Topic: Apple Harvest

[Tee Gee]

I have three trees on my allotment and despite the very hot weather and lack of rainfall they have cropped very well as you can see in the attached photos.

Due to the quantity I harvested, I gave one  container full to another plot holder who I am quite friendly with.

[caroline7758]

They werec saying on GW that it's because the weather was good at blossom time that the harvest has been so good this year.

[Palustris]

We have one or two.
The boxes stacked up on the left are full too!

[Digeroo]

I lost two trees I think one was deer and the other drought.  But the rest have done ok.  Apart from James Grieve which has given up producing flowers.  Some were not as juicy as normal.

[cambourne7]

i have had a brilliant harvest after fighting various issues with the trees already have mix for 10 apple use in freezer and need to visit sainsburys monday to source some boxes for some of the other apples.

[terrier]

The apple harvest was good this year, but not exceptional. What did surprise me was a couple of pear trees that have done virtually nothing for the last twenty odd years in my garden, this year were groaning with the weight of pears (not that I'm complaining).

[davholla]

The apple harvest was good this year, but not exceptional. What did surprise me was a couple of pear trees that have done virtually nothing for the last twenty odd years in my garden, this year were groaning with the weight of pears (not that I'm complaining).

I once read that pears are not 100% adapted to the UK climate compared to apples.  Maybe North Wales is not the correct climate for them?

[galina]

Terrier, yes I agree with Davholla.  Pears like it a bit warmer than apples and grapes a bit warmer than pears.  The large round plums do not do well even in the South.  Apples are the hardiest.  Delighted for you that this year was an exception for you. 

For us it was the elusive outdoor grapes that, for once, did extremely well.  So nice when this happens.   

[Vinlander]

For us it was the elusive outdoor grapes that, for once, did extremely well.  So nice when this happens.   

Hi Galina  - what kind of outdoor grapes are you trying?

In general Himrod is widely regarded as the best outdoor seedless dessert grape for the UK - very early and productive (it has some genes from native species that eveolved on the cloudy East coast of N. America - which give an advantage over the hot dry origins of the European species - Greece and Georgia both claim to be the original).

Of course suppliers who don't offer hybrids don't mention them - Sunnybank sell both (so their notes can be refreshingly honest - have a look to see what they say about what you are growing).

Lakemont is a newer contender for the crown - Monty Don preferred its taste  (Interlaken was rejected only because of its "strawberry" overtones), and his program (and presumably his advisers) wisely didn't include any non-hybrids.

I wouldn't try anything else without a perfect soil and aspect (and it sounds like you don't have these).

I certainly wouldn't try reds anywhere north of the M25 - unless you are making wine - and even then you need hybrids (eg Schuyler) to inject some fruity flavours (unless you actually like those thin French reds that taste of boiled sweets, or even worse: German red wine).

Cheers.

[davholla]

Terrier, yes I agree with Davholla.  Pears like it a bit warmer than apples and grapes a bit warmer than pears.  The large round plums do not do well even in the South.  Apples are the hardiest.  Delighted for you that this year was an exception for you. 

For us it was the elusive outdoor grapes that, for once, did extremely well.  So nice when this happens.   

Wow that was the first thing I have got right for a very long time (I am not a very experienced gardener)

[galina]

We have two types of outdoor grapes Vinlander.  Golden Chasselas and an unknown blue one.  The Golden Chasselas was an offer from a gardener, who sent out sticks for rooting.  Six sticks rooted into 3 plants, two on either side of the pergola and one went in the greenhouse.  Produces wonderfully well with large, sweet grapes in the greenhouse, always good.  This year the vine in the greenhouse perished (gnawed by mice at the base) but has since resprouted.  The others rarely produce anything sweet earlier than December and then only one or two small bunches.  However this year the outdoor ones are just getting palatable.  And there are many large bunches too. 

The other grape was supposed to be a very early one (and I can't for my life remember the name) with small berries and beautiful red autumn foliage.  But they sent the wrong one.  Usually produces little and very late.  This year however we have huge bunches of blue sweet grapes.  And we are definitely north of the M25.   It could be Black Hamburgh what do you think?

To have both outdoor ones not only producing ripe fruit but in large bunches too, has never happened before.   

[Vinlander]

Black Hamburg is definitely a grape for a glasshouse (Hampton Court has one). It would take a year like this one to get a good crop outside even if it was on the South Coast.

You really need Himrod or Lakemont outside - both are absolutely delicious, but I have much more experience with Himrod and I can tell you it is possible to green-graft it onto an existing vine and get the whole thing to crop in its first year (but more likely its second in your neck of the woods, and that's assuming your grapes get decent sun but aren't able to cash in on it).

Green grafting is only done in New Zealand (last time I looked), and I use a simpler version - basically, in spring a new green shoot of Himrod (say) can be grafted onto a  fairly low new green shoot of any dead-loss grape (I have several of these because my plot predecessor planted grapes that do well in Cyprus - Duh!  ).

The method is identical to grafting any other green stem (cucumbers, tomatoes etc. etc.) I follow the rules but take advantage of the toughness of vine shoots by cutting staggered notches in both halves so I can use an oblique loop of wire to force a whip/tongue joint together to make really good contact.

I often use a simple Z shape scarf with the central section straight down the grain - like https://timberframehq.com/tag/scarf-joint/ (it needs so much less skill).

When you have at least one "take" you can start removing much of the green wood from the old grape to force the Himrod to take over. If all's well you can winter prune most of the old one away - unless you are going to do more grafts next year.

A good approach graft should be even more reliable - so planting a cheap 1 year rooted Himrod cutting nearby the original rootstock gives you many opportunities to get them to merge - you can also tie a potted cutting up on the original vine - just don't forget to water it!

Himrod is a hybrid but close enough to V. vinifera (euro) types to take - but it's not as quick as hybrid-to-hybrid grafts and some of the more exotic hybrids (eg. Reliance or Glenora) won't join to vinifera for me (though they graft well onto Himrod - it's worth starting with Himrod because if the grafts fail you're still getting good grapes until you try again next year).

Cheers.