Harvesting Apples

I live in the fruit belt of Pennsylvania and when I think of fall, I think of apples. Adams County has been my home for most of my life. Driving through orchards in the spring, enjoying the beautiful flowers, and taking that same drive in the fall while the red and yellow apples hang from the trees—nothing beats the color provided by those delicious fruits!

Picking fruit for fresh eating can be a guessing game for those of us that don’t do it on a regular basis. The first step is to know when the variety typically matures in your area.

This will allow you to have a general time frame when the fruit should be ripe. Although temperatures, moisture, and sunlight will all play a key role in the ripening of apples, knowing the average time frame in which a variety ripens will be a great help. Depending on the variety, maturity dates can start in south central Pennsylvania as early as July with ‘Yellow Transparent' or as late as November, as with ‘Pink Lady'.

Fortunately, help is available from many resources. Orchards throughout the state may advertise ripening times on their websites, Facebook, or mailing lists. It would be best to use estimations from a nearby orchard as it will likely be more appropriate for your region.

The color of the apple also plays a key role in knowing if it’s ripe. Fruit coloration, of course, depends entirely upon the variety and should be “true to type": the characteristic foreground (flush) and ground colors for the variety should be fully developed and match what is expected. Numerous sources provide this information including Adams County Nursery (acnursery.com) and most tree fruit nurseries, Orange Pippin, Adam’s Apples blog, and—for the advanced enthusiast—Fruit ID.

Observing the foreground color is easy. The ground color, not so much. Ground colors vary from white to yellow to green when mature. Apples with a strong, consistent foreground color like ‘Red Delicious' or ‘Nittany', or those with a tendency for russeting in the basin (bottom indentation where the flower was) or cavity (area near the stem) may make observing the ground color a challenge.

The “feel" of an apple is another indicator. The apple should be firm, but not hard. There may be some slight indentation when pressing into the apple but using this method alone could cause a person to keep the apple on the tree too long. Overripe fruit quickly becomes soft and mealy.

In mature fruit, the seed coats should be brown. Cut open an apple and take a look. And while you have the apple cut open, taste and smell it. If it’s too starchy and not sweet, then the rest of the apples may need to stay on the tree for a few more days. It should smell like an apple. The fragrance should be apparent when the apple is ready to be picked. Of course, personal preferences affect the ability to appreciate the flavor, but it should closely match the flavor profile expected of the variety.

Any one of these techniques, alone, will not determine the ripeness of an apple. However, using all these methods should help you make the right decision when picking this delicious fruit.

After determining whether the apples are ready to be picked, how do you pick them? Secure the fruit in the palm of your hand, with your thumb near the stem. Twist and lift upward, and the apple should release from the tree.

You should not need a lot of force to remove the fruit if it is ready to be harvested. The stem of the apple needs to stay on the fruit. Releasing the stem from the fruit will cause you to be eating, and not storing, lots of apples as they will not keep for long. While picking, take care to not break or remove fruiting spurs! Spurs are short, compressed stems that produce flowers annually and are found on many varieties. Loss of a spur means loss of fruit next year. When picking the apples, gently put them in a bucket; never drop them into a bucket. Bruising the fruit will reduce storage time and increase rotting.

Storing apples require refrigeration. Temperatures should be kept between 34°F and 40°F. Keeping them in a plastic bag with holes will increase the humidity, which is important for long-term storage of apples. Also note that storing any other fruit, seeds (for example garden seeds left over from the summer crop) or bulbs (if you are forcing daffodils, tulips or other spring bulbs for winter color) with apples is not OK. Apples release ethylene gas that will kill the embryo of the seed and the embryotic flower of the bulb. Also, the ethylene gas will cause other fruits and vegetables sharing the refrigerator to ripen and rot more quickly.

Once the fruit is off the tree, what do you need to do with the tree? That’s an easy answer—nothing—at least for now. However, when the leaves drop from the tree in November, including any apples that may have fallen, rake up those leaves and fallen fruit, remove any fruit mummies still attached to the tree, and discard them. This will help to reduce overwintering spores that live on the dead debris.  

Pruning becomes the next chore when the new year rolls around. Check out this video that will help guide you in pruning techniques: Pruning and Training Apple Trees and the Penn State Extension Home Orchard Calendar to help you in managing your fruit trees.

Although growing apples isn’t an easy task, it is rewarding when you can pick the fruit you have grown in your own yard! Understanding how to manage these trees and fruit throughout the year will help you be successful.