Apple seeds have like a one in 10k chance of producing a sweet apple that is nearly as good as what else is on the market, and like one in 100k for it to be better. Every other one comes out to a nearly inedible crab apple.
Always seemed like a cool hobby to me if I somehow became rich. It’s like a gamble that is just as much your time, as it is your money.
yeah but if you grow an apple tree with crappy fruit you can saw off branches and graft good branches from a good tree onto it so that it produces good apples, that is how nearly all apple orchards are
Yes, it can literally be done. Works best if the tree species are closely related. However, you can also get trees from different genus working together, so enjoy pears on an apple tree
I don’t know if that is really true. Yes apples will be different to the parent tree but I often eat from roadside apple trees which grew from discarded apple cores and plenty taste fine.
Yes I do have my favourite apple trees. Would be nice to get a press sometime tbh. Free cider! Maybe even calvados?
Then your lucky. I know someone who has an apple tree that’s semi edible (most of the apples finish with a slight sweetness). I also know dozens of people whose apples are only really useful for cider. Its all technically edible if your tongue can handle the acidity and astringency.
Get a press, cider making is fun. Don’t try to use a Jack Lallane juicer to feed through a couple bushells… Also don’t ask me how I know that.
Its tempting but they are not exactly cheap. Everything online that says “cheap and easy” clearly hasn’t looked at the price of timber lately, or has a very different idea to me as to what cheap means. Often using tools I don’t have too which doesn’t help. Normal people don’t have an entire workshop in their house.
What sort of volume is reasonable for a small press? UK, never used bushells as a unit of measurement. Usually when they are growing I can go out on my bike and fill the bags on my bike each time I go out.
Is dedicated equipment for crushing them worth getting or just beat them to a pulp in a bucket or something?
Depends on how much time you want to spend. I would recommend most people no matter how much they have to get a small cheap one before investing more. You need a lot of apples/fruit before it’s worth getting something bigger/better.
A bushel of apples is like ~20 Kilos so maybe 2 or 3 bags? Not sure how big your bags are and how much you fill them.
You can buy a small 1.6 Gallon press for ~$50 and it would take ~3 pressing refills to process the bushel and will yield around 12 Liters of raw cider.
Sorry about the chaotic mix of units… I am American
Apple seeds have like a one in 10k chance of producing a sweet apple that is nearly as good as what else is on the market, and like one in 100k for it to be better. Every other one comes out to a nearly inedible crab apple.
Always seemed like a cool hobby to me if I somehow became rich. It’s like a gamble that is just as much your time, as it is your money.
yeah but if you grow an apple tree with crappy fruit you can saw off branches and graft good branches from a good tree onto it so that it produces good apples, that is how nearly all apple orchards are
You can graft individual branches? :O
You can graft different kinds of fruit as well so the tree can have some branches with one variety and different branches with another.
Wait a minute
Are you telling me a tree can produce different types of fruit? Am I reading that right? A SINGLE tree???
What in the frankenstein bullshit is that???
Yes, it can literally be done. Works best if the tree species are closely related. However, you can also get trees from different genus working together, so enjoy pears on an apple tree
Yes, most commonly just different varieties of a fruit, but sometimes completely different fruits. You can have apples and pears, plums, you name it.
They can be quite pretty because the different branches will blossom and bear fruit at different times.
peach, plum and cherry get along well
You can graft anything
I don’t know if that is really true. Yes apples will be different to the parent tree but I often eat from roadside apple trees which grew from discarded apple cores and plenty taste fine.
Yes I do have my favourite apple trees. Would be nice to get a press sometime tbh. Free cider! Maybe even calvados?
Then your lucky. I know someone who has an apple tree that’s semi edible (most of the apples finish with a slight sweetness). I also know dozens of people whose apples are only really useful for cider. Its all technically edible if your tongue can handle the acidity and astringency.
Get a press, cider making is fun. Don’t try to use a Jack Lallane juicer to feed through a couple bushells… Also don’t ask me how I know that.
Its tempting but they are not exactly cheap. Everything online that says “cheap and easy” clearly hasn’t looked at the price of timber lately, or has a very different idea to me as to what cheap means. Often using tools I don’t have too which doesn’t help. Normal people don’t have an entire workshop in their house.
Home depot has a small starter one for <50 near me that would probably be adequate if your not processing multiple bushells every year.
What sort of volume is reasonable for a small press? UK, never used bushells as a unit of measurement. Usually when they are growing I can go out on my bike and fill the bags on my bike each time I go out.
Is dedicated equipment for crushing them worth getting or just beat them to a pulp in a bucket or something?
Depends on how much time you want to spend. I would recommend most people no matter how much they have to get a small cheap one before investing more. You need a lot of apples/fruit before it’s worth getting something bigger/better.
A bushel of apples is like ~20 Kilos so maybe 2 or 3 bags? Not sure how big your bags are and how much you fill them.
You can buy a small 1.6 Gallon press for ~$50 and it would take ~3 pressing refills to process the bushel and will yield around 12 Liters of raw cider.
Sorry about the chaotic mix of units… I am American
they are still good for apple pies though.