This is the first year that my apple tree has truly performed (4yr old). It has an abundance of apples but the one I tasted 4 days ago tasted a bit sour. They look ripe enough but when are they best to be picked? How will I know? I don't want to lose them to falling and rotting on the ground.
Afraid getting it right comes a bit with experience but basically if they come off when you pull with a slight twist they are ready, otherwise leave them.
Fruit from my large old apple tree (cox type) taste very sharp at the moment and I have learned over the years that they are at their best from mid-September to early October. That means that many fall off while I'm waiting, and I make them into sauces and pies or leave them on the ground to dig in later as compost.
Do you know the variety? Some dessert apples are picked at the end of Oct to store for use in Dec-March.... ???
we wait 'til the wasps start on one!
Other indicators of ripeness include a change in the background green colour of the apple to yellow-green, and the apples start to really smell of apples.
I picked my two Bramley apples today and am cooking them with pork as apple sauce. I know I should have left them but was a bit scared they might have been stolen from the allotment. A brilliant tree, brought from Morrisons 3 years ago and is doing well. Had about 6 apples earlier on and have cooked and frozen them as apple sauce. Perhaps when I have hundred and thousands, dream on, I will wait until Sept/Oct but was just so excited about these apples and counted them on the tree.
If it's a small tree, shake it. The apples are usually ready when they drop off. that being said, I have had the odd year when I had to keep my Egremont Russet for 3-4 weeks after they fell.