Some flecks of red (not blush) come through. Apparently there is some red skin genetics in there just dieing to bust through.
This photo doesn't really highlight them though. I took a photo of them, but don't know what happened to it.

not as shiny as these photos make them appear to be. Actually they are somewhat dull.

Those are beautiful apples. Pictures seldom capture the best of the colors. I wish I could grow some that big. It's too hot and dry here. Apples are a struggle.

Nice looking apples!

The spiciness is maximal with really ripe apples right off the tree. I'm not sure I am going to get any spiciness this year, the apples were not ripe last I looked and the season doesn't have many weeks left in it.

Scott

Those are absolutely beautiful....literally "picture perfect" apples. Knowing that fruit like that can be grown by backyard enthusiasts like is what inspires me! (Though I've seen enough of your posts to know you are far from an "amateur") Great job.

Great job with the apples. The seasons never allow us ideal conditions but you cannot tell that by looking at your apples. They appear to have been grown in a perfect world.

Those are beautiful apples. I hope to be able to do as well as you.

Appleseed. How do you keep the Sooty Blotch off of them?

Appleseed! Great looking apples. I used the last of my apples last night, it is a bittersweet moment but the apple crumble was excellent! Beautiful color, reminiscent of my 'Pristine' in August. Yellow apples are beautiful aren't they? Mrs. G

fruitnut..."apples are a struggle". Lol...I think they are ALL a struggle. For me apples, cherries and plums are kinda easy, it's the peaches and nectarines that are the really the tough ones. You grow the most incredible stone fruit I've ever seen. And I mean that sincerely.

Cityman: Thank you sir for the kind compliment!

Clark: Not a picture perfect world by any means just a lot of chemicals and I do have better soil than I deserve.

Champs: I've only been here at my home for 4 years now, so I don't have as much fruit as I'd like yet. It makes it easier when there is less to fuss with. I know you have a ton of stuff growing and you already do waaay better than me. Thanks for the kind words.

MrsG: It was the bittersweet moment of eating the last of the apples that drove me to Goldrush. I wanted something late that would store well and have DR...Goldrush fit the bill perfectly, although I wouldn't mind if it were about 2 weeks earlier.
I think ALL apples are beautiful Mrs.G. I just cannot get over this affliction I have for apples, it's honestly a bit weird I think. I would actually prefer to eat a perfect peach than a perfect apple any day, but yet I VALUE apples more. Maybe it's because of their storability or the perceived "life giving force" of apples that draw me to them.

bonnan: Appleseed. How do you keep the Sooty Blotch off of them?
bonnan...I've never once had the least bit of sooty blotch anywhere I've been and have always attributed it to sulfur which I spray a lot of. It's constantly being pointed out to me however that it's efficacy in testing is not all that great, nor is it supposed to be very good for anything else save for mildews and killing mites. I do however use micronized sulfur and UC Davis makes a distinction between it and regular sulfur with the micronized being exceptionally effective versus the regular stuff. I do make an early spray of Chlorothalonil and this might be it. My reading has led me to believe that sooty blotch begins in the very early spring and it's symptoms just become noticeable in late summer, so maybe the chloro nails it and the sulfur does nothing.
If that's not it, I dunno...just lucky I guess.

I'm currently shopping for some Captan WP50, but I'm having a hard time letting go of $50 for something I cannot prove to myself that I need. It may help also with my peaches though, so I'm going to spring for it. It's effectiveness and overall broad spectrum control is tough to argue with. Aside from being reasonable in cost it's not hard to understand why it's been around and been so popular for so long.

Appleseed, I couldn't agree more with you! I only wanted four apples in my small orchard until I discovered all of the 'heritage' varieties. Well, that said, I now have 9 apples trees. Next year I'll have my first Caville Blanc d'Hiver French apples and cannot wait! They are not beautiful but they are supposed to be delish! Also my Motts Pink this year were fabulous. My two red fleshed apples are still to small to produce. I have about a two year wait on those. I'm in love with French apples. Don't tempt me with Goldrush! Mrs. G PS I love peaches best too.

