Loads of Fallen Apples - How to Pick up?

[andrewj]

Hi Andrew,

Just curious as to what type of trees you planted and what spacing you used.

Regards,

Wayne

Hi Wayne - I hope the original poster doesn't mind me wandering off course for a bit?

I have many different types of trees. I wish I had planted enterprise...but I have pristine, gibson golden, campbell red delicious, Goldrush, Grand gala, Royal Gala, arkanss black, granny smith, stayman winesap, liberty, what i believe to be fuji and some more...

spacing - I wanted to be able to drive in the orchard with a pickup truck, so i chose rows 20 feet apart, and apples 15 feet apart.

distance apart is mainly influenced by rootstock - all mine are either on M111 or Bud 118. both are semidwarf expected to reach 75% of the full size of a tree.

 

[Rara Avis]

I've got eight older full sized apple and pear trees in my yard and this year is the best/worst year for fruit that I can remember. The ground under the trees is almost totally covered with apples and pears. I've heard that you should keep it all cleaned up to cut down on disease, so I've been trying, but raking and shoveling is getting mighty old, and so am I. I get about six loader buckets full of fruit from the worst trees. It doesn't help that the ground under the trees is not a nice smooth lawn, but kind of uneven - the kind that makes you mutter #@@&*!! when your shovel snags in the dirt and grass instead of picking up a nice clean shovelful. It makes it pretty much impossible to scoop them up with the loader.

So, is there any hope that I could somehow do this all from the seat of a tractor, or am I stuck with manual labor? Anybody have a good trick up their sleeve for this? I have two grandsons, but they're about ten years away from being able to help. At least when I get really old I can turn to them.

Tom

If they pickup "horseapples"...they'll pickup you fruit...
Airlite Pasture Cleaner

 

[Glowplug]

If they pickup "horseapples"...they'll pickup you fruit...
Airlite Pasture Cleaner

Now THAT is your answer. It may be a little expensive but it should get the job done, no problem.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Paul - The Airlite Pasture Cleaner sounds like just the ticket, and maybe it won't cost thousands of dollars. I guess it's gonna come down to how badly I don't want to shovel up apples. Thanks for the link.

Tom

 

[Wesdor]

I may have missed it, but don't think that anyone has mentioned making Apple Cider. We have a cider press not too far from us. Don't take the rotten apples, but from what you describe you could get many gallons of fine apple cider from them.

My advice is to pick up the apples and then wash them. Once they are clean enough that you would eat them, get them to somewhere that has a cider press. If you don't have any press nearby, you can buy a hand crank apple press and do it yourself.

We love the apple cider we have made in the past. This year we didn't have any apples and so we didn't get any made.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

I may have missed it, but don't think that anyone has mentioned making Apple Cider.

Another good idea. In fact I've been looking at cider presses and will probably get one if and when I can find a good deal. The downside is that I still have to pick up all the apples .

Tom

 

[bjcsc]

The pasture cleaner is cool, but I don't know about $4,000 worth of cool. Best bet is the landscape rake with gauge wheels, big pile, and loader. The rake is useful for lots of other things, too. (pasture cleaner may or may not be)...

 

[Timber]

Go to a driving range and ask if you can rent there golf ball collector

 

[HappyCPE]

On the golfball idea, someone on here a while back had made a walnut picker from a ball collector. I didn't save the picture... stupid me, as there are years I can't walk in the woods for all the green balls on the ground. Maybe someone else saved a pic or can find the thread?

 

[Rara Avis]

Driving Range Golf Ball Pickers

Ballpicker - robotic golf ball collector

 

[rox]

Tom,
Well since I have 1,400 fruit trees, olives I might be able to help you. Why not this winter, start on pruning back the trees? Keep them to a manageable size and then you will want to spray and have good apples. Once you get your trees down to a manageable size you will be motivated to spray and also to pick your fruit and enjoy it.

A manual pole saw if you have high branches works pretty darned good, it will do the job and surprisingly the effort is not that much. The wood is actually very soft I would imagine.

Now after two eyars of sweat we have all our trees down to a proper size ad 90% of all the pruing was wih a simple hand pruning saw. I know the experts will say not to cut over 20% of the tree in any given year, but we cut our olive trees down by 50%. It took us 2 years and if we would ahve only done no more than 20% per year it would have been a 5 year project. If you clean out the middles of the trees all the fruit will grow on the outside of the tree and picking will be easy. If you don't want to pick them yourself then as others have mentioned a food bank may be interested in picking them. Or even jsut a sign, free GOOD apples U Pick. They will be gone in no time.

Eight tees is only at the most 3 days work and that is hand sawing, brush removal and burning. Once you get the first one prunned back you will be so delighted you will keep going. At the end of the project you will ahve a lot of pride in seeig your nicely prunned trees. I love to look across our land and see finely prunned trees.

I also like the apple cider idea, yum-yum.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Rox - That may be the best advice yet. I have done some pruning through the years, but your idea of being more aggressive about it sounds like a winner. Also, pruning is nicer work than raking and shoveling fruit, at least to me.

Thanks very much for your response.

Tom

 

[AndyMA]

Come to think of it I forgot to mention one other way. Overapply a fruit thinner at blossum time so the fruits don't set.

http://cesonoma.ucdavis.edu/hortic/pdf/wilthin.pdf


Andy

 

[jimgerken]

I rake mine together into a loose pile with this homemade "liteweight rake" (attached photo). Then I park the loader bucket downhill and hand rake them encouraging them to roll into the bucket. The liteweight rake is built with old swather spring teeth, so they are not too hard on the turf. And the tine beam can swivel nicely so it follows the landscape. I can use it while backing up the tractor, to avoid crushing apples. It also works well for those beans off the tree, and leaves, and sticks that are left from dropping a tree. Also have used it on the gravel driveway. It is shown in the picture setting on its castered-stand.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Andy - I thought there was something like that on the market, but I didn't know what it was called. Thanks for the link.

Jim - that is a very nice looking rake you built, and with a matching rolling stand to boot! I'm impressed. I'm glad to hear that it works so well for you with apples. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for materials to build something similar, although I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be as nice as yours. Thanks for the idea and pics.

Tom

 

[pennwalk]

When my girls were younger and learning to play field hockey my wife would take them out to the backyard and practice driving apples into the woods. It worked pretty well. We didn't have to rake much and the girls hockey improved.

Chris

 

[ChuckinNH]

I've watched the deer around my place eat apples. They won't eat much of apples that are very big in diameter since their mouths aren't designed to handle things like that. If the apples are small, like wild apples, or crab apples, they will clean them up quickly.

 

[Tig]

Lets not get sidetracked with sensible solutions until you have given the snowblower a try.

 

[Grrrr]

Lets not get sidetracked with sensible solutions until you have given the snowblower a try.

I would like to see what the results of this as well

Maybe make them into a windrow first and then blow them into a trailer behind the tractor with the snowblower out in front

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Lets not get sidetracked with sensible solutions until you have given the snowblower a try.

Very witty comment, Steve. I love it. I'm happy to say that the apples and pears are all cleaned up and I have yet to make the winter changeover from loader to snowblower, so I'm afraid apple-spewing isn't on the agenda for this year, if ever. I know it must be a disappointment.

I'm in the process of pruning the dickens out of the trees as Roz suggested, so next year won't be such a chore.

Tom