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Post by oxbowfarm on Oct 28, 2011 4:41:28 GMT -5
We have this tree next to our barn. It only fruits every 3rd of 4th year due to late frosts but then it does we get these beauties.   Flavor isn't bad but the texture is weird. Sort of mealy and rubbery at the same time. Definitely this apple was not born in the right soil to develop its potential, if it had any. Tim |
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Post by flowerpower on Oct 28, 2011 7:02:23 GMT -5
You could always make applesauce. I'll be picking off the old trees over the next few weeks. The trees are loaded but the ripening has been slow.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 28, 2011 8:57:36 GMT -5
Those look vaugely like what I believe in some parts of the country are referred to as "hag apples" (though this term is also used to describe any apples so small and malformed as to not be worth harvesting for sale). Skinwise (barring all of the puckering) they sort of look like Pomme Gris as well.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Oct 29, 2011 5:39:24 GMT -5
You could probably make sauce from it if you were desperate. After peeling there wouldn't be much left to them I'd say. Fortunately there are tons of much more usable wild apples just across the road if we ever had the need. And there is a sizeable U-pick orchard on top of the hill about a mile and a half west of us which is much less frost prone than our spot. They definitely have a russet skin.
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Post by ottawagardener on Oct 29, 2011 7:20:09 GMT -5
I was thinking maybe cider. I have a tree that makes similar apples though not quite that impressive. Animal food?
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Post by steev on Oct 29, 2011 8:00:08 GMT -5
If you make hard cider, and drink enough, eventually they will start to look attractive.
Otherwise, you might try grafting something more to your taste onto that tree. I had a 9-variety apple tree.
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Post by ottawagardener on Oct 29, 2011 10:57:21 GMT -5
Steevs ideas vary in merit with the second one being quite good  A grafting tree: excellent suggestion. I might just do that with the my not so pretty apple. |
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Post by flowerpower on Oct 31, 2011 6:06:24 GMT -5
When I make sauce, I cook them down with the peels. They are easy to remove. I notice the majority of the trees in the old orchards are mostly macs. I have never seen a Granny Smith around here, unfortunately.
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Post by wildseed57 on Nov 6, 2011 18:12:45 GMT -5
How do the trees look as the only time I've seen apples that looked like that were badly effected by disease and insect damage. If the tree is in good shape and the leaves look nice and healthy I would use it for grafting, but I would also keep it spraid with a mix of copper and soap during warm wet seasons and liquid lime and sulfur at other times to help with insects and fire blight. As a lot of apple varieties are effected by a good many diseases and insect problems .
George W.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Nov 7, 2011 6:44:20 GMT -5
The tree itself is quite attractive. I don't notice that it is more affected by disease and insect pressure than the other wild trees within a few hundred yards of it. The leaves at this point are pretty ugly and rapidly falling. It seems a fairly healthy tree. Has three trunks from the base. I doubt I'll graft anything on it, just leave it be for now. If I ever go ahead with my barn disassembly project I will probably end up cutting it down, there are lots of nice small boards, tool handles, and mallets in the tree itself. A true orchard will have to wait a few years till I can install a pond on the hillside and subsequently clear some area for a hillside orchard. The frost problem is just too severe on the field.
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A grafting tree: excellent suggestion. I might just do that with the my not so pretty apple.