Where is apples grown

Correct timing is critical to avoid harming the bees and affecting pollination. When used, pesticides are applied at a specific stage of flower and fruit development, not according to the calendar.

If you wish to avoid pesticides, it is possible, though apple trees are the one of the most pest-susceptible fruits. For example, you can place paper bags around each apple of your tree, though this takes some time and labor.

There are also organic pesticides. For example: Rub off misplaced buds before they grow into misplaced branches. Bend a stem down almost horizontally for a few weeks to slow growth and promote branches and fruiting.

Tie down with strings to stakes in the ground or to lower branches. Prune your mature tree when it is dormant. Completely cut away overly vigorous, upright stems most common high up in the tree.

Remove weak twigs which often hang from the undersides of limbs. Shorten stems that become too droopy, especially those low in the tree. After about ten years, fruiting spurs stubby branches that elongate only about a half-inch per year become overcrowded and decrepit. Cut away some of them and shorten others. When a whole limb of fruiting spurs declines with age, cut it back to make room for a younger replacement. Thinning Apples Apples are often grown without any thinning other than what nature provides in the annual spring drop.

This seems hard but this practice evens out production, prevents a heavy crop from breaking limbs, and ensures better-tasting, larger fruit crop. Soon after fruit-set, remove the smallest fruits or damaged ones, leaving about four inches between those that remain. Harvesting Apples Harvest patiently. Pluck your apples when their background color is no longer green. The stem should part readily from the branch when the fruit is cupped in the palm of your hand and given a slight twist around, then up do not yank on the apple.

Different apple varieties mature at different times, so the harvest season can stretch from August to October. If the apple is overripe and soft, use for cooking! Storing Apples Only store mid or late season apples. Mid season varieties should keep for a few weeks, while late season varieties will stay in good condition for anywhere up to five months in a root cellar.

Apples destined for storage must be perfect, with no bruises or blemishes that could provide entry points for rot. Store apples by wrapping up individual fruits in newspaper or tissue paper. Place the wrapped apples onto trays that allow air to circulate. You can also store them unwrapped, but the fruits should not touch. The ideal store is somewhere cool, dark, and well-ventilated. Most garages and sheds are ideal, while attics and basements should be avoided due to either excessive heat, lack of ventilation or low humidity.

Check stored apples regularly and remove any that are going soft, brown or rotting. Check out this video to learn more about how to harvest and store apples. Maintenance is easier, too. You need to choose a rootstock. For dwarf trees, make sure that the rootstock is specified.

The M9 is probably the most widely planted rootstock, though it could die in frigid winters. Buy dormant, bare-root, 1-year-old nursery trees with good root systems. Dwarfs and semi-dwarfs will bear in 3 to 4 years, yielding 1 to 2 bushels per year. Standard-size trees will bear in 5 to 8 years, yielding 4 to 5 bushels of apples per year.

The variety of apple selected should be based on fruit characteristics, bloom time, and pollen compatibility.

Consult a local nursery to see which trees are potential cross-pollinators in your area. These varieties are known pollinators. Crabapple trees can also be used as pollinators if they bloom at the same time as the desired variety. Nursery catalogs will provide pollination charts. Most apple varieties do not pollinate themselves or any flowers of the same apple variety; this requires planting at least two different apple tree varieties close to one another so that the bees can pollinate.

There are actually some self-pollinating apple tree varieties if you are really short on space. However, even these apple trees will bear more fruit if cross-pollinated. If you have no particular culinary goal, try planting one each of different varieties that ripen over the entire harvest season. Seek out the advice of local orchardists about the varieties that will do well in your area.

Do the bulk of your planning from an easy chair, with a half-dozen nursery catalogs in your lap! March 11 is Johnny Appleseed Day, celebrating John Chapman, legendary American pioneer and folk hero who planted apple trees across the American Frontier. Did you know that apples and aged cheeses can reduce tooth plaque?

Eat them together! Find the answer and learn more about the health benefits of apples, apple cider, and cider vinegar. This fall, try your hand at making an apple head or try one of our Top 10 Apple Recipes! You can freeze apples by stewing washed chunks with a dash of water until they soften.

Once ready, sieve and pour the stewed apples into containers, leaving a small space at the top as they will expand slightly when frozen, and pop into the freezer. You can also cut your fruits into thin slices then dry them out in a dehydrator to make a deliciously chewy and healthy snack.

Planning to bake or cook your apples into an apple pie or meal? See our chart on the best baking and cooking apples in North America. Vegetable Gardener's Handbook. What do you want to read next? Growing Asian Pears: Easy and Unusual Fruit and Fruit Trees to The Best Flowers for Bees. The Best Fall Flowers for Your The Best Shrubs for Fall Color. Seeds and Bees. Your Top Questions about Edibles Seems they produce about every other year.

Has anyone else experienced this? Planting of apples. Need assistance, like your platform! You have a refrigerator. Is planting apples in the tropics possible?

Can I grow juicy apples in the tropics and where is this possible. Hello - I just planted two Honeycrisp trees and they are in full bloom! The science of apple growing is called pomology. Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit. Most apples are still picked by hand in the fall. Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. Apples are propagated by two methods: grafting or budding.

The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea. Apples were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans.

Apples are a member of the rose family. Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each. The largest apple picked weighed three pounds. Europeans eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.

The average size of a United States orchard is 50 acres. Many growers use dwarf apple trees. Charred apples have been found in prehistoric dwellings in Switzerland. Most apple blossoms are pink when they open but gradually fade to white. Some apple trees will grow over 40 feet high and live over years. Most apples can be grown farther north than most other fruits, because they blossom late in spring, minimizing frost damage.

It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple. Apples are the second most valuable fruit grown in the United States.

Oranges are first. In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth. The largest U. Apples have five seed pockets or carpels. There is proof that man has enjoyed apples for at least , years. Apples were a favorite of the ancient Romans and Greeks. Early settlers of the United States brought apple seeds with them. According to records belonging to the Massachusetts Bay Company, apples were grown in New England as early as As the United States was settled, traders, missionaries and Native Americans transported apple seeds west.

John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, was responsible for extensive apple tree plantings in the Midwest. Apples are the most consumed fruit in the U. In the average U. The per person consumption of apple juice and cider decreased to The consumption of fresh market apples in accounted for 10 pounds ERS, Factors contributing to increased apple and apple product consumption include new varieties, rising incomes, production expansion in the United States, a growing and more diverse population, products that better meet consumer lifestyles and increased awareness of including fruit in a healthy diet.

The United States is the second largest apple producer worldwide, behind China. The United States grows approximately unique apple varieties.

The top 10 varieties in the U. The United States has 5, plus apple producers who grow, on average, million bushels of apples each year. These producers grow the apples on an approximated thousand acres of land U.

Approximately one of every three apples that is grown in the United States is exported. The United States does import fresh apples to make up for lack of production in the late season or before fall harvest.

Many of these apples are imported from the Southern Hemisphere. Only five percent of the apples consumed in the United States are imported U. Foreign competition affects the market price and sale of apples in the United States.

That is why it is important for the U. Apples face increased competition from imports of other fruits, such as grapes, peaches, nectarines and plums from Chile. More choices for consumers in supermarkets have led to greater competition for domestically produced fruits.

Organic production is defined as an ecological production system that integrates cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster resource cycling, ecological balance, and biodiversity. USDA organic standards prohibit many inputs and methods that are commonly used in agriculture. Certifying agents review farm applications and qualified inspectors conduct annual on-site inspections.