Appleseed, maybe the chlorothalonil is doing the trick. I have sprayed tons of micronized sulphur some years and still got nailed with sooty blotch. When I started spraying I used only sulphur and copper for diseases and so I sprayed a whole lot of sulphur.

Anyway whatever you are doing its impressive. My Goldrush require a scrubby pad treatment to look like yours.

Scott

Anyway whatever you are doing its impressive. My Goldrush require a scrubby pad treatment to look like yours

Really? I didn't think Goldrush was very susceptible to it. I know golden delicious and other light green/yellow apples seem to have it a lot though.
Well...I certainly don't (and I wouldn't) scrub anything.

Good thing I didn't know that about Goldrush...had I heard that before buying it...I wouldn't have.

I have sprayed tons of micronized sulphur some years and still got nailed with sooty blotch. When I started spraying I used only sulphur and copper for diseases and so I sprayed a whole lot of sulphur.

Scott I saw a bunch of pics of your place on your blog. Awesomely nice pad BTW...love it!
I seen a lot of densely wooded area surrounding your place and was just wondering if airflow might be your issue. Obviously I didn't get the whole lay of the place but it looked very heavily forested with perhaps quite a bit of shade.
My trees are for the most part 100% unshaded (sunrise to sunset) with inordinately good airflow given it's location. My property sets at a very slight (maybe 1%) grade tilted exactly due south (within 5 degrees magnetic). When the rain stops they dry very quickly and then here comes the sulfur. I don't know why, but all you guys who have trouble with SB have convinced me (who does not and never has) to deviate from my current practices and consider dropping sulfur from it's heavy use at my place.
Could it be that the fungicide choices are a smaller aspect of the issue and airflow and sunlight exposure are the real champions here?

This post was edited by Appleseed70 on Sun, Nov 2, 14 at 1:34

Appleseed, I think you are right about airflow. Sites I manage out in the open that are annoyingly windy produce the most beautiful apples with the least summer fungus issues. Only problem is occasional blow over of trees.

Your apples look identical to the ripest ones on my tree right now, which I don't consider quite at optimum ripeness- I'm going to let them sit through a hard freeze tonight and probably harvest them in a couple weeks if the weather lets me and if the leaves still look like they are functioning.

If you like a sweeter apple, just put them in the fridge and taste them in a month or two. GR is an extremely high brix apple- equal to Fuji- the acid mellows in storage. I like it best in early to mid-winter but by spring it can taste almost like Yellow Delicious. Even in a root cellar it stays firm into spring.

I just checked my main tree here and several apples had been knocked off by a coon last night before it went into the trap I set nearby. I'm surprised it didn't go for the marshmallows first.

I don't want to lose any more of these apples. I was out of town for less than two weeks and coons moved in in that short time and took half my crop. Not much food in the woods this year. Again.

My Goldrush trees are loaded this year on my Tall Spindle set up in my vegetable garden. Each tree had about 50 nice sized apples and I love the fact that I can pick and eat them now while I wrestle with cleaning and shutting down the garden for the year. They have a good amount of SB and it's definitely gotten worse in the past few weeks. Strange to me that my Jonagolds are still hanging tough on the trees and they have a real acid kick to them.

Your apples look identical to the ripest ones on my tree right now, which I don't consider quite at optimum ripeness- I'm going to let them sit through a hard freeze tonight and probably harvest them in a couple weeks if the weather lets me and if the leaves still look like they are functioning.

Aren't you concerned about freeze damage? It was below freezing here last night and snowed enough to just barely lay. My leaves still looked great, but I was thinking with less sunlight hours and being cold, not much more on-tree ripening was going to take place anyway.

I've got the apples on the counter. Will they sweeten as quickly in the fridge? PRI did say flavor improves after "two months in normal cold storage". I was just thinking more sweetening would take place in a warmer environment.

I think the carbs become sugar more fully in a gradual process, although a week at room temp before storage is recommended for some apples before long term storage and for all apples when you are making cider with them because it does increase sugar.

