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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Apples
Cooking Notes
- You can freeze apples by stewing washed chunks with a dash of water until they soften. Once ready, sieve and pour the stewed apples into containers, leaving a small space at the top as they will expand slightly when frozen, and pop into the freezer.
- You can also cut your fruits into thin slices then dry them out in a dehydrator to make a deliciously chewy and healthy snack.
- Planning to bake or cook your apples into an apple pie or meal? See our chart on the best baking and cooking apples in North America.
“Baked apples have an excellent effect upon the whole physical system, feeding the brain as well as adding to the flesh, and keeping the blood pure; also preventing constipation and correcting a tendency to acidity, which produces rheumatism and neuralgia.” –The 1898 Old Farmer’s Almanac
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When is the right time to prune apple trees in central Michigan?
My apples tree got small black insect on the back of the leaves white cotton covered the stem all apples filled, What I have to use to help three
Remove them.
Correct link to the Hardiness Map https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov
I have three apple trees, no blossom, no fruit for a few years now.
One tree if very old the others are three years. What can I do for them.
Young apple trees do not flower or produce fruit in the early stages of their lives. Dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties typically do not flower and bear fruit for 3 to 5 years, while standard size apple trees may not produce flowers/fruit for 5 to 10 years. It is important to follow a pruning regimen in late winter/early spring to avoid overcrowding. For pollination purposes, two cultivars are needed within 50 to 100 feet.
As for your older tree, it may take a few years of careful pruning to bring it back. You first want to remove a few larger branches to increase light and air flow, as well as any branches that are diseased or broken. Just remember not to prune too much to avoid the tree putting too much energy into growing new branches. And again, pruning in late winter/early spring is best.
Seems they produce about every other year. Has anyone else experienced this?
My wife and I live in Central California and are looking to plant apple trees in our backyard. The problem is, we don't have a lot of flat space to do so. Our backyard has a sloping hill that holds up a retaining wall and the flat space at the top of the hill is only about 2'-3' wide, which happens to be the width of the stainless steel tubs we've been looking at.
We bought a house in Long Beach, CA with an apple tree. The tree grows healthy and produces apples, but they have not been very firm and crispy, and tend to have brown inside of them. How can I tell what kind of tree I have and what I should do to improve the fruit?
Wish we could help but we don’t have enough information to figure this one out. Our best advice it to take pictures and bring them to a local nursery, one that carries fruit trees, if possible. Good luck with this!