is there a trick to IDing apple varieties?

I know nothing about it. I'm curious about the apples growing on my property

Folks may be able to help here but we will need some pics

Absolutely. Which characteristics will be helpful in making a determination? I'll need to know what pictures to take /post.

Fruit - size ,colour exturnal and inturnal ,taste, time when ripe, type of skin shape of fruit
Leaf size colour less important
There are thousands of types world wide

Age of the tree and how they were planted (someones orchard, randomly arranged, one off tree) may give clues about the trees as well. For example an apple tree growing in a subdivision was probably bought at a home improvement store, so there would maybe 5-10 likely candidates (red delicious, granny smith, etc.), unless grown in an orchard an older tree is probably not going to be one of the relatively new varieties like Honey Crisp. Randomly arranged trees are likely to be chance seedlings.

This year has been a great year for apples in my area. Every tree is loaded with fruit. I'm using some of the catalogs from local fruit nurseries to help me narrow down some of the ones I don't know. Fedco has a great online description of many varieties of apples. Here's a link Fedco Apple catalog

Once I find a description that's close to what I'm looking at on the tree, I can do a little more searching online for similar varieties. Of course a picture of what you have and a little bit about the taste, climate, texture, size... always helps.


Good luck

Great site Craig
I know none ofd those :_) A whole different set here in France

David Livingston wrote:Great site Craig
I know none ofd those :_) A whole different set here in France

I order a little something from fedco every year and I always keep my copy of the catalog because the varieties are always changing. Many of the places where they get scion wood from are local homes and farms where the parent tree has stood for two-hundred years or more. It's just amazing to know that in my field exists a small piece of a much larger family tree (pardon the pun)with a rich history. This year we've found some small, wild trees that have put on their first set of fruit. It's fun to find a brand new variety, try it, describe it and then figure out how best to use it. It's really exciting for kids. Of course I never seem to find an apple that they won't eat... no matter now tart. Today we found a tree with small yellow fruits that smell like melon. After dinner we're gonna crack into them and see what's what. This is one of my favorite things to do with kids... explore new foods. They are just fearless about trying things. They love odd tastes and even the really sour stuff makes them giggle and drool. it's so much fun.

Now we're off to harvest wild grapes for jam.

Having trouble with pics

K guess I gotta do these one at a time and with wifi off

They are ripe now. Not tart, pretty crisp, small and roundsih. Half green, half red. They're also covered with some black crap that rubs off

Looks a lot like your standard Jonathan apple (malus domestica). Have you guys had a frost, killing or regular, yet? That will sweeten those up incredibly. They are great keepers as well if you harvest them before the first killing frost and keep them in a cool, dark, dry place (otherwise know as a root cellar).

No frost yet. Most of the fruits are in terrible condition (multiple insect damage) so we've been trying to make applesauce as fast as possible. Last year they didn't fruit at all and before that we didn't live here.

I'd manure the shit (get it?) out of the drip line of those two come the spring. You'll get some good yield from it, but also remember that apples often like to "take a pause" after a heavy fruit year. Keep it well watered and fertilized will do much to push back against the predation from insects, there are other things with compost and manure "teas" that can help to resist a lot of the issues that many apple trees can have.

Me, I walk up to the tree, find one that looks about right, pluck it and eat around all the parts the bugs ate, then I give what is left to my girls (my chickens). My girls love that apple on its own, but they especially enjoy the insect treat inside. Having them in the orchard is one method I have had mentioned to me, but I need to fence it off from my mutts first.

I'm in a fairly similar climate and those look a lot like the apples currently on my one Red Delicious apple tree. The side by side planting right by the driveway also suggests that it would be a variety commonly available at home improvement stores 10-20 years ago.

Here's a picture of one of the apples. I didn't prune or thin the tree (frankly, I'm kind of hoping it dies) so the coloration of the apples is not the brilliant red most people think of when Red Delicious is mentioned.


EDIT: Looking through the pictures again, while the color is good for a Red Delicious, the apples shown do have more of a short and squat shape than typically associated with Red Delicious.

That's my neighbor's driveway. My house was part of a farmstead that goes back to 1935. Based on the history of the rest of the property, it's really likely the previous (and only) former owner planted them in the last 20 years. It seems he started letting everything else go about 20 years ago.

Will Holland wrote:K guess I gotta do these one at a time and with wifi off

My father (near Portland ME) has a tree that produces apples that look like that. Old house, circa 1900 construction, huge tree. He claims that it is a Northern Spy apple tree. Some of the apples get quite big. I just ate one for lunch. And breakfast. And have about 50 in my fridge left, because this year was a bumper crop. They are tart, sweet, and crisp. Store in the fridge quite well.