IF YOU HAVE INFO ON ACTUAL TREES RIPENING APPLES/PEARS IN JUNE IN ZONE 7 OR COLDER, COMMENT ON THIS BLOG!!! 

Summer apples are rarely of interest to most apple growers and consumers. Compared to their later season kin, they bruise easily, are often described as lacking texture (or “mealy”), low in sugar, and having a very high acidity. They might not seem very fun from this brief description, and I’ll go into detail of why these apples are fun for me in a bit, but first: Light hearted stereotypes of people who find/have found summer apples to be exciting:

1.) Elderly people from New England & other places labeled “Cold as Hell”

In my own personal experience, 90% of people over the age of 80 know of the Russian cultivars “Red Astrachan” and/or “Yellow Transparent” because of apple sauce. These are the first popular apple cultivars to ripen in New England and have a relatively thin skin that disintegrates when cooked down into sauce. That disintegrating skin quality, by the way, is a big factor defining a “sauce apple.” If you have to peel it before you cook it/have to use a food mill to get the peels out: It’s not a true sauce apple.

I made some apple sauce this year from an old Yellow Transparent tree in Northern VA (Apples cored, halved + Pot + Stovetop) and my tasting audience (employees of Southern States Cooperative), thought it was too acidic. I, the person who subsists on apples for months out of the year, thought it was great. But I’ve realized that my area in Virginia has lost much of its culture surrounding summer apple sauce. In New England, it seems to still be alive…for now.

2.) People alive in the early-mid 1800s

In researching early ripening apples in my home state of Virginia, I’ve run across several accounts of growers from Southern Virginia selling “Yellow May” (a June Ripening apple for them) to New York markets for a pretty penny. Turns out, before the Russian cultivars (like red astrachan and yellow transparent) hit the scene, people in the Northern states were hankering for apples in June and buying them from the South. They probably ate them, rather than making sauce, because I don’t think texture was as big of an issue as it is now (thanks, apple lobbyists).

Why am I looking for June ripening apples?

Quick answer: For animal fodder

Long answer: It is my ambition to create animal paddocks based on drop times of fruit. WHAT THIS MEANS: I will one day be able to rotate animals from paddock to paddock and have that synched with drop times. Their feed will entirely be the grass growing in the orchard and the dropped/shaken-off fruits from the next level up. I’ve done quite a bit of work/collection for the later months, but the early months are much harder.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR?

Anyone north of Virginia, in mountainous areas, or familiar with the USDA plant hardiness zone map 7a/7b*: If you know of an apple that produces in June and can get access to it/provide contact info to me, I would love to hear about it. The perfect scenario is this:

1.) I’m provided with some background info on the tree you’ve identified as a June bearing apple. This includes location, what you think it might be called, when in June it bears (early June/late June) and any other info you can find (bloomtime is something that comes to mind, but not that important). This is so I can keep notes on your selections and credit you in the future! Pictures are also a huge help.

2.) You can either take scionwood from the tree or get me the contact info so I can write/call the owners and see about getting some scionwood from this tree. I will gladly pay for your time and effort. Please, before taking scionwood, reach out to me so I can make sure we are on the same page as to what scionwood actually is.

3.) You mail the scionwood to me and I compensate you and credit you in future descriptions and work!

Other items of note:

I DO NOT CARE HOW THIS APPLE TASTES/TEXTURE/SMELLS/LOOKS. AT ALL.

I DO NOT CARE WHETHER OR NOT IT GETS BAD DISEASE (but would love to hear about this if you have info)

I DO NOT CARE IF IT HAS A NAME OR NOT

I DO NOT CARE IF IT IS GRAFTED

I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A JUNE BEARING PEAR. That’s amazing, too, and I want to hear about it.

I ONLY CARE IF IT BEARS IN JUNE. Come one, come all…get in touch with me if you know of a June apple bearing in slightly colder climates.

*The reason why I ask for zone 7a/7b or colder (the lower the zone number, the colder) is so I can extrapolate. If someone in zone 5 has a first week of June apple, that could very well be a mid-late May apple for me. May apples in Northern VA are non-existant as far as I know, and I’m also very interested. The earlier the bearing, the more diverse of a diet my animals get earlier in the season.