Quick answer

Store only late-season keepers such as Bramley, Cox's Orange Pippin, Egremont Russet and Blenheim Orange, picked when a gentle lift-and-twist brings the fruit away with its stalk on and the pips inside are brown. Wrap each unblemished apple in paper, lay them in single layers in slatted trays somewhere cool (3 to 7C), dark and frost-free, and check them weekly. Early varieties do not keep: eat those now.

Table of contents

Working out how to store apples in the UK starts before you pick a single one. Variety and the condition of each fruit going into the box decide whether a tray is still good in February; temperature and wrapping cannot rescue an August apple or a bruised one. So the first half of this guide is about reading the tree, the second half about the shed.

Which apples will store, and which to eat now

The rule of thumb is simple: the later an apple ripens, the longer it keeps. Early varieties finish ripening on the tree and have nowhere left to go. Late varieties are picked firm and slightly under-ripe, then finish slowly in the store.

Eat within days or a couple of weeks: Discovery, Beauty of Bath, George Cave, Early Windsor and most other August apples. They go soft within days and are at their best straight off the tree.

Keep for a few weeks: mid-season types such as Worcester Pearmain, James Grieve, Lord Lambourne and Ellison's Orange. They will sit in a cool place until late October or so, then start to go mealy.

Real keepers, three months or more: Cox's Orange Pippin (to about January), Egremont Russet (January), Blenheim Orange (January), Ashmead's Kernel (February), Howgate Wonder (February), Bramley's Seedling (March, sometimes later), Newton Wonder (March), Lane's Prince Albert (March) and Sturmer Pippin, which can run into April. These months are typical, not guaranteed; a mild autumn and a warm store pull them forward.

If you inherited a tree and do not know the variety, the calendar is your guide. Fruit ripe and dropping in August is an early: eat it. Fruit still hard and firmly attached in mid October is almost certainly a keeper. Anything in between, store a tray and see how it does.

The pick test

Cup an apple in your palm, lift it gently and give it a quarter twist. If it comes away with the stalk intact and no tugging, it is ready. If you have to pull, leave it another week, however good the colour looks.

Cut one open. Brown pips mean the fruit is mature; pale pips mean it is not, and immature apples shrivel in store rather than ripening. The ground colour shifting from green towards yellow and the first sound windfalls under the tree are the other signs.

Keepers are picked on the early side of ripe, so do not wait for them to taste good on the tree.

Which individual fruits go in the store

Only perfect ones: stalk on, no bruise, no codling moth hole, no split skin, no soft patch. Small scab spots are cosmetic and the fruit will keep, but a bruise is an open door for brown rot. Medium-sized fruit keeps better than the biggest on the tree, which is more prone to bitter pit and softens sooner.

Windfalls do not go in the store. Even a fall onto grass leaves a bruise you cannot see yet. Use them within the week for crumble, juice, chutney or the freezer.

Month by month, August to March

Dates move by two to three weeks between Cornwall and Aberdeen and by a fortnight between years. Read the months as the order things happen in, and let the pick test set the day.

August

The earlies ripen and drop. Pick and eat them; nothing from August goes into long-term storage. Bramleys can be picked green now for immediate cooking, which thins the crop, but green fruit will not keep either. Clear windfalls weekly: they carry codling moth larvae and brown rot spores into the stored crop.

September

Mid-season varieties are ready, and the first keepers, Cox's and Egremont Russet among them, start passing the pick test in the last ten days of the month in the south. Set the store up now: clean the trays, check the shed for mice, and leave a thermometer in it for a few days to see what it actually holds.

October

The main picking month for anything you plan to keep. Bramley, Blenheim Orange, Ashmead's Kernel and Newton Wonder are usually ready through the middle two weeks, Sturmer Pippin and Lane's Prince Albert towards the end. A light frost on the tree does no harm if the fruit thaws before you touch it; pick everything before a hard frost, because frozen fruit will not store.

November

The outdoor temperature drops to where you want it. Keep up the weekly checks, because any fruit with a hidden bruise shows itself in the first month. Cox's and Russets come into their best eating from now until Christmas.

December

Peak eating for the dessert varieties. Watch the forecast: a shed that sits at 4C in November can drop below freezing in a cold snap, and a night at minus 5 will ruin the lot. Keep fleece or newspaper handy to drape over the trays, or bring them into an unheated room for the duration.

January to March

Cox's and Blenheim are usually finished, and the store is down to the long keepers: Bramley, Newton Wonder, Lane's Prince Albert, Sturmer. Shrivelling accelerates as the days warm, so from February use fruit up rather than holding it. This is also the window for winter pruning apples and pears, though not plums, as covered in our guide on when to prune plum trees in the UK.

Storing the crop step by step

1. Choose the storage space

Cool, dark, slightly humid, frost-free and ventilated, ideally between 3 and 7C. A brick or stone outbuilding on the north side of the house is best, then a garage, cellar or unheated spare room with the curtains closed. A wooden shed works in most of the country provided you can cover the trays in a hard frost.

