Peoples opinions on this years apples so far - too early?

[seneca196]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what people thought of this years apples, so far? It may be a bit too early to tell, but that may be the problem - they're too early. Maybe it was that warm spell early in the year, but so many of the early-mid varieties were falling early. They all looked the part, but were not correctly ripened and tasted, well pretty tasteless/insipid.

Whilst not a grower myself, I regularly buy apples from all over the midlands area at farmers markets and orchards. Maybe my location has something to do with it? Most sellers make their apples available quite soon after they are collected, so unlike shops, there is not long the wait in storage until bought and eaten.

For me, this years best have been Tydeman's early Worcester and Ellison's Orange. The Worcester variants have been ok up to a point, but lacking much of the that Strawberry flavor. They have also lasted longer (better?) than other years. I wonder if that is also to do with weather related ripening?

Egremont Russet and Spartan were available today - they looked fine, but were hard and tasteless. Such a shame. I'm hoping that the Midlands region is unique this year and everyone else is not affected. I'd be interested in peoples views - hopefully you've had more joy than me, in what so far has been a pretty joyless season up to now.
Then again, shouldn't complain too much as I'm still getting my regular and vital dosage of apples for the season.
(On a more positive note, had some Beurre Hardy today that were superb!)

[Jay22]

I have a small apple tree which was bought in Morrisons for £1.95 a couple of years ago. Got quite a few apples on it this year but have no idea what variety it is, I've lost the lable!

[veggiechicken]

My old apple trees are having their off year so not much to report.
However, this tree (?Early Emneth) http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...nce_75377.html is dropping its apples a couple of weeks earlier than it did last year when I started that thread.

[MrsKirchin]

The local community orchard didnt start dropping its fruit until October time last year. This year most of the fruit has already fallen and is quite sharp tasting. Ok for jams and pies, but not so much for eating.

[seneca196]

The local community orchard didnt start dropping its fruit until October time last year. This year most of the fruit has already fallen and is quite sharp tasting. Ok for jams and pies, but not so much for eating.

I totally agree. Many seemed like versions of James Grieve, which itself didn't quite have the sherbet dab taste it often does. Today's concorde pears tasted like supermarket conference. Rough skinned and hard. Gages and plums in early August were good though. Pershore Plum Festival on the Bank Holiday seemed more "after the event" than usual.

[boundtothesoil]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what people thought of this years apples, so far? It may be a bit too early to tell, but that may be the problem - they're too early. Maybe it was that warm spell early in the year, but so many of the early-mid varieties were falling early. They all looked the part, but were not correctly ripened and tasted, well pretty tasteless/insipid.

According to the English Apple Man's website diary, this season is 3 weeks earlier than last year and 7-10 days earlier than average. I don't know whether this applies mainly to Kent, but certainly most of the varieties I grow in mid-Wales are ripening much earlier than usual. For example, I picked my first Beauty of Bath on 23 July this year, compared with the usual first week of August.

Most varieties I've picked so far (e,g, Discovery, Lord Lambourne, James Grieve), have not suffered from poor flavour over here, but My Ellison's Orange and Sunset look quite odd this year. The former are huge and the latter are unusually small. Yields across varieties have been variable (Discovery lighter than usual, Lord Lambourne heavy) , but quality is pretty good because the dry early summer weather meant that scab levels are much lower than normal. This makes a big difference for me with varieties like Bramley's and Tom Putt, both of which are usually >50% badly scabbed here in mid-Wales. Given the weather I also expected a dreadful summer for wasps and insect pests, but the reality so far is less than average wasp damage and average codling moth damage.

[veggiechicken]

I've seen very few wasps this year - normally they're flocking around the fallers.

[noviceveggrower]

The lady a few houses down the road from me has a type of eating apple and a cooking apple tree.
The eating apple tree is dropping its fruit but still isn't quite ripe. The eating apple I was told should of been an all over pink but is a bit 50/50 if that and all covered in scabby bits.