Spotty Apples Does anyone know what this is ...

[8875june]

When I took over my allotment last Christmas I found loads of fallen apples like this I thought it was something that had happened whilst they were on the ground. These apples above have been picked from the tree. I have no idea what apples these are or why they have these spots on them. I have several different varieties of apple trees and these are the only ones that have this.

[Martin H]

That looks like Bitter Pit. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_pit.

My allotment had a Bramley apple that got this every year.

[Nicos]

^^^^yep...I get it each year with one of my trees.
They are still edible though!

[Lardman]

If you're not organic and the apples are worth it you can feed / foliar spray with calcium nitrate.

[8875june]

Thank you for letting me know what it is. The apples from this tree are quite small, I'll see what they are like and see whether there worth treating next year.

[nickdub]

Assuming it is bitter pit (try cutting one where there is a mark is and see if extends in to the fruit to be sure) then it is much more likely on some varieties than others and in some years only. I have 2 ashmead's kernel trees which get it sometimes, but mostly it doesn't affect them too badly and some years they are fine.

[flynch]

There are two main causes of spots on apples, bitter pit and Apple scab. Bitter pit extends though the skin and throughout the flesh and can give a bitter taste. Apple scab is on the skin only doesn't affect the taste but can effect storage or cause growing apples to spilt if it occurs early in the growing season.

[Hereford fruit grower]

You might find that liming the soil helps, given that it's made worse by a shortage of calcium. My soil pH is 5.5-5.8 which is a bit low for apples although it's a good compromise if one wants to grow blueberries, LOL.

My neighbours limed heavily before they planted 50 acres (!) of cider apples. They were aiming to bring their fields up from 5.5 to at least 6.0.

I spread some limestone dust/fine debris from building work and I'm monitoring the situation. There's probably less bitter pit this year than in 2016. Too early to be sure.

[Jay22]

We have the same on ours but as it doesn't go all the way through the apple I'm guessing it's apple scab. They still taste delicious and I've made loads of crumbles with them.

[Jungle Jane]

I wonder if pruning would help,get better air flow so these fungal problems don't happen? I had apple scab once a few years ago,the only thing I do different nowadays is give it a feed of sulphate of potash in Feb/March,seems good to me. Remove any fallen apples & leaves from under the tree because of the fungal spores.

[nickdub]

We have the same on ours but as it doesn't go all the way through the apple I'm guessing it's apple scab. They still taste delicious and I've made loads of crumbles with them.

If the spots don't extend beneath the skin in to the fruit of the apple (like brown flesh) then it's almost certainly scab, which mostly is just a cosmetic issue.