Lofts are the common mistake: dry, swinging from warm to freezing in a day, and they shrivel apples faster than anywhere else. Heated rooms are too warm. Keep the fruit away from potatoes, onions, paint and creosote; apples absorb odours and their ethylene sprouts potatoes, as we explain in our guide to storing potatoes for winter.

2. Pick on a dry day with the stalk on

Wet fruit rots. Wait for a dry morning, lift and twist as above, and place each apple into a shallow tray by hand rather than tipping a bucket. Leave the stalk on: a torn stalk cavity is a wound, and rot starts in wounds.

3. Cool and sort

Leave the picked fruit somewhere cool overnight so field heat drains out of it. The next day, set aside anything bruised, holed, split or stalkless for eating in the next fortnight. Be ruthless: a doubtful apple in the fruit bowl costs you one apple; in the store it can cost you a tray.

4. Wrap the fruit you want to keep longest

Wrap each sound apple in a square of newspaper or greaseproof paper, gathered loosely at the top. Wrapping stops rot passing between touching fruit and slows moisture loss so the fruit stays crisp; the trade-off is that you cannot see a problem through the paper. Our preference is to wrap anything meant to last past Christmas and leave the rest unwrapped where you can spot trouble at a glance. Some growers never wrap and rely on spacing and weekly checks, which works if you are disciplined about the checks.

5. Lay out in single layers

Slatted wooden trays are the classic because air moves through them; shallow cardboard boxes, moulded greengrocer trays or ventilated plastic crates all work. Set the fruit in one layer, not touching, and stack the trays with a gap between each. Do not pile fruit two deep: the bottom layer bruises and you cannot inspect it. Label every tray with variety and picking date.

6. Small crops go in the fridge

With one tree and a few kilos to keep, skip the shed. Put two to three kilos in a polythene bag, punch six or eight holes in it, fold the top over without sealing and keep it in the fridge salad drawer. The bag holds humidity, the holes let ethylene out, and the fridge is steadier and colder than any outbuilding. Dessert apples treated this way stay crisp for two months or more.

7. Check weekly

Once a week, go through every tray, unwrapping a sample of the wrapped ones. Remove anything soft, brown, wrinkled or smelling of cider. Weekly is the right interval: rot spreads to neighbouring fruit in about a fortnight, so a weekly check catches it before it moves.

What goes wrong and how to recover it

Brown rot

Soft brown patches spreading across the fruit, often with concentric rings of buff-coloured pustules. It is a fungus that enters through wounds and passes between touching fruit. Remove the affected apple and its neighbours, wipe the tray, and check it again in three days. Next year, clear windfalls promptly and prune out any mummified fruit hanging on the tree over winter.

Bitter pit

Small sunken dark spots with brown corky flesh underneath, usually on the largest fruit and often only appearing after a few weeks in store. It is a calcium disorder, not a disease, and it does not spread; affected apples are fine for cooking once the spots are cut out. It is worst on young, heavily pruned or heavily fed trees and after a dry summer, so consistent watering and going easy on nitrogen reduce it next season.

Shrivelling

Wrinkled skin and a spongy feel mean the store is too dry, too warm or both. Move the trays somewhere cooler, stand a bowl of water nearby, and wrap the fruit or move it into punctured polythene bags. Shrivelled apples are still good for cooking.

Freezing

Frozen fruit thaws soft and brown and will not keep. If a hard frost is forecast, drape the trays in fleece or newspaper the evening before, or carry them into an unheated room. Fruit that has been caught is cooking-only and should be used within days.

Ethylene and early ripening

Ripening or bruised fruit gives off ethylene, which pushes every apple near it to ripen faster; one bad apple really does spoil the tray. Get damaged fruit out quickly, keep the store away from ripening pears and tomatoes, and keep the trays ventilated.

Mice

Nibbled fruit, shredded newspaper and droppings in the trays. Raise trays off the floor, fit wire mesh over the top tray, block gaps under the door and set traps before you fill the store, not after the first damage.

Frequently asked questions

How long do stored apples last?

It depends on the variety. Early apples such as Discovery last a week or two whatever you do, mid-season types a few weeks, and late keepers such as Bramley or Newton Wonder three to six months in a cool, dark store. A warm loft shortens all of those.

Can you store apples in the fridge?

Yes, and for a small crop it is the most reliable method. Put two or three kilos of sound fruit in a polythene bag with a few holes punched in it, fold the top over loosely and keep it in the salad drawer. The bag stops the fruit shrivelling and the fridge is closer to ideal temperature than most sheds.

Should apples and potatoes be stored together?

No. Ripening apples give off ethylene, which makes potatoes sprout, and potatoes give off moisture and an earthy smell that apples absorb. Keep them in separate rooms, and keep apples away from onions, paint and creosote for the same reason.

Can windfalls be stored?

Not for more than a few days. An apple that has hit the ground is bruised somewhere even if you cannot see it, and the bruise is where brown rot starts. Use windfalls within the week for cooking or juice.

What temperature should apples be stored at?

Between 3 and 7C is the realistic target at home. Commercial stores run colder, but a shed or garage cannot hold that, and frost-free matters more than hitting a number. Weeks above about 10C ripen the fruit quickly and shorten storage.