06 August 2017

Dwarf Macintosh Apple Harvest!

Many of the apples made it through the Japanese beetle season relatively intact!  They don't all seem to ripen on the same day, so we wander out every now and then and browse the tree and pick a few here or there.  This tree is about nine years old and this is the first real harvest we've had from it.  Oddly, all the apples are on the north side of our tree.

Our apples seem to be more tart than the ones you'd buy in the store.  They're also smaller and more prone to bugs, although that last bit may be because we don't use pesticides and so on.  I used a bit of diatomaceous earth on the Japanese beetles this season and it worked like a charm.

I spent a little time looking through my old pictures dating back from our planting the tree and Emperor and Elf's adventure of picking the first apples.  Perhaps apple trees yield more as they grow older - here's hoping!  I am starting to doubt that this is a "dwarf" tree as we were told just based on the size of the thing and the fact that it took so long to get a good crop in.  Dwarf trees are supposed to yield a bit earlier.  Hmm.  Any gardeners out there have an opinion?  I popped a photo here so you can see how tall the tree is - the cars are parked on the north side of the tree.

6 comments:

  1. It's a good sized tree and if it is full grown now, perhaps it is a dwarf. I've seen much taller apple trees out on farms here in Australia, big enough for kids to climb in and pick apples. Most dwarf trees usually have the size they're expected to grow to on the label when you buy them, but there are some that grow past that if they're planted in the ground instead of in a pot.

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    1. Yeah, I can't tell if it's fully grown. It might be. Having trouble picturing tall apple trees. Tallest I've seen is about the height you've seen here - although it may be the U-pick orchard trees are shorter so the kids can get to them.

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  2. Sounds little odd but there must be some reason for the less and late fruit .
    how weird that all at one side .
    this reminded me a mango tree back in my native land where they usualy don't grow .
    It was then more than 15 years old but grew after each two or three years very small mangos

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    1. Fifteen years is ages to wait for a fruit! I hope they were good at least. Here I think the mangoes we buy in the store are different from the ones I had in Australia. I don't like the ones here, so instead of a long explanation (and maybe looking snobby?) I just say I don't like mangoes if I'm offered one. But I do, really. :)

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  3. sorry i forgot to mention that you have a very beautiful family as i can see at side bar

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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