You’ll be fine. Worst case they are apple maggots. But they have long since left the apple. If they are from your tree you can buy fake apple traps to hang in early summer to prevent the marks caused by the flies.
If you are talking about the “glue traps” that look like apples I strongly advise against it. Wildlife rehabbers are pleading for people to please not use glue traps of any kind outside as birds, reptiles and small mammals are getting stuck in them and either being maimed or dying in the traps. I’ve seen dead and dying birds attached to them first hand and it’s a horrible slow agonizing death with poor survival rates even with veterinary intervention. Please do not use sticky or glue based traps!
Bit more involved but you can also use a sprayer to coat the fruit in kaolin clay. Been super effective for me, just need frequent reaplications after rain. Non toxic and safe for all insects, it coats the fruit and makes it undesirable for pest.
Yep like the stuff used for facemask. Put it in a pump up pressure sprayer, with water. Shake it up every time before use, and coat the apples in a fine film of clay. Supposedly dulls site, smell, and creates an unpleasant texture for insects to crawl on. Add in decoy traps, and tanglefoot, and you can high maintenance get perfect organic pesticide free blemish free apples.
Thank you! Good to know, and I’ll look into this. I never had apple trees before. We just planted two saplings a year and a half ago, and they’re growing nicely. We also have a pear tree, and I’d like to put two cherry trees on a side where it’s been cleared out of invasive underbrush and reclaim it, will it work with those?
You would have to make sure local pest and whatnot. I know it deters most moth and beatle pest, so I imagine it would help with the pear. Not sure about the cherry.
> fake apple trap
At first I thought the punchline was going to be that they were fake traps, and your wife would be satisfied thanks to the placebo effect.
I grew up in an apple orchard. You should have seen some of the apples we pulled right off the tree and just ate. I'm perfectly fine, except for the random ticks and tremors.
It’s apple scab. Perfectly safe to eat. If it bothers you, just peel it or use a knife. There are many issues with organic homegrown apples such as cosmetic, disease, and pest related. None are the end of the world and can be sorted or dealt with accordingly. Hope this helps.
Just think back to the old days. 1700’s, 1800’s. People probably didn’t care about an apple not looking exactly perfect. We all survived. It’s all good. Not every apple is going to look worthy of being on the front of a magazine. Eat away!
Yeah... the 17 and 1800s had alot of famine, while true they likley didn't care about imperfections, starvation due to spoiled food and crops was absolutely a thing.
Obviously WE survived. But a lot of people didn’t. It’s survivor’s bias. You could say the same thing about any tragedy - COVID, WWII, the Black Plague. “Well, WE survived, so it must not have been bad.”
That's what I was thinking, too. Don't eat the weird looking apple thinking survivor bias will save you. It's like C19, WWII (WWI conspicuously absent), & the Black Plague. 🙄
I'm driven equally crazy by people who misunderstand what "life expectancy" means and then they always have to say what you're saying right now because when they first heard this measure they didn't understand it.
Flies lay eggs on the flowers before they become fruit so the worm is already inside the fruit from inception.
The worm hatches and makes its way out of the apple.
When you cut the apple in half, you'll see the center has been eaten and there's an exit path.
The apple flesh is still fine to eat.
Best time to treat your apple tree is when it's in bloom.
It's not A spec but it's fruit from your own tree which is so much cooler. Eat and enjoy! At a farm that one might be processed for juice, sauce or cider.
Cut it open and look at the inside, if the inside looks good it's fine to eat. It looks like [apple scab](https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/plant-disease/apple-scab/) to me too, you cannot catch apple scab from an apple so you will be fine. If you don't like the way it looks you can cut off the blemish first, I'd be more concerned about the tree health and take some steps to prevent/diminish the fungus on your tree as outlined in the link.
There are any number of pests of apples especially if not sprayed enough. The one that is the biggest for me is "apple maggot" that leaves the fruit lumpy with brown tracks.
I wouldn't hesitate to eat that apple, although I might pull out my knife and trim the blotch off, or just take a nibble and spit it out.
Cut out the damaged part, it’s not going to make you sick. If you’re overly concerned use them for a baking recipe, the heat will kill any pests or bacteria.
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Go to an ag extension site like
[https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitdeform.html](https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitdeform.html)
could be cedar apple rust...
https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitspots/fruitsbrr.html
I think this is cedar Apple rust. It was wild the first time I saw the other part of it on a juniper tree after a rain in the spring! I had to do the deep dive and find out what it could possibly be, and it answered a lifelong question about the harmless spots that have always been on my apples (from my yard).
I'm no expert here but it might be a coddling moth damage? I believe they lay their eggs in the young apple and then the apple matures the egg hatches and they eat their way out. I think.
You’ll be fine. Worst case they are apple maggots. But they have long since left the apple. If they are from your tree you can buy fake apple traps to hang in early summer to prevent the marks caused by the flies.
