Guidelines for donors

We aim to direct only high quality fruit to food charities. If you are considering donating your surplus fruit please consider carefully the following:

Apples should be ripe (if the fruit comes off the branch without tugging, it is a good indication of ripening) Apples falling is not necessarily a sign that they are ripe.
See here for determining when apples are ready for picking.
Quality of the fruit – it is not recommended to donate apples with codling moth pest to food charities.
Fruit should not be picked until a charity is found.
Only freshly picked fruit from the tree is directed to food charities, not from the ground, for health and safety reasons.
Windfalls and damaged fruit go to outlets other than food charities where possible.

Falling Fruit volunteers are available to pick the apples; however, if you’d prefer to harvest them yourself, please follow these guidelines in addition to the ones mentioned above.

Falling Fruit doesn’t store donated fruit, it must go to a charity on the day of picking. If you pick the apples, we will try to find a charity for them.
It can be difficult to detect the codling moth pest so great attention is needed when picking and sorting. It may be a very small hole so each apple has to be checked.
Please do not include apples that are too small unless they are to be juiced.
When picking apples, they must be handled gently to avoid bruising.
Apples should not be packed in plastic bags. Crates or wooden boxes are recommended with newspaper separating layers.
It is important not to pick the fruit until a charity is found for it.
It is good to leave a few apples on the trees for birds and wildlife.