[AlaninCarlisle]

With gales lashing my apple trees and scattering windfalls onto the ground for the waiting slugs, I'm yet again driven to picking them off the tree before they are fully ripe, (ie come away in your hand when gently lifted).

Varieties are Cox's, Egremont Russet, Bramley Seedling and Golden Delicious.

Anyone found a solution to this dilemma?

[Beetroot Queen]

I have taken some of mine fed up of losing them to slugs and snails when they hit the ground. 

[pigguns]

And me- with these winds they'll get bruised so I've just picked a bucket in the rain of the ripest/blush coloured.  Don't know the type.

[Trillium]

If you spread them out on newspaper somewhere, they'll at least dry off until you can do something with them. Give them a couple of days to ripen a bit then you can turn them into applesauce or chop them up for the freezer or turn them into apple juice/cider. They won't store long due to bruising but you might as well use them somehow.

[rowan57]

There's not a great deal you can do about it. Windfall's should be used for apple sauce, chutney etc. Some years you will get a healthy crop remaining on the tree to full maturity, some you won't.

[Amilo]

I have seen the farmers in Spain erect a netting under the olive trees to catch the fruit, is it possible that you could do the same to catch the windfalls?

[8doubles]

I have seen the farmers in Spain erect a netting under the olive trees to catch the fruit, is it possible that you could do the same to catch the windfalls?

That how i pick Victoria plums, garden netting on canes under tree , shake tree, roll plums of netting into bucket.

Should work with apples if they do not hit each other.

Sloping the net helps .

[AlaninCarlisle]

Here in Cumbria the netting would blow away 

[8doubles]

Here in Cumbria the netting would blow away 

I use the cheap 20mm green plastic stuff , should not catch the wing too badly and the apples should stop it blowing away !

[Kate and her Ducks]

Similar dilemma here (although the geese seem to be the ones who are hoovering most of them up - who would have thought that geese liked apples so much). I made a load of apple sauce today. Also put some in chutney. Cider next time. 

[Auntiemogs]

Similar dilemma here (although the geese seem to be the ones who are hoovering most of them up - who would have thought that geese liked apples so much). I made a load of apple sauce today. Also put some in chutney. Cider next time. 

As a kid I loved watching our geese eat the smaller windfalls Kate as I could see them going down their necks. 

Capt Zero has just added a recipe for apple wine to the Homebrew section if that's of any use to anyone? 

[Kate and her Ducks]

These eat even the big ones. I'm amazed that they manage to break into them and nibble them away. They absolutely love them.

[Auntiemogs]

These eat even the big ones. I'm amazed that they manage to break into them and nibble them away. They absolutely love them.

They are lovely birds and used as 'guard dogs' for good reason.    Our labrador Biscuit (at the time) would collect the eggs for us and was always having his 'nethers' pecked. 

[devonbarmygardener]

Any apples that do survive on the tree for picking can supposedly be stored for a good duration if you put a drop of sealing wax on the stem, wrap them in tissue paper and store somewhere cool and frost free. So one of my books says anyway.
I'm trying the sealing wax on Apple stems myself this year. The fruit has to be in pristine condition to store though - no bruising.
You might be making a fair amount of Apple jam with the windfalls! Add some nice spices to the mix in a muslin bag and it's delicious

[simonwatson]

I only have a Bramley's seedling, so can't talk for more tender skinned apples, but the windfalls from my tree are almost always fine for picking up and using if found within a few days. Bruised get used asap, non bruised will keep for weeks.

Any fruit that are picked by hand in Autumn will store for around 6 months in my experience so it's worth leaving them to see how many make it all the way to harvest. There's always some (at least for me, maybe your trees are more exposed) that make it to the end.