Many of our old abandoned apple trees would confound Sir Isaac Newton – they’re still holding tightly onto some of their apples despite gravity, not to mention rain, snow, ice, and howling winds. (The images here were taken from different trees, on Sunday, February 16.)
To be sure, we would not want to eat any of this frozen and deformed fruit, but we like to view its defiance.
A possible reason for the death grips may be that the trees are not producing enough ethylene in their old age. That’s the hormone that ripens apples and plays a part in sensing the best time for them to drop. At that time of ripeness, the hormone stimulates the production of enzymes that eat away at the cells where the apple stems attach to the branches.
It turns out that Sir Isaac was viewing more than gravity at work. (Brooklin, Maine) See also the image in the first Comment space.