Experienced gardeners advice on when and how to remove apples for storage

A rich apple harvest is the joy and pride of any gardener. But along with the large number of fragrant fruits, several problematic points appear.

When to remove apples from the tree, and how to prepare the harvest for further storage, where is the best place to remove the fruits for the winter?

The advice of experienced gardeners will help you harvest on time and preserve healthy and aromatic fruits.

How do you know when it's time to harvest?

To keep the picked apple as juicy and aromatic as possible, it must be picked in time.

Signs that it is time to pluck the fruit from the tree:

• among the fallen fruits appeared large ones with characteristic signs of ripeness (uniform color, pronounced taste);
• the pulp is white or creamy;
• when pressed, the peel does not burst, the dents from the finger are not preserved;
• brown seeds;
• ripe fruit is easily separated from the branch along with the stalk.

There is also a chemical method for determining ripeness.

Algorithm of actions:

1. In a liter of distilled water, iodine is diluted 1 g. and potassium iodide 4 gr.
2. The apple, cut in half, is dipped into the resulting solution.
3. After two minutes, evaluate the result. If the apple turns blue at the edges of the cut, the fruit is immature. A blue tint around the edges and yellow in the middle indicate that the fruit is ripe. If only a yellow spot appears on the cut, the apple is overripe.

Does the harvest time depend on the variety?

According to the ripening time, apples are divided into several groups:

1. Summer varieties... The fruits begin to be harvested in August. By this time, fruits are gaining the maximum amount of sugar, juice, vitamins. Experts advise to immediately start up summer varieties for processing, since they are not stored for long.
2. Autumn varieties... Harvesting lasts from August to September. You can store autumn varieties for no more than four months (if longer, then the apple loses its density, the pulp becomes loose).
3. Winter varieties... Fruits begin to harvest in mid-September and finish in mid-October. These are the most convenient apple varieties for storage. Plucked in time, they retain their juiciness and taste until the beginning of spring.

How to pluck?

There are certain collection rules apples, the observance of which depends on how long the harvest will be stored:

1. The best time to harvest sweet fruits is a dry, clear day. Experts advise harvesting in the afternoon, when the air warms up well, and the fruits fall into the basket perfectly dry.
2. The tree is not watered before harvesting.
3. Ripe fruits are plucked very carefully, gripping with all fingers, pressing the stalk at the point of attachment to the branch.
4. First of all, fruits are collected from the lower branches, moving smoothly to the very top.
5. Plucked apples are not thrown, but carefully placed in a prepared container (basket, dry bucket).

How to prepare for laying in a cellar?

Before the baskets or boxes with fruit go into the cellar for storage, it is necessary to carry out a number of preparatory measures:

1. Sorting. The harvested apples are sorted out and divided by size (small, large, medium), by variety and by quality (the criterion of the integrity of the peel, the presence of damage is considered). Especially large fruits are laid separately (they spoil very quickly).
2. Packing in containers... Experts recommend storing apples of different varieties separately, in different containers. For storing fruits, wooden boxes, pre-well dried and disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate, are ideal.

   It is important to ensure that the fruit stalks do not come into contact with each other when laying. For this, layers of fruit are sprinkled with dry sawdust of non-coniferous wood.

How to store?

Long-term storage is possible under the following conditions:

• air temperature within + 2-5C;
• humidity 86-90%.

Store apples in a closet or cellar. If possible, keep fruit boxes away from vegetable containers.

The thing is that sweet fruits emit a lot of ethylene (gas that accelerates the ripening process of root crops).

Before lowering the box with fruit into the cellar or basement, the room must be cleaned, the walls are disinfected with a solution of slaked lime, the floor is sprayed with copper sulfate diluted in water (500 grams of dry powder is enough for 10 liters).

You can learn how to properly store apples in the cellar in winter and how to prepare them for storage. here.

Advice

It is important to adhere to the following recommendations:

1. The apples on the south side of the tree ripen faster (they are picked first).
2. Ripe heavy fruits should not be pulled (there is a high probability that the branch of the tree will break).
3. You cannot shake the apple tree to collect fruits from the upper branches.
4. Do not store fruits with cracked skin. Damaged, rotten fruits are immediately sent for processing.

Conclusion

Adhering to the recommendations of the correct collection of apples, you can enjoy sweet, juicy and healthy fruits all winter.