Apple tree advice please!

[Pottedpalm]

Last year we had a great crop of apples, we were able to store about 10-12 boxes and were still eating them until n February.
This year there are fewer apples, which I think is down to the very variable weather. Still a decent crop, but practically every one has evidence of damage. We use grease bands but haven’t sprayed. So, my question is, if you spray your trees when do you do it and what do you use?

I can't give you any advice on spraying as we don't but how did you manage to store yours for so long without them going off? did you use apple trays?

best advice we got on our trees was proper pruning. That seems to have really helped the crop we get.

I think the weather hasn't help with pests either tbh. Many seem to prefer cooler damper weather to blazing sun and so have had an easy year this year.

I agree about pruning fruit trees. It's can feel a bit sad to prune harshly enough to maintain a really open goblet shape - but it does help!

@StrongArm

I can't give you any advice on spraying as we don't but how did you manage to store yours for so long without them going off? did you use apple trays?

best advice we got on our trees was proper pruning. That seems to have really helped the crop we get.

We hot apple trays from the local fruit and veg store; they were very happy to give us as many as we wanted. We only stored ones which looked absolutely perfect, no blemishes, and wrapped each one in a page from the colour supplements. Then arranged them so that they were not touching. They were checked every couple of weeks and any showing signs of problems removed and used. Towards the end they were a bit wooly and the flavour was less good, but they were fine!

The trees were pruned 2 1/2 years ago when we acquired the property.
Does anyone know what sort of insect does the damage shown in the photo? I have read some advice on google but they talk in general terms about spraying without naming a product or method.

Not all apples will keep till February. The early ripening ones tend to last only a short time.

Yes, it was the later ripening ones which kept.
Any advice , anyone?

The damage on the apple is from Codling moths.

I grew up in a house with an orchard with 5 large cooker trees plus eaters that we planted as well as pear trees.

Yes, you need to store apples in trays so that there is air circulation - cool but not freezing temps. You don't need to wrap individual apples up and this won't help them store - being able to spot when an apple in a tray is just starting to turn is more important so that you can remove it asap - so it is important that you can inspect the trays of apples.

Some apples store well, others not so much. We found that, by December / Jan most of our 'eaters' had been finished, but that the 'cookers' were starting to be sufficiently ripe to eat raw anyway - particularly the Howgate Wonder (although the bramleys got eaten this way too!).

Oh - and if you want to ripen pears, you have to use a different room (preferably building) to the apples or they will just not ripen!

@mistlethrush
Codling moth damage? I will look this up, thank you. Di you have any tips for dealing with them?

Don’t spray as it affects other wildlife but you can hang pheromone sticky traps in the tree to deal with codling moths.

For those curious about the name of the moth, a codlin is a type of cooking apple, eg Keswick Codlin.

so it is important that you can inspect the trays of apples. Yes, I try to inspect at least weekly.

@mistlethrush - If you've got Howgate Wonder, you're obviously going for more interesting apples - what others do you grow?

(I grow Brownlees Russet, Forger, King of the Pippins, Worcester, Herrings Pippin, Allingtons Pippin, Ashmead's Kernel, Cornish Aromatic)

@MereDintofPandiculation

Unfortunately that was my parents' garden years ago - and the person that bought the house has probably cut them all down (they did similar with the rest of the lovely garden). We had had to have the Howgate Wonder identified by taking in an apple and photos of the flowers etc.. I think to the RHS but might have been a different group.

I'm now a lot further north - I've planted a James Grieve as they're good for setting in the north. I've got a large cooker too - it's not a bramley and that's about all I know about it!

My parents have moved about 5 miles away from where they were and planted some of the same apples - one they planted has turned out a completely different flavour because of the difference in soil conditions.

@mistlethrush I'm 400ft above sea level in Yorkshire. Cornish Aromatic is probably pushing it a bit. Thankfully, with 8 trees, I don't have to get many off each tree to get more than enough to keep us in apples from August through to March.

I made the mistake of not having such a dwarfing rootstock as I should because apples grown on heavy clay waterlogged several times during the winter weren't going to do well - they proved me wrong. But I have the effect I wanted - more or less trained over a pergola so I have a tunnel of blossom in the spring and a tunnel of ripe apples in the autumn.

@MereDintofPandiculation... I also have clay in Yorkshire... My Agricultural Consultant father brought his augers up when we first moved in to find out how far we might need to bore to be able to create a sump for the garden... and we discovered that it was solid clay with no helpful gravel layer 5m down! So the apple tree we planted was on the edge of the bog garden I dug (the soil got used for the raised bed we built) which acts as a drainage basin for the lawn area, and drains into the next door's garden at a point where it's drained for many more years than we've been living here!

Anyway, for our climate I recommend James Grieve - you can start eating them late August as long as you don't mind a bit on the tart side - although they do go woolly quite quickly so you need to eat them by the end of September normally.

Could I please jump on this post with all you gardeners and ask if any of you have any experience of deterrents to stop squirrels pinching the crop. I’ve lived in my house 5 years and every year without fail the squirrels pinch all my apples!

Anyway, for our climate I recommend James Grieve - you can start eating them late August as long as you don't mind a bit on the tart side - although they do go woolly quite quickly so you need to eat them by the end of September normally. You don’t have a recommendation for a late apple do you? At the moment I”m awash with Worcesters, and the Allingtons are just coming in - they usually give me 75 to 100lbs and need to be eaten by December. It’s ones that keep into the new year I’m short of.

@kazza446

Could I please jump on this post with all you gardeners and ask if any of you have any experience of deterrents to stop squirrels pinching the crop. I’ve lived in my house 5 years and every year without fail the squirrels pinch all my apples!

Sorry, it’s blackbirds that take mine. Although I found an unripe quince in the veg garden, and the only way it could have got there was by squirrel.

I usually take the line of planting enough for both. You could try a diversionary tactic like a hazel. I think my squirrels are too busy with the hazelnuts to be much bothered with the apples

@MereDintofPandiculationMeerd - of the trees my parents and I have grown (mostly my parents!), if you're prepared to eat Howgate Wonders as an eater in Jan / Feb, these are wonderful and store really well - but sometimes you need to share an apple with someone as they can be HUGE - I've certainly picked apples that have a diameter of 8".

Ida Red are really good eaters - get quite sweet when stored, but tend towards quite small apples.

Something like a Tydemans Late Orange might also be a good option.

@mistlethrush Thanks, I'll bear these in mind.

Herrings Pippin is another that can be really big, compounded by its rich spiciness.I might be able to tackle an apple that large by myself, but a spiced apple -no

@MereDintofPandiculation great tip. Thank you!

@kazza446. There is a product called Hot Nuts which is a type of pepper spray that you can spray to deter squirrels. I havent tried it yet but plan to use it next year on our pears and apples.

Any of you apple experts have any advice on codling moth?

@MereDintofPandiculation - Howgates are a lovely flavour, particularly once stored - they stay quite crisp too, unlike Bramleys which definitely get softer.

@Pottedpalm

Any of you apple experts have any advice on codling moth?

Sorry, no, they're not something I worry about. Blackbirds are my bugbear!

RHS advice apple trees

Hope you find some useful suggestions there