Hello,

If you can't find any records or tags related to the trees it can be very difficult to positively identify the fruit varieties. Factors related to weather, disease, soil, and tree maintenance can contribute to variation even in fruit appearance even among apples of the same cultivar.

You can pay for a service like MyFruitTree, a lab in Washington that will genetically identify apples: https://myfruittree.org/welcome

You could also record bloom dates and harvest dates with publicly available reports, such as those on MSUE News.

The first one appears to be a Gala, but it could be a Delicious or another related variety. The second one is hard to even guess at, but it could be a Golden Delicious, GoldRush, or Golden Russet. Those are guesses based on context clues and not positive identifications.

Hello Eric,

Yes genetic testing will give you a definitive response.

A positive ID isn't necessary to get the apples into decent shape.

You should get a soil test done to see what nutrients are available in your yard. Instructions on getting a soil test through MSU Extension can be found here:

https://homesoiltest.msu.edu/get-started

The soil test results will give you some insight on what nutrients may be lacking and advise on soil amendments.

Our consumer horticulture team has an online self-paced course on taking care of backyard fruit here: https://www.canr.msu.edu/courses/backyard-fruit-101

Although the apples look like they've dealt with some pest issues, disease doesn't look to prevalent. Diseased (especially scab) fruit and leaves should be removed from the orchard (usually burned).

The most important step to take after the soil test will be to do winter pruning. We have an article about it here, https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/late-winter-pruning-of-fruit

Your local conservation district may have pruning workshops open to the public.