how do you pick a green apple

4 Easy Ways to Test If Your Green Apple Is Ripe

Check how easy it is to pick the apple; give it an upwards twist and if it separates easily it is ready. You will never have to cut a ripe apple from the tree.

Predicting When You Green Apples Will Be Ripe

You can also predict ahead of time when your green apples will be ripe by knowing how long it takes from bloom to fruit ripening. Granny Smith apples take 170 – 180 days from bloom to harvest so if you know when the tree bloomed you can calculate when you should harvest.

Maximize your apple harvest this year by preventing damage to your apples and the trees they come from

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1. Twist Apples Instead Of Pulling

A common method for picking apples is to simply grab hold and pull until they come off the branch, but this can be damaging to the tree and it can cause other apples to drop. If you look closely, you’ll notice that apples don’t grow on the main branches of the apple tree, but actually grow on short sub-branches called spurs.

3. Grasp Apples With The Palm Of Your Hand

When picking your apples, be sure to hold them in the palm of your hand, rather than using your fingers. The pressure applied by your fingers or by the grip of an apple picker can bruise the fruit, whereas using the palm of your hand provides a softer grip, preventing damage.

4. Select Only Ripe Apples

If the apples on your trees aren’t fully ripe, they won’t be nearly as delicious to eat, and they will also be harder to remove from the spur branches. A fully ripe apple separates easily from the branch, so if you’re having a hard time twisting them off, they probably aren’t ripe, even if they otherwise appear to be.

When Are Apples Ready To Be Picked?

Apple ripening depends on many factors, including the cultivar of apple and the weather during the growing season. While annual patterns are well established, farmers don’t set an exact harvest date for their crops. Apple growers observe the ripening apples for maturity before making the decision about when to harvest them.

Signs Of Apple Ripeness

The apple stem separates easily from the branch. Under-ripe apples don’t come off the tree easily.

Apple Season: The Annual Autumn Harvest Of Ripe, Local Apples

So which month is apple season? Apple season is around the month of September.

Summer Apples: Early Apple Varieties

Summer-ripening apples are ready in late July, August, and early September. Summer apples generally don’t store well, and are therefore less likely to be sold in bulk.

Fall Apples: Mid-Season Apple Varieties

Fall-ripening apples are generally picked in September and October. Fall apples generally do store well, and we are therefore more used to seeing fall varieties in the grocery store. Here are some classic fall apple varieties:

Winter Apples: Late Season Apple Varieties

Late season apples, or winter apples, are ready at the end of apple season. These apples typically are large and are often good keepers, storing for months at a time. Here are some popular winter apple varieties:

How To Pick Apples By Hand Off Apple Trees

Apples are picked by hand, even in commercial orchards. Some growers like the “Twist & Lift” technique – in which you gently twist the apples off, lifting them upwards to separate the apple’s stem from the branch. Others roll the apple upwards first and then twist. We were also taught just to gently turn apples upside down.

Five Tips for How to Tell Apples Are Ripe

Here are five tips from the Apple Cookbook on how to tell if your apples are ripe for picking.

Harvest Apples In Stages

Not all of the apples on a tree will be ready to harvest at the same time. Typically, apples along the outer edges of the tree will ripen before those towards the center of the tree. Ideally, you’d want to pick apples on more than one day, covering a span of one to two weeks. Picking in this manner will ensure you get consistently ripe apples.

Picking in Your Community

In the mood to pick some apples, but don’t have your own apple tree? Check out fruit rescuing organizations in your community that match up people interested in picking fruit with people who have too much fruit. Google fruit rescuing in your community.

When Are Apples Ready To Be Picked?

While September is most often the month for harvesting apples, it depends on the apple variety you are growing.

How Taste and Texture Are Affected By When You Harvest Your Apples

The timeframe in which you pick your fresh apples has a profound impact on both their taste and texture, so you want to make sure you get your harvest time just right.

How To Pick Apples

Because apples bruise easily, they can only be harvested by hand-picking. This means even the apples you see in grocery stores are all picked by hand.

Harvesting Apples In Stages

Apples need to be harvested in stages, as all the fruit on your tree won’t ripen at once.

Do Apples Ripen After Picking?

Apples should be picked from your trees when they are perfectly mature because while they do continue to ripen after picking, it does not impact or improve their taste. They will only become softer but not sweeter or tastier.

Storing Harvested Apples

If you’ve harvested a whole load of apples, you’ll be pleased to know that these delectable fruits keep really well and can be stored for far longer than most.

Frost and Freezing: How Does This Affect My Apples?

While apples are pretty hardy, prolonged exposure to frost and freezing temperatures can damage them, so if you suspect a cold spell ahead, it’s a good idea to pick your mature fruit as soon as possible.

When is apple picking season?

The main apple picking season runs from Labor Day through Halloween, but this varies based on where you are in the country and what variety of apple you’re looking to pick, explains Butler.

Apples to pick in August and September

According to Butler, these are some of the best apple varieties are ready to be plucked from the trees come August and September:

Apples to pick in October and November

Butler, says these are some of the best apple varieties to pick come October and November:

What to know before heading to the orchard

One of the best parts of apple picking is that you can usually just stop right in. But if you have the time to prepare, Butler suggests a few steps for making the most of your apple picking season.

What to do with your picked apples

When it comes to cooking apples, Butler says varieties like gold rush are great for baking (Sky Top Farms uses them in their pies) and McIntosh are great for a softer variety to cook with or make into an applesauce or doughnuts.

Activities that take advantage of apple picking season, beyond apple picking

Sure, you’re heading to a U Pick farm to walk into the orchard and pick some apples, but one often overlooked part of apple picking season is enjoying the activities and food available at most farms. When Butler was asked what the best variety of apples to pick is, he joked, “Our apple cider doughnuts! You must pick some of those.”