WA have your apples woken up yet?

Julie says...
It may depend on the variety, WA girl. There were a few posts a couple of weeks ago about this - can't remember the name of the thread.

Apples are much later than other fruits, and as I said elsewhere, lose their leaves much later too. If you have a late variety it may come good soon, now the days are warmer.

My Gala and Granny Smith have only just started to blossom. Hang in there!

Jason says...
I should say, those 2 pics above were taken last week, 15th Oct 2009.

Much more action then my nectarine for example. But again, very early variety apples.

CJ says...
My Dorsett Golden, Anna, Sundowner, Pink Lady and Granny Smith all have healthy new growth. My Lady Williams has just started in the last few days. Only my Fuji remains, but I'm not panicking yet.

Jason says...
yes prune them front and back, dont mind a little overlap.

Those apples are already around 4 or 5 years old so not too rampant.

Julie says...
Jason, I certainly didn't mean to worry you! Just curious about what you had planned for them.
There is a system where trees are deliberately planted close together - almost a hedge - which dwarfs them. But I think it still depends on a lot of pruning.
Actually, the local orchards plant fairly close, and are pruned back to almost nothing. So go for it!

Mikey Mike says...
Granny smith woke up 2 weeks ago and my pinkabelle and Fuji are only just starting to wake up.

Damo says...
pinkabelle is flowering now in kelmscott

amanda says...
My Fuji and Pink Lady apple trees have still not broken dormancy yet? Has anyone else's?
Last yr I removed all of the leaves and away they went (thanks Jimmy) but this year have left them alone (so far...)

ps - they have not lost any of last seasons leaves and it's a bit warmer up here then Perth - does that make any difference? I am wondering (again) if I may be in a marginal climate for even low chill apples?

Jason says...
I understand they will flower once the chill hours they need are done. In theory if I were to plant a super low chill apple like Anna here where I have enough chill for any apple. Then they would flower and fruit super early in the year, well before all the normal apples.

My Gravenstine is just pushing growth now but no flowers yet, the others don't go till a week or two after that. The only cool weather thing flowering right now are the sweet cherries, Peach/Nectarine and Apricots are all finished as of this week

Brad says...
Jason - while there's a chill requirement, there must also be a wakeup requirement. e.g. if you had anna in a really cold climate and pulled the leaves off early, it still shouldn't flower while its still autumn / early winter.

from reading applenuts stuff, I got the impression that apple trees on the fringes of their usual chill requirement, may appear to figure out to flower earlier in spring after a couple years waiting for chill (that never comes)

I wonder if some water and fertilizer might wake them up? Jimmy?

amanda says...
Ok - got it now. Wrong type for here like u say Brad.
Does the Glengarry apricot benefit from a pollinator?

Also Brad - do your apples lose their leaves down there?

Only my apricot and apples hardly lose a leaf - and they are also the only trees I have problems with flowering and fruiting - is this connected to the chill requirements?
Thanks!

Jason says...
Realistically your probably a few hundred chill hours short for most apples. Apples here have no leaves left hanging on them sometime in August. And then they flower heavily in October.

Brad I guess there must be a daylight factor or something come into it also but Anna is usually listed a full month earlier than Gravenstine which is already very early so it must flower way earlier than a normal apple to gain that advantage. That would almost put it into January? in Victoria, there's some even earlier apples but not common ones but I see Dorset is also very early, would be interesting to see if all the super early apples are low chill or not. If you could get Anna to ripen fruit in late January that could give you apples here on the tree for a solid 6 months.

With Apricots my trees are completely white with flowers every year and almost all of them set if the parrots don't eat the flowers. But then it seems on the good years that the parrots leave them alone the weather is bad and I get problems with fungus and die back so I don't end up with many fruit, sometimes none. You never seem to win with Apricots :)

Itdepends says...
Any apples in the shops now are last seasons.

Wayne says...
So much for "The fresh food people" don't it make you wonder when they're selling their "fresh" Pink Lady's here today for $5.49kg

Jason says...
We have several large apple storage sheds around here the local growers use, I know they keep them for at least a year but only if you get the shed "just right" it's not easy to keep them good for that long. The amount of apples they grow and people want just can't be eaten in a week so there's not much option but to put them in storage. I'm sure everyone would have a whinge if they couldn't buy a pink lady at any time other than in June-July

Lorna says...
Another test is the tap test. With the end of your finger, tap the apple, and listen to what sound it makes. A low dull sound means that the apple is soft and fluffy and should be fed to the goat. A higher less dull sound means it will be good. Try it next time you are in the supermarket-musical apples. You soon get to know the correct sound. It does not bruise the apple doing this either, so there is nothing to worry about there.