Storing Apples in Cedar Crates for Winter Use

Why Cedar Crates Beat Cardboard and Plastic

Anyone who has kept apples through a British winter knows the heartbreak of pulling a tray out in February to find a soft, brown heap. The fruit itself is rarely to blame. More often the failure is one of storage: too little air, too much trapped moisture, and no easy way to spot a bad apple before it takes its neighbours with it. This is where a slatted cedar crate earns its place.

Cedar has three qualities that matter here. First, its oil-rich timber resists rot and fungal growth far better than softwood or plywood, so the crate does not turn musty in a damp shed. Second, the wood is hygroscopic — it absorbs excess moisture from the air around the fruit when conditions are wet, and releases it again when the shed dries out. Third, cedar takes nails and screws well without splitting and can be built with slatted sides, leaving gaps of 6–8mm for air to move freely.

Cardboard collapses and holds damp. Sealed plastic crates prevent airflow entirely. A well-made cedar crate, used properly, will serve you for twenty years or more.

Only Sound, Late-Keeping Apples Go In

Storage will never improve an apple. It can only delay decline, so be ruthless at the sorting stage.

• Choose late keepers. Bramley, Egremont Russet, Ashmead's Kernel, Annie Elizabeth, Newton Wonder and Cox's Orange Pippin all hold well into the new year. Early varieties such as Discovery or Beauty of Bath are for eating now, not for the crate.
• Reject any fruit with bruises, codling moth holes, scab lesions or soft patches. One rotting apple releases ethylene gas that ripens and spoils everything around it.
• Leave the stalk intact but trim it flush if it is long and sharp.
• Do not wash the apples. The natural bloom on the skin helps protect the fruit. Wipe off heavy soil with a dry cloth instead.
• Handle them like eggs. Every knock creates a bruise that will show up in six weeks' time.

Pick on a dry day, ideally when the fruit comes away with a gentle twist and the stalk separates cleanly. Apples picked in the rain store badly.

Lining and Layering with Straw

A good crate is roughly 40–50cm long, 30cm wide and 15–20cm deep — small enough to lift when full, large enough to hold a useful quantity. Sand the internal edges so nothing rubs.

Line the base with a 3cm layer of clean, dry barley or wheat straw. Barley straw is the traditional choice because its hollow stems spring back and allow air to circulate rather than matting down. Avoid hay, which carries mould and seed.

Sit the apples in a single layer, not touching, with the stalk end downwards. This stops the stalk from puncturing the apple beside it, and leaves the blossom end uppermost where you can inspect it at a glance. Cover with another thin layer of straw, then add a second layer of fruit if the crate is deep enough. Finish with a straw cap.

Never stack crates more than three high, and never seal them. Slatted sides plus straw gives you the gentle, steady airflow that keeps fruit fresh.

The Right Shed Conditions

Position matters more than most growers realise. Aim for:

• Temperature: 2–4°C for most varieties. Cool but frost-free. A hard frost turns the flesh to mush.
• Humidity: around 85–90%. If the air is too dry, the apples shrivel; too wet, and rot takes hold.
• Darkness: light encourages greening and sprouting.
• Ventilation: a shed with a low vent and a high vent will draw air through naturally.

Keep the crates off a concrete floor — stand them on battens or a wooden pallet so damp cannot creep upward. Finally, keep apples well away from potatoes, onions, paint tins and anything with a strong smell. Apples readily absorb taints, and a shed that smells of creosote will produce fruit that tastes of it.

Inspect Regularly and Without Sentiment

Check every crate weekly for the first month, then fortnightly until spring. Lift each apple, feel for soft spots, and look at the blossom end for the first signs of brown rot. Remove anything suspect at once — wrap it and put it in the bin, not the compost heap beside the shed.

If you find a patch of mould on the straw, replace that section. If the skins feel clammy, slide the crates apart a little to increase airflow. If they feel dry and the fruit is starting to wrinkle, mist the shed floor rather than the fruit.

Used well, a set of cedar crates will carry your harvest cleanly through to March, and you will taste the difference in every pie, crumble and lunchbox apple along the way.