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Per Jayryunen's request, here is a new thread about apples. :)
Regarding apples, so far, I have found this...but not varieties yet:
"Store only fall apples. Summer apples do not store well. Leave the stem on the apple. Remove any bruised apples. Maintain a root cellar temperature of, ideally, 32 degrees Fahrenheit with relative humidity around 80 percent. You can store apples at higher temperatures, but you should increase the relative humidity to 90 percent. Also, higher temperatures will decrease the storage life of the apples."
The original edition of Putting Food By indicates the best "keepers" are late varieties... Winesap, Yellow Newton, Northern Spy, then Jonathan, McIntosh in New England, Cortland and Delicious.
If you are interested, it recommends picking when mature but still hard. Store only perfect fruit. It goes on to say they breathe in storage so will create their own humidity. Their recommended conditions are ~ Freezes at 29.0° Ideal temp 32° Relative Humidity, Moderately moist at 80-90 Moderate air circulation and average storage life is 4-6 months, stating they will be "aged" from Christmas on. Which I suspect means best used for cooking rather than eating raw.
I've no experience other than our MN childhood but believe in good reference books. It recommends (as we did on the farm) to wrap in paper and store in boxes that can be covered.
I don't know whether I have ever eaten a Winesap, but I did plant a dwarf Winesap tree a few years ago. I am stll waiting to see whether the last snowfall killed all the blossoms or not. Ditto a MacIntosh. Most blossom buds are brown & fall off when brushed, but some are kind of sticking, like maybe there is a baby apple in there, and some buds look like they might just bloom afterall. I've decided not to worry about it, just wait and see. (Nothing else I can do, anyway.)
podster... but don't you get to have citrus? I'm thinking that has some trade potential... =0)
One Ruby Red for a Winesap...
Around here the apples often get hit by a late frost. I wonder if maybe that might be an influence in variety selection. Do some apples bloom later than others?
Citrus is not a successful in this zone although I am doing a Satsuma, Meyer lemon and Mexican thornless lime. All are still in pots and can be moved to shelter if needed. Common fruit production here is plums, hard winter pears, figs and rarely pomegranates.
I am afraid I don't know about the bloom cycles of apples unless the plant catalogues offer some apple intelligence.
Figs... yes, but I'm not growing any. The tree gets so huge and sprawling. Our cleared area in the woods would be dwarfed by a fig tree. Far easier to go help someone else pick... especially when I am the only fig eater at my house. Do they not grow in your area?
Hahahaha... way too cold!
Our weather is pretty unpredictable here... we don't reliably get any fruit from trees. Apples are best, but I don't have any and don't know anyone that takes care of their tree enough to make apples good enough to store in any form other than applesauce. =0)
