A bright, sunny and remarkably warm Sunday ensured that Apple Day 2006 was a resounding success. Harestane’s car park was full and overflowing for much of the time, the Morris Dancers needed towelling down and a large part of the Border’s bumper apple harvest was sold or drunk – in fact juice production just couldn't keep up with demand and the production line will have to be modified for next year to improve efficiency!
But most of all, people queued to have their unknown apples identified. Alec West and John Butterworth, our expert apple identifiers, did sterling work in trying to meet the demand in what is a very tricky job.
Just how tricky was demonstrated when they were stumped by a smallish, dark red/purple apple, whose distinctive colour maybe should have made identification easy. Unwilling to be beaten, Alec and John took the apple home with them only to realise later that evening, perhaps as a result of a relaxing glass of wine or just as a result of not having the pressure of numbers waiting, that the apple was one they had in their display all along. What made this oversight worse was that it probably came from a tree that they had grafted themselves!
This tale shows that the key to apple identification doesn't just lie in the fruit; knowing when the tree flowered is almost as important as having an apple to look at, and allows many possible varieties to be ruled out.
So, if you or anyone you know, has an apple not yet identified at Apple Day, you need to keep a close eye on it during the spring – note the date when the first flowers open and the date when most flowers are fully open, usually a few days later. Keep the information safe and bring it to Apple Day with your apple.
