I'm going to have loads of apples!

[StephenH]

My mature, full-size apple tree ('James Grieve', I think, though I've not had it formally identified) is currently ripening a huge crop, bigger than I've had for many years. This may be due to a fairly radical pruning I gave it in the winter before last, removing as much dead wood as possible (though it's difficult to tell what's dead and what isn't in winter, with no leaves on it - I had to do a follow-up prune in the Sring, to remove dead wood I'd missed), and also doing some removal of living wood, including some fruiting spur systems, in the hope of reducing or even curing its long-standing very marked biennial-bearing habit: it used to bear a good crop in even years, and very little in odd ones. The following summer, 2010, should have been an 'on' year, but the crop was quite light; now, in what should be an 'off' year, I've got this huge crop ripening up. What I'd like to know from any apple experts is this: could it be that my pruning of 18 months ago was so vigorous that I've over-corrected, and managed to 'flip' it, so that now it biennially-bears with odd years being the 'on' years; or is it more likely to be simply that last year was light because it was immediately after the prune, and this year is what will be a typical harvest in the future? I hope the second alternative is more likely, but I won't know until next year! Or - third alternative that's only just occurred to me - is this summer an exceptionally good year for apples generally, maybe due to the warm Spring?

[Jeanied]

Can't answer your technical questions - but my apple trees are absolutely groaning with fruit this year.

[Florence Fennel]

I've only the one tree, but it too is groaning with fruit.

[Glutton4...]

Same here. Also, we've had no 'June Drop' this year, so I'm pulling off fruit manually to allow the remainder space to grow.

[Jeanied]

Now that makes sense G4 - that's what happened to mine!

[Florence Fennel]

I had a lot of June drop G4, but there are still numerous "clusters". Mmm wonder if I should thin them out a bit?

[StephenH]

I had quite a big June drop, but I've still got a huge harvest coming! Maybe I should have thinned out a bit more after the June drop, but it's a bit late now, and it's not very practical with a full-size tree anyway. I'm hoping to make gallons of cider this autumn!
My Autumn raspberries - 'Autumn Bliss' and 'All Gold' - are also quite heavy with fruit. I think it's a good year for fruit generally, thanks to the warm Spring. That's what someone in the August mag. said, anyway!

[valmarg]

If your apple is James Grieve StephenH, it is an early desert apple, and does not store. so eat up.

It is one of the wonderful crunchy English apples I used to love as a (youngster/kiddie). Having had dry, dreadful stored apples, it was wonderful to eat a 'fresh' apple.

The good news is that this year's English apple crop will be early,

Am I the only person that detests the French rubbish - Granny Smiths = leatherjackets and Golden Delicious = waterbags.

valmarg

[Florence Fennel]

I've harvested over 20lbs of apples from my tree and there are still some ripening. Now what I want to know is if they don't store, what am I going to do with them all?

[perkin]

How big is your freezer?

[StephenH]

If your apple is James Grieve StephenH, it is an early desert apple, and does not store. so eat up.

Thanks for the advice, but I have to say that 'The New Book of Apples' disagrees with you - it says that JG is harvested in September, and will keep to December. I've always found mine will keep for some time, though not as long as some apples, I don't think.

It is one of the wonderful crunchy English apples I used to love as a (youngster/kiddie). Having had dry, dreadful stored apples, it was wonderful to eat a 'fresh' apple.

Well, I agree with that: whether or not mine is JG, it's a wonderful sharp, crunchy apple, and makes a good cooker as well (the book describes JG as being dual-purpose).

The good news is that this year's English apple crop will be early,

Am I the only person that detests the French rubbish - Granny Smiths = leatherjackets and Golden Delicious = waterbags.

valmarg

No, you're not: the U.K. has the best climate in the world for apple-growing, so why buy foreign ones, especially watery stuff like Golden Delicious?

I've just discovered, because it's ripened an apple for the first time, that one of the semi-dwarf apple trees I planted in 2008 as one-year maidens, which was supposed to be 'Brownlees' Russet', and which I bought partly for its local association, B.R. having been raised in Hemel Hempstead, where I live, in the 1840s, is in fact almost certainly 'Bramley's Seedling', being very big (already, and it's not even fully ripe yet), green with lots of lenticels, and ribbed around the bottom, whereas B.R. is supposed to be medium-sized, and yellow with greyish russet over it. Slightly annoyed, but not as much as I'd've been if it had turned out to be 'Golden Delicious'! 'Bramley' is of course a fantastic cooker, but it's widely available in supermarkets, and I wanted to grow rarer apples, otherwise hard to get. I'll have to hope that my other three semi-dwarfs, planted at the same time, turn out to be what they're supposed to be when they produce fruit, hopefully next year: they are 'Flower of Kent' (alias 'Isaac Newton's Tree'), cooker; 'Egremont Russet', eater; and 'Cottenham Seedling', cooker. 'Brownlees' Russet' is an eater, whereas 'Bramley' is a cooker, so I've now got more cookers, and fewer eaters, than I bargained on. I am at least fairly confident that the 'Flower of Kent' is what it purports to be, because it's supposed to be a notoriously lax grower, and some of the branches are already showing that tendency a bit.
Slightly cross with the nursery, but I suppose mistakes happen in even the best-regulated organisations.