[KirinChris]

We’ve very recently moved on to a smallholding and there are half a dozen mature apple trees with quite a lot of fruit.

Some are large and clearly cooking apples, others are more eating size.
Obviously I can just try them and see but I’d quite like to know what varieties they are.

Can anyone point me to a source for identifying them please?
Or I could post some pictures and we can have a guessing competition !

And in any case I have to work out what to do with them all…
They seem to be all pretty ready now. it’s Durham so I guess they are later than trees in the south.

[Fleecewife]

I don't think apple ID is based solely on looks, you need to consider the taste too and for cookers, just how they cook (some turn quickly into fluff (Bramley I think) while others stay as chunks/slices.
To know when they're ripe, cut a specimen in half and see if the pips are still white or have gone brown or just wait until you can lift them off their stalk with no effort.


If anyone knows, can apples with white pips be stored successfully or do I need to wait until they go brown? The reason I ask is that my eaters are being hacked with blackbird holes and the cookers are being blown off the tree and being eaten by the geese and the dogs (I know, poisonous pips but the dogs don't eat many, usually just around the edges too)


[member=215700]KirinChris[/member] can you post pics of your apples and we'll see what we can do?  Where you are might help ID too 

[KirinChris]

Here’s one of them… all from one tree.

I cooked some and they keep their texture pretty well, unlike Bramleys. The taste is also close to an eating apple - if you like it on the sharp side.

We’re in Co Durham BTW.

[Fleecewife]

Er...looks like an apple    Sorry I think it's one of those modern types I don't recognise.


I think you can send samples down to Brogdale for identification but you would probably have to contact them first.

[KirinChris]

Er...looks like an apple   

Ha, that’s about as far as I got with Google image search.

[Steph Hen]

Sorry can’t help with the Id.
A ripe apple will pick with a half twist rather than a pull and will store depending on variety. Sometimes the pipe are white at this time, especially the summer ripening apples.

[arobwk]

Brogdale do charge for identification of each variety.I believe the RHS offer a similar service for RHS members free of charge (but don't quote me on the "free" bit).
There is also a fruitID web-site which may help with DIY identification, but I've not used it personally:  I suspect identifying an unremarkable variety reliably will be very difficult.  Good luck!  [Edit: [member=215700]KirinChris[/member] the irregular shaped stem cavity of your pictured apple variety with its lump might help identify if the lopsided shape is common feature of the tree's fruit.] 

[KirinChris]

I’m not so worried that I would send off for DNA testing. It was just so we could distinguish them rather than saying the tree in the corner, or the one further down the slope.
Ultimately I’ll just work out what they taste like and what I can do with them.

I had a look on a fruit ID site but it’s a bit like Googling your medical symptoms… nearly everything fits !

[Womble]

Just name them after their characteristics, or people you know (e.g. the really sour one is named after your Mother-in-Law, the sweet pink one after your favourite Aunt - that kind of thing ;-) )

[arobwk]

I’m not so worried that I would send off for DNA testing. It was just so we could distinguish them rather than saying the tree in the corner, or the one further down the slope.
Ultimately I’ll just work out what they taste like and what I can do with them.

I had a look on a fruit ID site but it’s a bit like Googling your medical symptoms… nearly everything fits !

Lol !

Re the expert ID services, I'm reasonably certain that Brogdale and RHS do not offer DNA testing & that their identifications are "simply" based on visual characteristics (external and internal) along with smell, taste, texture, juiciness etc etc:  of course blossom type/blossom time/fruiting habit are other factors which is why one's descriptive knowledge of the tree, perhaps over a number of years, will help in any identification.

DNA testing services (e.g. from NIAB/East Malling) is, I understand, really rather expensive and more for professional growers wishing to ensure, for example, that their new variety is something a bit different - or only worth doing if one finds an unknown variety that knocks your socks off.