Apples vary enormously in when they’re ripe and ready for picking. The earliest apples are already harvested while others won’t be ready to pick until October and may need to be stored until they’re ready to eat. Early apples, such as ‘Discovery’ and ‘Irish Peach’, should be used as soon as they’re picked because they don’t store well. If some of the apples start dropping it’s usually a sign you need to pick, but you can also tell as you harvest. If you lift the apple and it comes off the tree easily, pick it. If it stubbornly hangs on, even if you pull hard, leave it a little longer for the fruit to fully develop.