Last summer, we moved into a new house in SE Portland (near 50th+Woodward) with a huge apple tree as the centerpiece of the backyard (probably 70-80 years old). The previous owners said 'it's hard to get the apples before the insects do'. I pruned the pear and plum trees in the winter; they're doing great, but the apple tree is too big for easy pruning, so I left it as is. We did put socks on about 50 of the apples in early May in case these are apple maggots.
Now, it's full of apples, they're ripening, and there are two problems that I don't think are apple maggots. I've attached two photos?
Any thoughts on what these two problems are? Can anything be done at this stage of the season? Some of the fruits are still unmarked. The tree is about 30' tall, so I can't reach all of the fruit, but the tallest branches are bending over substantially now that the fruit is heavier. It's still a bit too tart to harvest.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
-Alex
Looks like apple scab on top, and sunscald or sunburn on the bottom photo. Nothing to alleviate either now. The scab is basically cosmetic, and you can take your pick of ways to deal with it. I just thinned fruit showing it, tossed leaves showing it, and raked and disposed of leaves at the end of the season.
The sunscald is no doubt due to the heat you’ve had this year, and will only affect the exposed apples. Just cut out the bad spots and eat those apples first.
Those are my guesses … leaving me wondering just what variety of apple it is..? Just store (refrigerate) and take some to the HOS All About Fruit Show this fall and have our apple ID Team take a look, or, just enjoy your fruit ~
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