I can't actually remember if I've taken Goldrush off the tree and kept them at room temp for any amount of time before eating them, but my cool room is not nearly as cool as a fridge and Goldrush almost keeps as long there as in the fridge.

I bet you are correct that sweetening will be much quicker at room temp, but I suspect apples will become soft before they reach highest possible sugar if you hold them there for long.

Last year I didn't harvest until temps had dropped to nearly 22 and Pink Lady and Goldrush held their texture as well as ever. Adams recommends harvesting Pink Lady on average in mid-Nov, I believe. I've tried researching this subject and found no useful, specific info at all.

What temps apples take depends a lot on their brix levels and density of flesh I think. Certainly the brix levels are significant. Sugar water freezes at a lower temp than water.

Those are nice looking apples. Here's a pic of one of mine from Friday. Mine are more in the "don't judge a book by its cover" category. Very tasty, but the looks put people off. I actually have a similar yard to you Appleseed, in that it has good light coverage (I've chopped everything tall down, including most of my neighbors' trees, with permission) and is on a South facing slope. But, I haven't sprayed anything but surround, so this is what Goldrush looks like on its own.

Goldrush gets pretty high brix levels (~20), so the freezing point can be dropped quite a bit (as Harvestman noted). Rather than spicy, I would almost describe it as lemony zest. In contrast, Sundance (another late, yellow DR apple I've been picking this week), has a similar brix level and is even more acid (less pleasing and a bit harsher). I think the Goldrush is perfect off the tree, but I'm going to try storing a few Sundance.

Harvestman...when you say "cool room" what are you talking about? A fruit cellar (as my Mother called it) or a root cellar (as my Grandfather called it)?

When PRI says "normal cold storage" are they talking about one of those large refrigerated rooms or a subterranean storage area of some sort akin to an earthen covered basement?
I could store them in my basement, I just checked the temp. down there and it was 61 F...I keep the house at usually around 73 F. Or I could just pop them in the fridge, but I really don't have room for them.
I read a real old book one time and in the story they mentioned burying apples in the ground with oak leaves for storage.
I'm curious because I'm adding more apples and my little trees are getting bigger and increasing production at a good rate. I also have a few more to come into production yet so I've been wondering if my basement could store them effectively. In the coldest parts od winter I've seen it in the upper 40's down there.

Bob
I definitely got the lemony zest flavor. I don't have a refractometer but I'm going to ask Santa for one. I don't know how accurately the layman can gauge brix by taste, but I've seen sweet Japanese plums here that were said to be in the 20's. My Goldrush I would guess are nowhere even close to that. Maybe due to first year bearing?
The more I think about it I've never eaten an apple I really thought of as being really super sweet as compared to my plums for example. Seems like I'm about the only one who don't have one of these instruments on this site. I hope they come with instructions because I have no idea what you do with it or how it even works.
I honestly don't know how I'm avoiding the SB. It must be the sulfur. I was thinking maybe my 1 early spray with chlorothalonil might be nipping it in the bud, but I just checked with UGA and Clemson and nether recommend Daconil for SB. I just dunno.

My "cool room" is my well house which is unheated and built into a hill and designed not to freeze inside, although in extreme cold it will freeze a bit. On warm fall days it probably gets above 50. I've seen better root cellars for the purpose of storing fruit in many old homes around here.

Refractometers are very easy. If you can use a computer and post on the internet, you can use one. Just cut a bit of fruit off, squeeze a drop or two onto the plate and look through the eye-hole (like a telescope). There will be a graduated line where the brix is indicated by the boundary between a white area and a blue area.

I don't think that many people have them yet, but they should. It is nice to be able to collect hard stats and pretty fun too. You aren't limited to fruit- I've started looking at the brix level of various ciders (the first two were in the 12-12.5 range).

Goldrush may not seem high-brix due to the acid. But it is usually higher than a "sweet" apple like Fuji or Gala. My highest-brix fruits have been Jujube and Hardy Kiwi, both in the high 20's. If they go much higher, I'll need a new refractometer, as this model only goes up to 32.

