This is the first time the apples have been nice enough to actually eat fresh. All the past seasons' apples have been made into apple butter. This was because the apples were so hard and tasteless that was the only thing I could think of making so as not to waste the apples. Finally this year they're actually slightly juicy and have some flavor. Yay!
They're also a lot bigger than they've ever been before.
So pretty!
Unfortunately, this is also the first year that we've had any bug trouble at all, or any pest problems. Something began eating away at them before they were ripe, and continued until we picked them. We don't know what it was, as we never saw anything in the tree. We also had the flies cause problems this year, so next year I'll have to get my uncles secret weapon. If you need a secret weapon to keep the flies from wreaking havoc with your apples, go to my June blog posts and find the untitled post that begins, "My uncle collects farmall tractors..." I would just put the link here, but it won't work for me today. Grrr...
I was going to ask you why the Blue Jays haven't been going after your luscious apples this year like they have ours! But now I see from your last picture that they have. Still, your apples are indeed beautiful. Ours still don't taste quite ripe yet. Different varieties, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteHey Mama Pea!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have my suspicions confirmed about the blue jays! I told Dan that's what I thought it was, but he didn't agree. Funny thing is we never saw them at it, though I saw them in the mountain ash in droves. I've never seen so many blue jays as this fall!
I have no idea what kind of apples these are, since the tree was here when we bought the house. I suspected it was an apple tree, but it never so much as blossomed until I trimmed it. Since then it has very slowly started to produce fruit that seems to be getting better each season. What kind of apple trees do you have?
I wasn't sure these had reached their full potential as far as ripeness either, but they started to fall off the tree, and of course the ants and slugs figured they'd take care of all those the blue jays started on, so we had to pick them or loose them.
Those apples do look so good. Fruit trees take a lot of spraying to keep them looking nice. Finding an organic solution is so worth it. Will look forward to the secret when you can get it posted.
ReplyDeleteWe've even resorted to trying to cover our trees with netting to keep the jays off the apples. We, too, have NEVER seen such flocks of them together for such a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteWe have a variety of trees . . . and I'd have to look them up in the files to tell you which ones they are! (Haven't retained that info in my brain!) One yellow apple, the rest reds. When we planted them, we tried to pick ones that we knew had good flavor and ones that would (or have a chance to) grow here. Not easy to find!
Those are beautiful apples! Sorry you have had bug trouble, it seems really bad this year! How's the schooling going? Have you had any time for yourself?
ReplyDeleteLorie-
ReplyDeleteI'll try to get that link up soon, but basically it's a red ball about the size of an apple, and you cover it with sticky stuff (like fly paper). When it's full of flies, you scrape it off and start again. You put it up before the apples are in any danger, and by the time the flies would be a problem, they're pretty much taken care of. It nearly eradicated the problem entirely for my uncle. He hung a couple in each tree, and had absolutely beautiful apples. I'll let you know if I remember exactly what it's called. :) I had gotten the info from him once, but if you could see the amount of paper and books around here, you'd know that it just may never be seen again! ;) (homeschool...)
Erin- Hey girl! School's going alright, but I'll have more time to stay organized and plan lessons at the end of this month, after my sis-in-law's seasonal job ends for the winter. I've been watching her little girl 2 days a week. She's almost 10 months, and ALWAYS moving! Kind of keeps me on my toes just taking care of her those days! Hubby and I are going on an all day date tomorrow, though! Yay!! It's a child care trade I worked out with my sis-in-law! BIG perk for me! :) I can't wait to hear about the dates you're sure to have soon! When does this deployment end? Soon, right? Or maybe I'm mixing you up with my niece...but I hope not! :)