North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[james singer <islandjim1@comcast.net>]

Got no idea what you're storing the apples for, but have you considered drying them? A dried apple is much more versatile than a cold-storage apple. It also takes up a lot less room and keeps a whole lot longer.

On May 27, 2008, at 7:56 PM, Mark Dorogi wrote:

My understanding regarding apple storage is that you want the temperature at or slightly above freezing and the humidity near 100%.  I stored some last fall in the drawer in the bottom of the fridge, sealed in ziplock bags to keep the moisture in.  They kept quite well.

 

But that was only 20 or 30 apples, so you are right.  What would I do if I got 500 good apples?  Go out and get a couple used fridges?  Well, maybe one big fridge in the garage would work. It wouldn’t have to run that much in the cool/cold weather, but it would keep the apples cold during any warm spells (storage life goes down rapidly as the temperature goes up).  I’m not sure if the humidity level would be right, but I suppose that could be managed. 

 

I wondered if one of the local friendly small supermarkets had a walk-in cooler where I could trade a few apples for some storage space…

 

 

Mark

SE Michigan

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From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Doreen Howard
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:37 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Thinning

 

My apple and Asian pears are totally loaded with fruit, too.  We had an infestation of those nasty biting black flies from the northern Wisconsin lakes this spring.  They blew in with all the Canadian fronts we keep having every other day!  Plenty of honey and bumble bees, too.

 

I figure if I thin to one per cluster and space 6-7 inches apart, I'm still going to have a huge crop, with seven antique apple varieties, a Golden Delicious for universal pollen, a Pixe Crunch and Honey Crisp.  Then there are two Asian pears.

 

With the price of produce, I'm thinking about storage issues for this bumper crop.  Both my husband and I eat an apple for lunch every day, and I use them to cook, too.

 

What is the best way to store apples?  Our basement never gets below about 55F, even though it may be -20F outside.  The garage has two walls that are common with the house and warmer.  It rarely dips below 15F in the middle of garage and is about 10 degrees warmer at the heated walls.  Would crates of apples with moist sand in the bottom of each work?

 

Any and all ideas are appreciated.

Doreen Howard

WI-IL Border, Zone 4b

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Island Jim

Willamette Valley

44.99 N 123.04 W

Elevation 148'

Hardiness Zone 8/9

Heat Zone 5

Sunset Zone 6

Minimum 0 F [-15 C]

Maximum 86 F [30 C]