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| Huge amounts of snow and very cold temperatures have just hit the region where I live even though it was 24 celsius (over 70 Fahrenheit) only yesterday!! My apple tree is struggling under the weight of all this snow plus the weight of the apples too. I talked to a nursery and given the freezing temperatures and snow today and the forecast for the next few days, a decision was made to pick most of the apples (sigh). They are not quite ripe. They are called "fall red" apples, and should taste like a pink lady (sweet in a nice way), but right now the apples taste more like a Granny Smith (still quite nice). What can I do to encourage these picked apples to ripen a bit more?? They are edible as-is, but I'd like to see if I can get them a bit more ripe/sweet if possible. I know very little about apple trees and apples so need advice desperately! This snow is a real nuisance. I hope that farmers do not end up losing some crops. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 1:19
| I'm in the same boat...got snow too and have probably close to a ton out there, the ripe one's [Norland, Parkland, Harcourt and Carrol] I picked and made juice on the weekend. Apples can take a frost...up to minus 4C or so, time will tell..think some will be fine. All you can do now is store them in a cool room. I have fall red and thankfully only one tree, not a good eating apple, ..needs another two weeks, just borderline for ripening, you might want to add the zone in your page,..must be around zone 3 or 2? |
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| Scarlett, don't be too quick to harvest apples. They can take several degrees of frost, in fact they often sweeten up after a frost or two. Unless it's going below -4C, I wouldn't do anything except to wait until they ripen on the tree. |
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- Posted by harvestman 6 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 5:46
| How much frost they can take depends a lot on the apple and perhaps brix levels. Last year Pink Lady and Goldrush took temps down to 22F here in SE NY without losing their crisp texture. |
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- Posted by Scarlett001 none (My Page) on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 10:16
| Well, I have already picked a lot of the apples (maybe not clear in initial post), so I cannot change that now. I did leave some on the tree so I can test and see which works out best this time - the ones left on the tree or the ones I picked. Other than storing as per usual is there anything that I can do to encourage ripening after picked? That is what I want to find out. :) |
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| They will ripen at room temperature or in cold storage. I'd put those already picked in cold storage and eat them last. The ones still on the tree can ripen more and be eaten sooner. Ethylene is the ripening agent. If you must ripen the really green ones fast put them in a bag with apples or banana that are already ripening. I'm not sure what gives off the most ethylene or when but that's what you need. |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 23:33
| Ethylene is manufactured and released by rapidly growing tissues (i.e., meristems) in roots, senescing flowers, and ripening fruit. For example, the darkened spots on a ripe banana release great amounts of ethylene. Ethylene has many effects on plants including being responsible for the stunting of plants in high winds or when repeatedly touched. In addition, ethylene promotes fruit ripening. Like many hormones, it does so at very low concentrations. Apple growers take advantage of this by picking fruit when it is not ripe, holding it in enclosed conditions without ethylene, and exposing it to ethylene right before taking it to market. This process is why we have newly ripened apples grown in temperate North America even in the spring and summer (apples ripen in the fall). This was gleened from a chemistry education site. |
This post was edited by Appleseed70 on Wed, Sep 10, 14 at 10:20
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Wed, Sep 10, 14 at 2:25
| >>They are called "fall red" apples, and should taste like a pink lady (sweet in a nice way)<< Still can't get over this... Can I ask, where this information came from? You also got the wrong information for picking them, as long we have cloud cover, which we have for a couple of day's now, not to worry for a hard frost,...from now on it will improve again. If your'e interested in growing more fruits, tasting them first is a good way to go, this Sunday at Devonian Botanic Garden there is a fruit show going on, you can sample them all. |
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| I only had one apple tree fruit, sparsely, this year, and the apples started to drop too soon. Rather than let the squirrels get them all, I picked them early, and now hoping they'll ripen a bit more in storage. |
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| Regarding ripening apples in a bag with other apples or a bannana,.... does that really work?!?! I have some under-ripe apples that have fallen to the ground in heavy winds and storms. Will they ripen and sweeten up if I try the bag method? I've been dutifully struggling to eat my bland, undersweet apples while waiting for the ones on the tree to achieve full ripeness, but I'd much rather "trick" them into sweetening up if possible. |
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| bart: If the fruit placed in with yours is really releasing ethylene it should speed ripening. But the best apples to hold for long term storage are the early picked ones that are still high in starch. Picked too early and they may never ripen or turn sweet. After the starch has mostly turned to sugar it's too late for storage. The old test of when to harvest apples for long term storage was an iodine application to cut apple surface. Some conversion needs to have started but not too much. My understanding is that banana are ripened in stores by giving them a shot of ethylene to get ripening started. That way they can be picked and transported green but ripened on demand. |
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| Thanks FN! So the ones that have fallen to the ground because of winds may be fantastic in a few weeks or months and the ones I'm leaving on the tree may be too sweet to be keepers. Crazy! Every time I think I understand some small facet of growing/picking/eating, I learn a new tidbit and my whole world gets upended!!! ;-) |
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- Posted by konrad___far_north 3..just outside of E (My Page) on Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 23:58
| >>So the ones that have fallen to the ground because of winds may be fantastic in a few weeks or months and the ones I'm leaving on the tree may be too sweet to be keepers. Crazy! << No, the fallen ones will be bruised and go downhill rapidly,.. |
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