need help identifying apples from my trees

[ginnyinWI]

I don't know what happened to my other post--if it shows up later and there are two--that's why.

I have three apple trees that I want to identify. The first one has a red round apple that is tart and crisp. Some have stripes and some are just red. I'm thinking Jonathan maybe? The apples were ripe in mid-September


The second one ripened a little before the first, like in the first half of September. Red round apples that cook quickly into a sauce. Thick peels, tart taste. Some of them have pink streaks in the flesh.


The third one is just now becoming fully ripe and dropping apples (end of Sept.). This apple is flatter and lighter in color with red stripes on yellow or a yellow-green background. The side that gets the sun is red. They are crisp and sweeter than the others, with a white flesh that doesn't go brown as fast.


Any help will be appreciated!

[grasswire]

1. you could compare to apples in the store

buy a couple of jonathans and see which of your apples most matches it in taste. maybe find others that look like those from your other trees.

Have you thought about winesap? I suspect that your number two may be a winesap.

How old are the trees? What varieties are usually seen in your area?

[ginnyinWI]

2. I had thought of that--buying store apples to compare.

And I still might do that.

I disqualified Winesap because everything I've read says they ripen in mid to late October. The sister in law I gave some to thinks McIntosh--and I thought maybe Paula Red or McIntosh. But I thought Macs usually have a lot of green on the skins and these really don't.

The trees--who knows. They're about 20-25 ft tall (and need to be pruned some more). I guess they were planted shortly after the house was built 19 years ago--we've been here seven years.

The kinds we usually see in Wisconsin are the Macs, plus Cortlands, Jonathans, Spartans, Red Delicious, and others I can't remember right now. Maybe a trip to a local orchard is in order. The best one around here went out of business about ten years ago.

[blaze]

3. Do you have a good produce guy? (or gal)

I used to have the *best* resource in my produce guy at the grocery store.

He's retired now and the new one hasn't quite stepped up to the plate.... but I'd be tempted to take some samples into my grocery store.

[Blue Gardener]

4. Maybe an apple orchard nearby?

They might be able to help.

[ginnyinWI]

5. I went to the grocery store and bought one each:

Cortland, McIntosh, Jonathan and Empire apples. And then we did a taste test.

I think the third picture is Cortland apples. The size and shape was similar and so was the taste. The first two I'm still not sure of, but they might be either Jonathans or Empires or both: the first one looks most like a Jonathan, and the second has a thicker peel like the Empire. The second pictured apple looks like a McIntosh but was much more tart tasting.

So for now I'll go with the idea that the first two are a tart cooking apple and the third a sweeter, softer eating and/or cooking apple. I actually threw all of them into a pot for applesauce and it was great. So it doesn't matter what their name is, really.