Dealing with constant falling apples

[asdffdsa]

Hi,

 

I have an apple tree in my small back garden which is very productive. When we get to this time of year we get at least 20-30 apples falling to the ground every day, which gets quite annoying to deal with. By the time I pick them up the majority need to be binned, but even if that weren't the case, I just don't have a use for such a huge amount of apples. I have invested in a long pole + apple collector to get them before they fall, but a lot of the apples on the tree don't look quite ready.

 

I'd like some advice on what people do in this situation. For example:

- do you usually harvest all the apples on the tree in one go, and when (considering they seem to ripen at different speeds).

- how do you store the apples? We are prone to get fruit flies in the kitchen, so just having them in a box in the kitchen doesn't seem ideal.

- any efficient ways for collecting trees from the ground? I'm considering one of those roller things, although I'm not sure how well they work (especially as the ground is quite uneven).

- I'm aware I should have thinned the apples out early on in the season, but how do you do this higher up in the tree?

- any other tips would be great - I'm pretty useless at gardening stuff. The apple tree was there already when we moved in, and I do like the idea of having it (even if the practicalities are less idyllic!)

 

Thanks.

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, asdffdsa said:

Hi,

 

I have an apple tree in my small back garden which is very productive. When we get to this time of year we get at least 20-30 apples falling to the ground every day, which gets quite annoying to deal with. By the time I pick them up the majority need to be binned, but even if that weren't the case, I just don't have a use for such a huge amount of apples. I have invested in a long pole + apple collector to get them before they fall, but a lot of the apples on the tree don't look quite ready.

 

I'd like some advice on what people do in this situation. For example:

- do you usually harvest all the apples on the tree in one go, and when (considering they seem to ripen at different speeds).

- how do you store the apples? We are prone to get fruit flies in the kitchen, so just having them in a box in the kitchen doesn't seem ideal.

- any efficient ways for collecting trees from the ground? I'm considering one of those roller things, although I'm not sure how well they work (especially as the ground is quite uneven).

- I'm aware I should have thinned the apples out early on in the season, but how do you do this higher up in the tree?

- any other tips would be great - I'm pretty useless at gardening stuff. The apple tree was there already when we moved in, and I do like the idea of having it (even if the practicalities are less idyllic!)

 

Thanks.

Got a compost clamp ?

[GarethM]

Apples are apples, but are they eating or cooking apples.

 

Suppose you could make cider if there are enough of them, I just chop mine up into slices and feed them to the sheep as they're not the nicest eating apples.

[eggsarascal]

I inherited a few apple trees at my last place, the ones we wanted to keep were wrapped individually in newspaper and stored in the shed, they last months. The ones we didn’t want went to a local lady who kept horses. The rotten ones went on the compost heap.

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, asdffdsa said:

Hi,

 

I have an apple tree in my small back garden which is very productive. When we get to this time of year we get at least 20-30 apples falling to the ground every day, which gets quite annoying to deal with. By the time I pick them up the majority need to be binned, but even if that weren't the case, I just don't have a use for such a huge amount of apples. I have invested in a long pole + apple collector to get them before they fall, but a lot of the apples on the tree don't look quite ready.

I have a similar problem and put it down to codling moth (as a lot have grubs or exit holes and brown rot /blossom rot. I haven't had success with grease bands or pherome traps to show me when the moths are active and as I don't spray chemicals I suppose I should plant a more resistant tree.

 

I tend to pick the windfalls up, cut out any rot and put the pieces through a juicer, keeping the juice in the fridge, it will freeze.

 

I will harvest the lot that remain soon but even wrapped they do not keep well so will juice most of them.

[Mick Dempsey]

I put it down to gravity.

[htb]

Newton's got a lot to answer for.

[dan blocker]

Apple trees will very often discard apples the tree cannot sustain. This can take place anytime after apples have set and is sometimes called the June drop but is affected by region, and weather conditions. If you have an abundant crop and don’t thin them out you could end up with small apples or worse broken/ failing branches. Remove apples that are obviously not going to develop into sound fruit - mis-shaped, damaged, insect/ grub/ bird damage, double or multiple clusters of apples should be reduced to ideally one large fruit. In the recent long unusually hot period more apples have been discarded than usual. Commercial growers will reduce the amount of pre harvest apple removal by pruning as required.

[eggsarascal]

3 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

I inherited a few apple trees at my last place, the Apples we wanted to keep were wrapped individually in newspaper and stored in the shed, they last months. The ones we didn’t want went to a local lady who kept horses. The rotten ones went on the compost heap.

 

[Muddy42]

You can collect and freeze pretty much any apple - the rotten and dodgier the better. Once defrosted they are all mushy and make amazing apple juice.

[Stere]

I just run them over with the mower.

 

Any  decent fallers can be saved for eating /cider etc but won't store well.

 

For picking don't picK all at once just the ripe ones...

 

To reach higher apples a jap tripod ladder.

 

For storage I use old bread trays in a rat proof shed but you can get special apple racks.

 

 

Temp has to be right for best storing need a cooler damper pantry ideally as modern houses are to warm and dry to store fruit.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Stere