If the apple of your eye is a literal apple, Garden Variety’s horticulture experts have great news for you: It’s been a wonderful season for apples!
“This is a fantastic apple season in Iowa this year. We have really good size,” said Suzanne Slack, assistant professor of horticulture and fruit crop specialist. “We didn't have a lot of hail events.”
If you're ready for some fresh apples, now is the time to start harvesting! Our experts offer some advice on how to make the most of your apple season. But first — you need to find your nearest apple orchard!
Be an orchard expert
Nothing feels more like fall than walking through an orchard and plucking apples off trees.
“You know that they're going straight from the tree to your basket to your house,” Slack said. “You know they're fresh. A lot of folks don't realize how old, necessarily, the apples are at the grocery store.”
And it's true - Fuji and Gala apples sold at the store can be a year or more old.
When selecting your apples, you may find some fruit with harmless damage. Slack said there's a difference between a little soot on an apple versus rot in an apple.
“There's lots of fungi that cause a disease called sooty blotch and fly speck. They literally look like some soot got on the apple or some little black specks. Those are completely safe to eat,” Slack said. “... We have an insect pest called Plum coculio, and it can cause a cool, little fan shaped scar on the apple. It's completely safe to eat. There's no worm or anything in it from that specific injury. I don't mind that one.”
But, if the apple is turning brown or actively being eaten by an insect, those are your signs to keep that apple out of your basket.
And here's a post-orchard tip: Once you get home, leave the apples out in a bowl instead of putting them in the fridge.
“Apples put off a lot of ethylene gas. And if you put apples in your refrigerator, you are essentially gassing all your other fruits and veggies in there, and you may cause them to ripen faster, which means they rot faster.”
Planting apple trees
If you're a homeowner or have ground you'd like to repurpose, consider planting your own apple tree! If you’re hoping to grow your own apples in the future, Slack said you’ll want to plant in a spot that gets full sun and ensure there's enough space for the tree size that you want.
“Apples are really cool, and they come in a bunch of sizes,” Slack said. “You can have a six-foot tree all the way up to a 30-foot tree.”
The Midwest Apple Improvement Association is developing different cultivars of apples every year. Slack said one of the most popular new varieties is the “Ludacrisp,” which the Midwest Apple Improvement Association says is sweet, tropical and fruity. However, if you’re hoping to grow those new cultivars yourself, Slack said you’ll need to pay to join an apple club.
ISU Extension and Outreach has a long list of apple varieties and their uses on their website. They also have tips on growing fruit trees and organic apple production.
And as much as you may love Honeycrisp, it’s a difficult variety for new gardeners to successfully cultivate, so keep that in mind when you pick your next apple tree.
