How to know when apples are ready to pick – experts swear by these 3 signs

Apple picking is a hugely popular pastime globally, but it is a task that needs to be done at the perfect time. You want to make sure the apples you are harvesting are firm, juicy, and delicious, not mealy, mushy, or soft. So, how do you know when apples are ready to pick?

During my years as a professional gardener, I helped maintain and pick many fruit trees, including an orchard with around a hundred apple trees. These apples were harvested, stored, and used in the kitchens or sold to visitors. The apples needed to be picked at the ideal time, not only for the best taste but also so they could be stored for the longest possible period.

The secret to harvesting apples comes down to three distinctive factors: their appearance, taste, and feel. A ripe apple should reach its full color, be sweet and juicy, and detach easily from the tree. Here, I share insights from my own experience growing apples. Also, I talked to fruit experts who shared their tips for knowing when to pick apples at their best.

When to harvest apples – an expert guide

A lot of care and attention goes into growing fruit trees. For the best harvests, you will need to fertilize apple trees and prune apple trees annually, but the reward for that effort is the tasty homegrown fruits.

You can get great pickings from free-standing fruit trees, trained espalier apple trees to save space, or even fruit trees in pots in small spaces. But to know when to pick apples at their absolute best, it comes down to the variety and a few tell-tale signs to look out for.

When to pick apples – the apple harvest season

Apples ripen at different times, but the overall harvesting season runs from mid-August through November. The first step to understanding when to harvest apples is to know the varieties growing in your garden, and where they fit in that harvest season.

Whether you have an orchard or a single apple tree growing in a pot, the variety you have determines when they are likely to be ready to pick. Early-season varieties, such as Lodi, Carolina Red June, and Discovery, ripen in early August and are the first to be ready each season.

The mid-season varieties, such as Gala, Honeycrisp, and Red Baron, then follow and are harvested from late August to September. Finally, it is time for the late-season varieties like the ever-popular Golden Delicious and Granny Smith, which are picked in late September and October.

However, many factors contribute to when apples are ripe, making it impossible to rely on harvesting on an exact calendar date year on year. As Erin Mittelstaedt, CEO of The FruitGuys, explains: 'The timing of your favorite apple varieties will vary depending on where you live, the weather that year, and more.'

While it can differ location to location, it can also vary across a garden, and even on one tree. This is because all the fruits on one apple tree won't ripen at the same time; it is dependent on their location on the tree and the light levels they get.

Therefore, regular checking is required to harvest apples at their peak, and it can come down to knowing the simple traits to look for in a ripe apple.

Erin Mittelstaedt

Erin first joined The FruitGuys in 2007 as an operations manager at the newly opened Philadelphia facility. She became chief operating officer in 2015 and has been acting chief financial officer since 2021. The FruitGuys is one of the most trusted providers of farm-fresh fruit, produce, and snacks to businesses, homes, organizations, and schools across the US.

How to know apples are ready to pick – the signs to look for

Understanding when to pick apples comes down to the look, taste, and feel of the fruit. These are the three primary tell-tale signs to focus on, but they do need to be judged in combination with each other, as sometimes only one of the factors is not enough to determine ripeness.

Color

First, examine how the color of the fruit has developed during the season, as this can be a key indicator of potential ripeness. Aris Curtis, kitchen garden manager at Enso Village in Healdsburg, California, advises: 'The skin when ripe should reach the full color of the type, depending on the variety.'

As apples can come in shades of red, green, or yellow, you need to know what the final color should be. However, color alone shouldn't be relied on. As Melissa Allen from Beechwood Orchards in Pennsylvania, a partner farm of The FruitGuys, warns that many apples need cool nights to 'color up'.

'If the temperature doesn't drop, then they can ripen completely without changing color,' she adds. 'At that point, you don't want to wait for the color to change because if you wait, the apples could get soft and overripe on the tree.'

Aris Curtis

Aris Curtis is the Kitchen Garden Manager at Enso Village, with over a decade of hands-on farm management experience along with academic studies in Sustainable Agriculture and Landscape Design. His experience includes many diverse systems that he has managed such as USDA/CCOF organic certified polycultures, perennial/annual diverse crop production and orchard work.

Taste

If not just color, what else can you depend on? Well, a simple taste test can reveal the flavor and texture of the apple. This should reveal whether or not it is ripe and ready to be picked from the tree.

In terms of taste, Melissa adds: 'A ripe apple should be sweet and juicy, while an unripe one tastes dry and starchy.' At the other end of the scale, an over-ripe fruit will taste soft and mushy.

Remember to taste a few different apples from over the tree, which may be at different stages of ripening.

Feel

The other key indicator is the feel of the fruit and its connection to the tree. A ripe apple should feel firm, not soft, and detach easily from the tree. When ripe, apples come away from the tree in your hand with a slight twist. As Aris Curtis says: 'You shouldn't have to tug'. If it needs a hard pull, the fruit is not ripe.

A sign that the apples are going to detach simply can be when you see lots of windfall apples on the ground around trees. 'Healthy, ripe apples tend to drop from the tree naturally,' adds Aris. 'If you see this, it's time to start picking.'

FAQs

Can you leave apples on the tree too long?

Yes, apples can over-ripen when left on the tree. This affects their flavor and your ability to store apples. Fruits not picked from the tree can spoil, drop, and rot on the floor, attracting pests and becoming a breeding ground for disease. Picking over-ripe apples means fruits with a mushy texture and a shorter storage life.

What happens if you pick an apple too early?

Apples picked too early will have a sour taste, rather than their desirable sweetness, and the texture is likely to be hard rather than juicy.

Is it best to let apples ripen on the tree?

Apples should always be left to ripen on the tree, as they won't ripen after being picked. They may soften after being picked, but the flavor won't develop and get sweeter.

Shop tools for apple picking

If you are interested in an experiment, you can attempt to grow an apple tree from a seed. Cultivating a tree from a seed collected from one of your homegrown apples can make a fun gardening project for the family.

This can be done by extracting seeds from your apples and putting them in the refrigerator for a few weeks to mimic winter (which is known as cold stratification). The seeds can then be sown into pots filled with an organic potting mix, and the pots put in a warm and bright spot.

Hopefully, the seed will germinate and you'll see seedlings within a few weeks. Once these seedling reaches 12 inches, you can plant the apple tree outside.

When you try this experiment, don't hold high hopes for the fruit on any future tree to match the variety of apple you took the seed from. If you do have your heart set on a particular variety, purchase a grafted apple tree from a reputable nursery.