Many home gardeners have a good crop of apples on their trees. If your apple trees are overcrowded with fruit, it would be wise to brace the branches to prevent serious damage to your trees in the event of high winds. Branches may be "propped" from the ground with notched boards. Use cloth, burlap or rubber between the branch and the prop, to reduce tree injury.

Apples are ready to harvest when the seeds turn brown. You can also determine maturity by tasting the flavor of the fruit. Delaying harvest after the seeds have turned brown may result in a deterioration or mealiness of the fruit. This is an indication of over maturity. Picking your apples too early results in a reduced quality (less sugars). If you are using the fruit for making jelly, premature harvest may be desirable.

If your apples have a "bumpy" appearance with brown streaks running through the fruits, they have been infected with apple maggots. These tiny maggots tunnel through the flesh; later these tunnels turn brown. Spraying during late June and July is necessary to prevent this problem. However, you can reduce the build up of this insect problem by picking up all fallen apples immediately. This sanitary practice goes a long way in controlling apple maggots.

To get maximum storage life from your apples, pick them when they are fully mature, don't bruise the fruits, cool them rapidly and store at the recommended temperature and humidity. Reducing the temperature is the major factor in retarding spoilage. The closer you keep your apple to 30 degrees, the longer they will keep.

Apples remain alive after they are picked and continue to respire or "breathe". The higher the storage temperature, the more rapid the respiration and the more rapidly the apples will spoil. For ideal storage, maintain a humidity of 85-90 percent. If you have trouble finding a spot with this type of humidity, you may store small quantities of fruit in plastic bags. As a general rule, early ripening varieties don't store as well as late maturing varieties such as Haralson. Light frosts are not harmful to apples while still on the tree .

This page was last updated May 2003

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