I've never seen one in person as yellow as any of those. They might as well call it "Greenrush" around here.

I only got one off of my tree and picked it maybe a week ago. I probably should have let it hang longer, or at least stored it for a while before tasting. But I couldn't help myself and I didn't want the racoons or whatever else to get it and I wasn't going to be able to monitor it much of November.

Bob, your GR look nearly identical to mine. I ate one a few days ago and they are starting to get very tasty (although still no spiciness). The one you show is getting close to picking, its getting some darker yellow. I look for some of that on the bottom out of the sun, and then its definitely picking time.

Appleseed, I don't think my location is why I get the sooty blotch. I have woods on only one side of my orchard, three sides are open. Its also on a steep south hill. Some parts are shaded a bit but not where GR is. The biggest problem I have with circulation is I have too many trees crammed in. I used 10' spacing between rows and now wish I had used 12'. The front orchard has only two long rows and it does much better disease-wise.

Scott

Hey Bob...I was just looking into refractometers. What kind do you have? I've been looking around online and reading a bit here and there. The beer/wine brewing guys are just nutso about these things.
Over at homebrewtalk (I think that's the name), they all seem to be mainly using these $20 ones from ebay. Everyone seems to be very happy with them claiming they arrived perfectly calibrated and measured spot on with their alternative measuring method using a hydrometer. My experience with optical devices is that you generally get what you pay for...what do you think Bob.
The only thing I did see mentioned was that the cheaper ones ($20) usually had small scales making it somewhat difficult to see readings accurately enough to get within much better than .2 ( two tenths). Holy cow if they are indeed that accurate then that would be awesome by me. Everyone also seemed to think they were well constructed and were always reliable and accurate.
I think this really could be a fun little toy for me. It would help me better understand weather effects on fruits and such. I'd like to have one so I could compare fruit quality from season to season. I know sweetness isn't everything, bit gives something to compare.
Those $20 ones are $22 now.

Appleseed, I purchased this refractometer from Amazon 2.5 years ago for $39. It is now $27 (with free shipping), so it looks like they've come down in price.

It gets pretty good reviews on Amazon (4.3), with the main complaint being that it doesn't measure specific gravity (not important if you are not brewing). The construction is pretty solid and I can see it lasting for quite a while. I've definitively given it some use and it seems to be in fine condition.

Yes, the scale is a bit small- I don't generally try to record anything closer than 0.2 with it. But that is plenty accurate for my purposes. After all, depending on which part of the fruit you sample, the brix often varies by at least 2, and sometimes by as much as 4-5 (top vs bottom and sun exposed vs shaded side).

Looking at this thread reminded me to go out and pick the remaining Goldrush from my own two small trees. Looks like raccoons beat me to it but there were a few left. Smallish and covered with sooty blotch.
Excellent eating quality however.
These are on M26 and I'm beginning to think this is not an appropriate rootstock. Very non-vigorous, although precocious. All my other apple trees yield larger fruit and grow more healthy looking. Despite the fact that I thin down to less than 10 apples per tree.
I guess I'll just leave them be. They have good branch structure and are easy to prune. And they are delicious.

I was curious about the Goldrush in the pic above (from my 11/2 post), so I picked it. As soon as I did it, I noticed that there was some rot starting at the bottom, so it was ready...

Goldrush (bottom left)- I cleaned off half the SB (at my daughter's request). It ranged from 16.5-21 brix and tasted great. Nice dense, crunchy texture too.

The other 6 apples are Sundance. I tried one of them and it was 15-19 brix, with more acid than the GR.

tcstoehr...mine are on M26 or 27 (can't remember. but I posted about it here in June I think) and I agree with you. If I had it to do over I think I would have went with M106 or even M111 as they have done well for me here.
Maybe they will take off, but despite allowing it to fruit so early I still would have expected more growth than what I got. It didn't do bad or anything. just seemed not quite up to par.
The photo here was taken September 26.

Appleseed, it is probably M26, not M27. M27 is a mini-dwarf rootstock and wouldn't be much taller than the girl in the picture in year #2. The trunk caliper would be like one of the side branches.

