Picking Apples

[Glyn Jones]

My wife tells me we should be picking our Bramleys. I think it's a
couple of weeks early - the stems are quite firm and the fruit is
still green in the main. We are in Notts.
Advice appreciated.
Glyn
--
Glyn Jones FRPS Glyn...@Zetnet.co.uk

[Kay]

Glyn Jones wrote

>My wife tells me we should be picking our Bramleys. I think it's a
>couple of weeks early - the stems are quite firm and the fruit is
>still green in the main. We are in Notts.
>Advice appreciated.
>Glyn

My apple book (Rosemary Sanders: The English Apple) gives picking time
for Bramley as mid Oct, for eating Nov - Mar.

Although some apples ripen on the tree for picking and eating
immediately, the majority, like Bramley, are for keeping and eating
through the winter, and you would expect these to go on ripening after
they are picked.

In practice, I tend to pick apples when they come off the tree easily if
you lift them slightly (this moves the stem at right angles to its
attachment, and when the apple is ready the stem will snap off easily
leaving the fruiting spur intact). But I would pick all before mid
November because I'm not sure of the effect of frost. And I take a
noticeable number of windfalls as an indication that picking time has
arrived.

For reference, in Yorkshire I have picked 5 of the trees, but there are
still three to go (Brownlees Russet, Cornish Aromatic and Reinette
Ananas) - I think they are nominally mid-late Oct pickers, and I expect
to pick them all in the next 2-3 weeks.

--
Kay
k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk

[Glyn Jones]

In message <g5Tc4eAc...@scarboro.demon.co.uk>
Kay <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> writes:

> My apple book (Rosemary Sanders: The English Apple) gives picking time
> for Bramley as mid Oct, for eating Nov - Mar.

> Although some apples ripen on the tree for picking and eating
> immediately, the majority, like Bramley, are for keeping and eating
> through the winter, and you would expect these to go on ripening after
> they are picked.

> In practice, I tend to pick apples when they come off the tree easily if
> you lift them slightly (this moves the stem at right angles to its
> attachment, and when the apple is ready the stem will snap off easily
> leaving the fruiting spur intact). But I would pick all before mid
> November because I'm not sure of the effect of frost. And I take a
> noticeable number of windfalls as an indication that picking time has
> arrived.

Thank you, Kay. I have apologised to my wife and am heading up the garden!