On Sep 1, 8:56*pm, kay wrote:
harry;934907 Wrote:



If the tree/branch is small/reachable, give it a shake. *The ripe ones
fall off. Come back in a day or two & repeat.
I climb into our larger trees and shake the branches. *Wife picks up.
Saves all the poxy trouble of going round tweaking them & lots can't
be reached anyway on our big trees.

OK if you're planning to eat fairly soon, but not if you're planning to
store. The bruising as they hit the ground is enough to cause rot during
storage.

Cox is supposed to be ready for harvest in early to mid Oct, so even in
a good summer beginning of September is a bit early. Its eating season
is late Oct to Jan. I was always brought up with that thing about
rattling the pips to see when it was ripe, but recently there's been
some doubt cast on that.

I usually pick when the tree in question is starting to shed good apples
as windfalls (I ignore the first few windfalls which are usually unripe
fruit which have been attacked by blackbirds). Harry's right with his
implication that not all the apples on the tree are ripe at the same
time, so if your tree is small enough, it's sensible to do the gentle
lifting thing - ie gently lift the apple and it should fall off, without
any need for twisting. Only resort to twisting if you're trying to pick
late apples before the frost, and expecting them to continue ripening in
store.

--
kay

Commercial apples aren't picked. They are shaken off with a tractor
mounted device. I have long grass under my trees. Never a trace of
bruising