My Anna apple is about 10 years old, but only 4 ft tall (from HD, guess it's a dwarf, my surprise). I find that if it gets yellowish, it tastes a bit mushy. I like it tart, crisp, and with a hint of sweetness. So it'll be plump, green, and with a touch of red on the shoulders. Also, I get my second crop of the season in time for the end of summer. I get quite alot of fruit on that tiny tree, but I don't thin sufficiently (maybe 3 to a cluster, from 5 in the cluster). My second crop will be much smaller fruit in size, maybe golf ball size. Good luck!!!

You'll know, when you see some color change.

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pitangadiego,
Hmm, my Anna apples never will get red to that extent. When overripe and left on the tree, my Annas are yellow with slight red blush at the shoulders (and way too mushy texture-wise for me).

My old neighbor has an anna apple tree that is at least 15+ yrs old and is huge (like 20+ feet tall) with FABULOUS apples,,(I didn't realize that in So.Calif you could grow this good of an apple with out going up in elevation) We've picked them a few times now over the years. I'll try to remember what color they were or I can run down there and see or call her up,,,they should be very crunchy, juicy and sweet. It had so many apples you could just pick and pick. It was no dwarf that is for sure. If I put in an apple tree, that will the one!! If they are ripe now and I catch her at home, I'll see if I can get a picture...depends on if she's visiting her daughter in Oregon, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I took a peak.

Thanks - I'll give mine a bit longer before trying one, they are just starting to show some color change.

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Piper, next you will want to try Braeburn, Fuji and Lustre/Elstar.

Interesting - Our Dorsett Golden is finished - it set fruit very early. Anna was sooo slow to come out of dormancy that I thought it dead. It finally did and now has small greenies - a fairly decent set considering it is only a few years old.

I picked them at early yellow/green stage last year and made apple sauce. Not too bad, but won't hold a candle to something like Grannies.

Nice to have the 2 apples come ripe at different times however.

Bejay

Scott:

I've done my share of trash talking Anna, but last year it ripened in out 107 degree heat wave and was outstanding- crisp, tangy, juicy, and humongus if thinned properly. The easy way to tell when it's ripe is when the most colored one disappears without a trace overnight, which means the raccoon that's been checking it out every night finally determined that it was ready.

I've found the quality of Anna and most of the other summer low-chill apples is highly variable, depending on sun exposure, the weather, and age of the tree. The first year ours went from astringent to mushy in a heartbeat. Dorsett Golden seems to do best shaded by leaves, where it does not obtain the beautiful color of the sun exposed fruit, but is able to obtain full sweetness while remaining crunchy instead of turning mushy like the top apples. Anna will turn a deep red if left on the tree long enough, and seems to enjoy extreme heat during ripening.

Please do not think that you are restricted to these so-called "low chill" apples. I have about 80 apple varieties in my Riverside yard with fruit on them right now, with Williams' Pride and Braeburn being the next to ripen. Ashmead's Kernel looks to be not far behind. And the Fujis grown in Southern California are world class- better than anything you've ever had from the store. Pink Lady even does well in the furnace heat of Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and Phoenix.

Applenut

I pick mine when still green, with reddish shoulders. At that point, they taste remarkably like a good Granny Smith.
They make very good applesauce too. I've been eating apples from the Annas for weeks now, with Tropic Sweet, Ein Shemer, and Dorsett Golden not ready yet.

Lisa

SO the mushiness means over-ripe? I have a Queen Cox, and the first year the two I got were delicious, but last year they were all mushy. Does that mean I left them on the tree too long? This year I have tons of little apples--should I start picking them every few days when they begin turning color and taking bites, and when the day comes that I like the flavor, pick 'em all that day??
Carla in Sac

Well, I went out with my daughters to try one. I let them pick it, and then cut it up into pieces to try. It still had a lot! of pucker factor but my 5 year old loved it - I think she was just excited to pick it since she's been talking about it for around a month now. I'd say with just a tad more sweet and a bit less pucker it'd definetly be better than a granny smith, as long as they don't go mushy on me.

I'm still pretty new to the back yard orchard thing so I don't want to overdo it all at once, if I can keep my current trees happy I'll keep adding a couple every year. I've found going out to water/check the trees is way more fun than staying inside where the wife can remind to to walk the dogs and take out the trash :-)

Should I pick?

Mine look like that, please someone help us!

My dwarf Anna has really red apples- do i pick when green/red or wait til red/red?

I pick them when they smell like apples, not based on color

Carla in Sac