, August 28, 2010 03:50 AM

Over the past few days I have noticed that the apples are beginning to fall off the trees which is an indicator that they are ripe and ready to be picked. Another way to see if an apple is ripe is to cut it open and look at the seeds. If the seeds are dark brown or black the apple is ripe.

Apples ripen from the outside of the tree first and then work their way in, so when picking apples, pick the apples that are growing on the outside ends of the branches first. When an apple is ripe it should separate from the tree easily.

You don't want to damage the tree or the fruit when picking the apple so hold the apple and twist upward with a rotating motion, never pull, and try and keep the stem on the apple as this will make the apple last longer.

Carefully place the apple in a container so that it does not bruise as bruising also shortens the length of time an apple can be kept. If you are planning on storing the apples do not wash them until they are going to be used and store them in a cool place. It is important to pick apples as they ripen and not to leave them on the trees as the ripened apples will attract unwanted visitors such as bears, porcupines, squirrels and mice.

If you have too many apples there should be no problem giving them away to neighbours, friends or the food bank!

In the past few years the variety list of hardy apple trees has been increasing. There are a number of varieties that grow and produce very well in our Prince George zone 3 climate. These include varieties such as 'Fall Red', 'Honey Crisp', 'Battleford', 'Westland', 'September Ruby', 'Harcourt', 'Parkland', 'Norland', and'Goodland'. These produce nice medium to large sized fruit suitable for eating or processing.

Also available are the apple/crabapple types such as 'Rescue', and 'Kerr' which are have large sized crab apples and are excellent for processing.

There is still time to plant apple trees this season. September is a good time to plant trees as the weather is cooler and plants don't dry out as quickly. By planting now the tree will become established and next spring will be ready to grow!

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George:

Highway 16 west at Kimball Road
Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2010 03:50 AM in Home and Garden by Jos Van Hage

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on August 28 2010 12:08 PM

Cut my grass. What there was of it last week. Raked under my crab apple tree and threw some (not a lot) of apples in with the grass clippings. Unbeknownst to me, I start to unload at the Vanway transfer station then the babe comes up to me and says I can't throw apples in with the grass clippings into the dumpster because of bears. Wow! You could have knocked me over with a feather. Pretty soon you will have to throw yer yard waste through a chain link fence into the dumpster if people keep falling in.

Posted by: Eagleone on August 29 2010 3:21 AM

Last year I had 7 apple boxes of apples from only one tree... this year maybe a dozen apples on the same tree. Huge ones the size of grapefruits, but strange that there were so few this year... same with my crab apple trees and the cherry trees too.