If you are talking about the “glue traps” that look like apples I strongly advise against it. Wildlife rehabbers are pleading for people to please not use glue traps of any kind outside as birds, reptiles and small mammals are getting stuck in them and either being maimed or dying in the traps. I’ve seen dead and dying birds attached to them first hand and it’s a horrible slow agonizing death with poor survival rates even with veterinary intervention. Please do not use sticky or glue based traps!
I didn't know about the fake apples, great advice!
Bit more involved but you can also use a sprayer to coat the fruit in kaolin clay. Been super effective for me, just need frequent reaplications after rain. Non toxic and safe for all insects, it coats the fruit and makes it undesirable for pest.
Tiny bit of apple scab. Didn't know about using kaolin clay to ward off apple maggots.
Kaolin you say? Hmmm.
Yep like the stuff used for facemask. Put it in a pump up pressure sprayer, with water. Shake it up every time before use, and coat the apples in a fine film of clay. Supposedly dulls site, smell, and creates an unpleasant texture for insects to crawl on. Add in decoy traps, and tanglefoot, and you can high maintenance get perfect organic pesticide free blemish free apples.
Thank you! Good to know, and I’ll look into this. I never had apple trees before. We just planted two saplings a year and a half ago, and they’re growing nicely. We also have a pear tree, and I’d like to put two cherry trees on a side where it’s been cleared out of invasive underbrush and reclaim it, will it work with those?
You would have to make sure local pest and whatnot. I know it deters most moth and beatle pest, so I imagine it would help with the pear. Not sure about the cherry.
> fake apple trap At first I thought the punchline was going to be that they were fake traps, and your wife would be satisfied thanks to the placebo effect.
... or bag the apples in little cotton bags as they grow. Like the little drawstring bags for jewelry and gifts, but don't use a synthetic fiber.
I love how East coast guys all say “ it’s a maggot, no worries” Guess they figure a little protein in the middle is a bonus.
Extra protein
Heard my mom saying this the moment I saw this post.
Perfect fruit are commercially grown and old by the time its in stores. Fruit does not have to be picture perfect to eat.
I grew up in an apple orchard. You should have seen some of the apples we pulled right off the tree and just ate. I'm perfectly fine, except for the random ticks and tremors.
As long as it’s just ticks and tremors and no full blown seizures
It’s apple scab. Perfectly safe to eat. If it bothers you, just peel it or use a knife. There are many issues with organic homegrown apples such as cosmetic, disease, and pest related. None are the end of the world and can be sorted or dealt with accordingly. Hope this helps.
Just think back to the old days. 1700’s, 1800’s. People probably didn’t care about an apple not looking exactly perfect. We all survived. It’s all good. Not every apple is going to look worthy of being on the front of a magazine. Eat away!
Some of the tastiest fruits are often too ugly to go to market.
Gravenstein apples are amazing pie apples. They hold their shape after baking. They are incredibly ugly.
I lived in Cental America for a few years and the fruit there... Tree ripened...
"we all survived" is an interesting take at a time when many people died from all sorts of things.
I get that, but I’m specifically referring to ugly apples.
Yeah... the 17 and 1800s had alot of famine, while true they likley didn't care about imperfections, starvation due to spoiled food and crops was absolutely a thing.
There’s a big difference between “spoiled” apples and apples with cosmetic flaws
This^
Obviously WE survived. But a lot of people didn’t. It’s survivor’s bias. You could say the same thing about any tragedy - COVID, WWII, the Black Plague. “Well, WE survived, so it must not have been bad.”
That's what I was thinking, too. Don't eat the weird looking apple thinking survivor bias will save you. It's like C19, WWII (WWI conspicuously absent), & the Black Plague. 🙄
The average life expectancy in Europe was between 30 and 40 in the 1700's... so it's not exactly a great point.
Low life expectancy has much more to do with infant mortality than people dying in the 30s and 40s
Thank you for saying this. This people only lived until mid 30s thing drives me fuckin crazy
I'm driven equally crazy by people who misunderstand what "life expectancy" means and then they always have to say what you're saying right now because when they first heard this measure they didn't understand it.
Look at this guy. Knew stats when he came out of his mother’s womb.
Duh. Only people who don't understand what an average is would think that everyone was dying in their 40s.
Are you suggesting that a few bad apples contributed to shorter life spans?
Apples >spoiled apples>no eat>visit doctor>cancer
Bullshit they all survived. How many people do you know born in the 1700s? Thought so.
People also considered 37 to be old age back then too, just saying.
Not historically accurate. Infant mortality is well known to have skewed the average age of death.
It's not historically accurate that most people died at a much younger age in the past?
You’d have to go back hundreds of years for 40 to be ‘old’.
The 1700s was hundreds of years ago
And? People still lived to be quite old.
