When picking apples the colour can be anything from dark green, to yellow, pink, orange, bright red, dark red or even a combination. It all depends on the variety. And colour is not really how you tell when an apple is ripe. Apples should be crisp and firm. You will see that there are almost always two or more apples growing stem to stem, and many more along the branch. After deciding which group of apples you want, you pick them in the following manner:
- Place the palms of your hands on each apple, at the same time.
- Gently use your fingers – without putting too much pressure on the apples – to twist and turn the apples.
- As you twist and turn the apples, gently roll the apple upwards off the branch. (If you have more than just the stems attached to the apples when they are picked you did not quite do it as we do.)
- If the apple you’re trying to pick drops (or any others on the tree) go ahead and pick it up and put it in your container. It is perfectly okay.
- Place the picked apples into your container. Never drop or throw them into your container. Throwing or dropping them into a container will bruise a lot of fruit.
Remember…
- NEVER pull the apple straight away from the tree.
- NEVER shake the tree or branch.
- NEVER climb in the tree. Your feet ALWAYS stay on the ground.
- It is okay to eat an apple in the orchard as long as you put the apple core in the garbage.
- Apple cores left on the ground attract mice and mice can do a lot of damage to the apple trees in the winter.
