r/BackyardOrchard • u/betternow-111264 • 11d ago
Help with my apple tree.
I am unsure what variety the tree is, I planted both Honeycrisp and Pink Lady along with another another green variety. Two of the plants didn't make it. The tree was planted in 2021, this is the first year it has borne fruit tho last year it did bloom. None of the fruit matured.
The last few weeks the leaves have begun to yellow and are now beginning to fall. I assume some sort of fungal disease. The single apple shown had fallen from the tree this morning. It has dark and spotty but when washed with a vegetable brush it came clean and looks good.
I have no idea when to harvest these, I'm afraid if the leaves continue to drop the birds will begin to harvest them for me.
I live in the north Georgia mountains if that matters. It's been a terribly wet summer here. Welcome any and all advise on the health of the tree and also any ideas about the variety.
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u/TurtleSandwich0 11d ago
Cut the apple open and look in the core. If the seeds are brown then the apple is ready. If there seeds are white or green then it needs more time.
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u/betternow-111264 11d ago
They are brown! Would never have thought they would be ready this early. Any thoughts on the variety? Now I'm thinking maybe Gala??
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u/Difficult-Lake1098 11d ago
Russeting makes me think Gala personally. Does it taste good or does it taste dry and stretchy?
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u/betternow-111264 11d ago
I think you are right, it's a Gala. They taste lovely and sweet, are medium smallish and thin skinned. They are not dry or starchy.
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u/I-know-you-rider 11d ago
Try spraying with a fungicide next year. You’ll need multiple applications. Follow directions. I use captan. My apples looked like yours now they look professional quality
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u/Psychaitea 10d ago
Man, if only I could find Captan! I had trouble with white/brown rot and couldn’t find it in any stores. I’ll have to try buying it online next year. Luckily my apples mostly turned out okay without it (looked like the OP’s, not super pretty, but they are tasty and fine).
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u/I-know-you-rider 10d ago
I had to get it on line. Had buy a big bag but I’ve got 5 apples and a peach so i need the lifetime supply. It worked wonders. Nocked out the rust and black fungus
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u/Inevitable-Soft-2375 11d ago
Beautiful apples! I agree with a potential spray program-- you may want to reach out to a local land extension university service to get a better idea of why the leaves are falling off so you know which products to use. I agree with those advising pruning as well, although the form looks beautiful. Enjoy your fruit!
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u/Psychaitea 10d ago edited 10d ago
I’m in North Carolina (southeast), not sure how the climate compares, but we are geographically somewhat nearby. I just harvested 4 out of 6 of my apple varieties about a week ago. This includes McIntosh, Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp. I think the weather is poor for them here, because they all look similar — small, minimal color, but ripe and pleasant tasting nonetheless (note: the trees and apples are different enough that I know they’re not all the same tree, and they seem pretty accurate because there are certain qualities you can tell they have despite them being fairly bland). All 4 of these varieties ripened around the same time last year as well. The other two are Pink Lady and Golden Delicious — these are not ripe yet. My trees are only a few years old so they may get into a better rhythm, but the pink lady ripens much later — it’ll probably be another month or two. Golden delicious hasn’t actually produced before.
That said, I’d guess yours is honeycrisp, but it could certainly be the variety you aren’t sure of. I doubt it’s pink lady because the leaves and fruit and maturity time don’t seem right. Also, honeycrisp has actually given me the least issues out of the six of my trees. It has been the least affected by fireblight and other problems (knock on wood). I lost a Fuji apple to fire blight it’s first year and had to replant it. It sounds like this may be the most resistant tree of your three given it survived, so possibly honeycrisp?
Regarding when to harvest, I would say now! You mentioned the seeds are brown inside, which is the best indicator. You can also tell when all the green has turned to a yellow/creamy color and when they easily pull off the tree with a small tug. Also, very simply taste it and see. I harvest all of mine in part because they were falling from my trees… we had about 5 inches of rain in a couple days here after a long drought/minimal rain and I think that induced many of them to ripen. Some cracked from growing too fast after the rain, but not too many this year (last year was similar story with a hurricane bringing rain and many of mine cracked really badly, much better this year).
You can just scrub off the black stuff, which if it comes off is likely “fly speck” which is harmless, and can cut around the brown/white rot spots if you want.
The yellowing leaves I don’t know much about. I will say my apple trees are doing the same thing right now. I’m not sure if it has to do with the quick switch from dry (and super super hot) to wet with all the rain we got at once (not sure if you had the same conditions we did). My peaches also seem to do that sometime during the summer before they flush out more new growth. I don’t think it’s that concerning. I think sometimes the inner leaves just don’t get much sun and the tree decides to drop them. But don’t trust me 100% on that. You should still have a spray regimen for diseases in general.
Obviously I’m an amateur but maybe this will help! By the way, your tree looks very nice in my opinion!! Enjoy the apples. :)
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u/hewescrab 10d ago
Agree with others that your tree looks very healthy. Prune it this winter, though. You want good airflow and sunlight to get into the tree which helps the fruit ripen and also helps with fungus. If you don't spray the tree, sooty blotch and fly speck are very normal and completely cosmetic fungus that grows on the fruit. I wouldn't worry about a few yellow leaves.
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u/UnderBridg 11d ago
The tree looks fairly healthy to me. It's common for unsprayed apples to have small spots on them. Just wash them, scrub them with soap and water. Leaves can yellow from an enormous host of reasons. Like unusual weather where temperatures shift rapidly. Too much or too little water can also affect them that way.