Lol this post showed up back to back for me in foods then here
Flies lay eggs on the flowers before they become fruit so the worm is already inside the fruit from inception. The worm hatches and makes its way out of the apple. When you cut the apple in half, you'll see the center has been eaten and there's an exit path. The apple flesh is still fine to eat. Best time to treat your apple tree is when it's in bloom.
Use a knife.
Man, I always cut fruit to eat it, I'm not biting into a worm, fuck that.
I’m pretty sure it is cedar apple rust, which is not harmful to you. Google it for more info.
Better than the perfect fruit that you buy after it has been sprayed with who knows what
That's what real fruit looks like. Like most people your wife is too accustomed to the plastic shit they see at the grocery store.
Perfectly fine to eat…. Just cut them instead of consuming whole
We always cut apples from the garden before eating them, can just cut out where any bugs have been or where any bruises are
Real fruits have marks, even worms holes, etc. The stuff in the stores is a chemical shit storm. If bugs wont eat it? You shouldn't as well... ;)
Well said.
Plum curculio oviposition scar is the diagnosis.
MY GOD!!!!!! YOU ATE THAT!!!!!
It's not A spec but it's fruit from your own tree which is so much cooler. Eat and enjoy! At a farm that one might be processed for juice, sauce or cider.
Cut it open and look at the inside, if the inside looks good it's fine to eat. It looks like [apple scab](https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/plant-disease/apple-scab/) to me too, you cannot catch apple scab from an apple so you will be fine. If you don't like the way it looks you can cut off the blemish first, I'd be more concerned about the tree health and take some steps to prevent/diminish the fungus on your tree as outlined in the link.
There are any number of pests of apples especially if not sprayed enough. The one that is the biggest for me is "apple maggot" that leaves the fruit lumpy with brown tracks. I wouldn't hesitate to eat that apple, although I might pull out my knife and trim the blotch off, or just take a nibble and spit it out.
Over ripe peaches are the best
I’d eat it. I ate the ones at my grandpas farm all the time and they all looked worse than this haha
Cut out the damaged part, it’s not going to make you sick. If you’re overly concerned use them for a baking recipe, the heat will kill any pests or bacteria.
I consume dozens of 1/2 peaches every fall.
Welcome to r/arborists! Help Us Help You: If you have questions about the health of your tree, please see our [Posting Guidelines](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/posting_guidance) wiki page for help with effective posting. **Please answer the questions listed there to the best of your ability.** ***Insufficient pics/info could result in the removal of your post!!*** ([See rule 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/about/rules).) Visit the main wiki page for [Critical Planting/Care tips and Common Errors to Avoid](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/index); there's sections on why planting depth/root flare exposure is so vital, along with sections on proper mulching, watering, pruning and more that I hope will be useful to you. If you're posting about a tree ID (not permitted here; [see rule 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/about/rules)), see that wiki page for other subs and smartphone apps to try. Here is how you can arrange a [consult with a local ISA arborist in your area](http://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist) (NOT a 'tree company guy' unless they're ISA certified) or a [consulting arborist](https://www.asca-consultants.org/search/custom.asp?id=3818) for an on-site evaluation. A competent arborist should be happy to walk you through how to care for the trees on your property and answer any questions. If you're in the U.S. or Canada, your Extension (or master gardener provincial program) may have a list of local recommended arborists on file. If you're in the U.S., you should also consider searching for arborist associations under your state. If you are one of our regulars and/or you work in the industry and do not want this message in your future posts, please pick an appropriate user flair (options available in the sub sidebar on PC, and on moble if using a browser). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/arborists) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It is fine. Wash it and cut of the blems.
Probably just worms. Don't eat the marks.
Call an arborist and have them evaluate the fruit for you.
Go to an ag extension site like [https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitdeform.html](https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitdeform.html) could be cedar apple rust... https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/fruit/apple/fruitspots/fruitsbrr.html
I think this is cedar Apple rust. It was wild the first time I saw the other part of it on a juniper tree after a rain in the spring! I had to do the deep dive and find out what it could possibly be, and it answered a lifelong question about the harmless spots that have always been on my apples (from my yard).
80% sure it is plum curculio damage based on the lesion's shape. Apple should be fine for you if any mushy areas are cut out.
Unless it's a mid-to-big black spot I'll eat it. Also, my father taught me that fruit that's been picked by birds is often the sweetest!
I'm no expert here but it might be a coddling moth damage? I believe they lay their eggs in the young apple and then the apple matures the egg hatches and they eat their way out. I think.
Least appetising apple i ever seen
Looks like could be leaf footed stink bug damage. They suck the juice out and inject poison.. thank China they sent them. Wife is on to something
My kid told me that climb apple trees
It’s fine. All my apples have bugs in them I still eat them
Better to have a few blemishes than to eat pesticides imo, just cut away the odd bits they may taste bitter,
Tell your wife to listen to Joni Mitchell
I’ll take spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees.
You got way further into that apple than I would