University of Wisconsin - Extension

The approach of autumn brings an abundance of apples and a last chance to enjoy sweet fall raspberries. University of Wisconsin-Extension's fruit specialist, Teryl Roper has some advice for people who want to get the most out of the fruit of fall.

If you have fall-bearing raspberries in your garden, you can look forward to enjoying them continuously until the first killing frost. At that time, Roper says, you have two choices.

"You can cut all the canes back to the ground. If you do this, the new canes will bear fruit again next fall.

"Or you can leave the canes uncut this fall, then thin them out and cut them back by about a quarter during the dormant season." If you do this, you'll get a small crop of raspberries in the early summer on the old canes and a bigger crop of fall berries on the new ones."

The first option is much simpler and you get a larger fall harvest, he added. People who want early raspberries can plant summer-bearing plants instead.

People who are lucky enough to have an apple tree or two can decide when it's time to harvest the apples with one very simple test - take a bite.

"Unlike pears, which should be picked when they're still pale green and allowed to ripen off the tree, apples should be picked when they taste sweet and juicy," Roper explained. Under-ripe apples have a starchy taste and will be very hard, he added.

If you plan to store apples, Roper say it's a good idea to pick the fruit about a week before it is fully ripe.

Homeowners cannot achieve the perfect apple storage conditions - 32 degrees Fahrenheit and 95 percent humidity. But there are some tricks to make apples last as long as possible.

• Pick apples you intend to store about a week before they are fully ripe.
• Sort out any bruised or damaged fruit. Fruit that isn't sound will emit ethylene gas, and that gas speeds up the ripening (rotting)process of any other fruit stored nearby.
• Store the apples between 34 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit in vented plastic bags. Plastic bags keep the apples from drying out and shriveling. This is especially important if you keep the fruit in a self-defrosting refrigerator. The vents allow oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange. Fruit needs oxygen to store well.
• Don't store apples with vegetables in the cabbage family (broccoli, cauliflower), onions or potatoes. The apples will pick up flavors and odors from these vegetables.

The summer of 2000 has seen a lot of apple scab disease. Roper says, "It's hard to control scab without spraying," Even if you clean up all the leaves, there will still be scab spores in the soil."

The best solution, he said, is to plant trees next spring that are resistant to scab. Cultivars that do well in Wisconsin include Redfree (bears in late August), Jonafree (bears in mid September), Nova Easygro (bears in late September), and Liberty (bears in early October).

For more information about growing apples, ask your county Extension Office ( http://www.uwex.edu/ces/ ) for these Extension bulletins.

• Growing apples in Wisconsin A3565
• Apple Cultivars for Wisconsin A2105
• Apple pest management for Home Gardeners A2179