Identifying apples

[fmervin]

Hi all,

My big apple tree right at the back of the garden is producing some really nice apples. The problem is I don't know what kind they are. I've read there are various kinds of apples including cooking varieties so I'm not sure if these can be eaten, juiced or cooked. They are green and that's about all I can say about them

A couple of years back the tree produced over 600 apples and since I couldn't care less at the time they fell down and rotted. I had to manually pick around 600 apples (I know since i put 24 in a bag and I had more than 25 bags). I know it was a terrible waste and was left feeling incredibly guilty. So I want to make sure it doesn't happen again. How do you guys recommend I identify these apples? Since they will mostly ripen at the same time, I was thinking of juicing them and freezing the juice so it should last me a good few months.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

[FarmI]

It doesn't really matter too much what the variey is as you can find out what they are good for with a bit of trial and error and really there won't be too much error anyway. If they are green, there is more chance than not that they will be cooking apples, but then I've even eaten some cooking apples and cooked with eating apples and enjoyed them both.

I think the best thing is that they are YOUR apples and so you can pick them at optimum freshnes and enjoy them, unlike the stored apples from the greengrocer which are really very tired by the end of the season.

Pick some when they are nearing ripeness, try them by taking a bite and if they are very tart, leave it a while and stew, bake or make cakes with the one's you already have picked. Next week try again.

If you decide that you really hate them, then find some scions from known varieties and do some grafting onto the tree. It's very easy to do and not as difficult as reading the techo info makes one think.

[Sherwin]

You could give us some additional information.

What time of year are the apples ready for picking?

Are they an even green color, or are other colors present?

What is the shape of the apple (round, elongated, etc.)?

Size of the apples?

How tart are they?

Any idea when this tree was planted?

I'm not saying I can identify the variety from these answers, but it possibly can narrow down the possibilities. There are quite a few apples that match the data you have given, so far.

Sherwin