I haven't had any sizing problems with mine. It is on G16, which should be similar to M26 in size (or a bit smaller). It reached over 11 feet tall at the end of the 2nd year. Since then, I've been working to keep the tree from getting any taller (mostly with branch bending and a bit of pruning). I would expect that those who spray for CAR would get an even more vigorous tree...

Just picked about 100 Goldrush apples off of my three year old, two B9 tall spindle planted apple trees. My third Goldrush I took all of the apples off because it was in it's fourth year and had grown very little. I think I was so happy to have 10 apples the first year I allowed the apple tree to be stunted. The other apples are Enterprise which have grown on me for their disease resistence and once you peel them ( the skin is thick and tough) the flavor isn't so bad.

Appleseed, that's not a whole lot of leaves per fruit, I'm guessing, if you've already been harvesting. Really nice size though- guess that's a benefit of dwarf rootstock. I'm just not sure if it might not affect the brix even if it seems not to have affected size. I should think having less than 30 leaves per fruit would affect both.

Goldrush has about the same vigor on 111 as Jonagold has on 26, I think. I've never grown it on anything less vigorous than 7. You don't need 106 to get it to fruit very young on a vigorous tree- they fruit in their second year in my nursery on 111. Most precocious apple I grow.

Adorable picture. Nothing more fun for a dad than growing fruit for his children, IMO. Closest thing we can to to feeding a baby with our own milk.

Harvestman. Thanks for the root stock vs tree size information. This is still an area I struggle with.

H'man...that was all of them, that photo was taken in September. There would be 30 leaves per apple I'd say, but not much more than that.. I allowed 22 and then I think in late June I pulled 3 more due to doubles or triples. My daughter "harvested" an unripe one the day that picture was taken (the largest of course).
Really the only reason I said 106 was because how well it has performed under Honeycrisp here. I hear all these board members who've been waiting for years for fruit from HC and haven't gotten it. Mine on M106 fruited the second year after planting and fruited fairly heavily. It also made large full sized apples with great honeycrisp flavor. It's done the same each year since and I like the trunk dia. to top ratio...looks good.
If I had more space I'd go straight to 111...no doubt and maybe should have with the Goldrush, but I have that property line issue.

Yeah...it's fun with the kids and I'm blessed that they both love fruit so much...especially apples and pears. They always loved it too, I never even encouraged them...never needed to.

If I was sure of good soil conditions and irrigation when needed where trees are going I'd prefer 106 over 111 but the difference in performance in fruit production isn't enough to overcome issues in surviving poor drainage or drought.

A tale of two apples it seems. One variety is beautiful waxy yellow with a red blush. The other is a grey mass of filthy soot. The latter is what mine look like. Is this a result of differing climates? Geography? Cleaning? Spraying?

On the Honeycrisp side, I love my Honeycrisp tree, also on M26. It is very non-vigorous but larger than my Goldrushes. It stays at just the right size without much pruning. With a modest number of large delicious apples.

Some other possible reasons I wonder why my Goldrush trees might be struggling. They were both planted in holes where an apple tree had previously grown for three or four years and was removed. Secondly, my other apple trees were given substantial summer irrigation in their first years. The Goldrushes came after I stopped doing that, and only get a few late summer drinks. And perhaps being planted between two more established trees, they may be having trouble competing. Now that I have typed all of that and think about it, it seems all the more likely

That and the fact that runting them out with inadequate water leads to a cycle of excessive spurring that is self-sustaining. Best thing to do is cut back the spur wood mercilessly and hope the tree will return to more vegetative growth. Might take a couple of seasons and you need to keep them with adequate water.

I live right by tcstoehr and murky and I have mostly yellow GoldRush but a few sooty blotch ones. It and Cripp's Pink are my last to harvest. Goldrush is probably my favorite apple: best keeper, most flavorful, disease free (mostly), trouble free. I did have some crack and one had the red color inside the cracks.

You guys have gotten me interested in Sundance. Does it keep well?
Thansk,
JOhn S
PDX OR