Here are my apple experiences for this year taken from my log. Many apple varieties I still have in storage and a few are still hanging on the tree but most of the data is in.
This year had somewhat worse curc than usual, and much worse diseases and deer. We just have too many deer around and its a constant battle. Probably a dozen varieties the deer took every apple on so no tasting of them this year.
Please add your own experiences!
Ginger Gold - These apples are ripening later than usual, most came after Jefferis. Deer got most but I got a few really outstanding apples from this tree, this is a special one for the early season. It is consistent on cropping, gets very little damage in my minimal spray program, generally sizes up consistently, tastes very good, keeps super well for an early apple, etc. Whats not to like?
Jefferis - A fine sweet flavorful apple. They go mealy relatively fast, I should probably be picking them a bit earlier.
Not Calville Rouge - Perhaps this is Antonkova (sic)? Its in the family of early sour cooking apples. Very productive and reliable for early sauce.
Worcester Pearmain - This is the nice apple I remember, a McIntosh-like apple but not as sour and less rubber in the skin (i.e., better). All came through well, little rot.
American Summer Pearmain - A tasty apple, not harvesting them perfectly but some very good some good. It has a nice balanced aromatic sweet flavor – a “sub-acid” type. Not at the top of the summer apple list though so might not be worth long-term keeping.
Cherryville Black - This is a standout amongst mid-early apples. Has the sweetness and flavor of much later apples. It is sub-acid with a bit of a nutty flavor. Somewhat dry in the flesh but not in an unpleasant way. Small size is probably what has kept it from becoming better known.
Zestar! - It tastes like a typical grocery store apple these days, sweet and fruity. No skin problems at all which is good.
Mother - This apple has no crunch whatsoever. Which is too bad as it has a rich creamy flavor. Not the easiest apple to pick/store, I think it needs to be picked a bit early as it tends to go mealy. It is loved by the bugs and had some rot. Overall I don’t think its worth it in my climate. Waltana has a similar flavor but is more reliable so this one is being removed.
Golden Nugget - My new graft is finally fruiting again, this is an early russet tasting nearly as good as the later russets. It fully russets for me but apparently does not do that in all climates. It usually watercores for me but still tastes good with it.
Kidds Orange Red - I wish it set every year, its a very good aromatic sweet and nicely crunchy apple - “Improved Gala”. Few rot or bug issues.
Reinette de Cuzy - Wow, major rot problems this year. Its a very tasty apple otherwise. Probably not worth keeping.
Wagener - A unique fruity apple, with a very pleasant “creamy-tart” flavor. It is somewhat susceptible to skin diseases. Overall one of the few earlier apples worth keeping I would say. It does not store very well.
Adam’s Pearmain - Awesome tasting apple but no production and rotting. Still it deserves a few more years.
Waltana - This California apple does very well for me. Its like Mother (sweet/aromatic) but not the mealy etc problems. Keep this apple and remove Mother.
October Gravenstein - Ripening Sept not Oct. Bigger and tastier than I remember my Gravensteins. Very sweet and clean apple-y flavor. Not producing a lot yet. This year not as sweet as last year.
Calville Blanc - I had a couple of them. Its a very sour apple, you can see why its liked when its cooked, its the classic tart apple. Not for eating though.
Court Pendu Plat - This apple is similar to Clochard in flavor. But this year it rotted horribly. I’m not sure its worth it, it is a very late bloomer and those have proved much more susceptible to fireblight in my orchard. It is probably slated for removal.
Pomme Gris - The best ones are really sweet, nutty, and tasty. To find the best ones to pick you need to make sure there are no green bits left on the bottoms. They are prone to drop around the time they are ripe. Make sure to thin the tree very well, it greatly oversets and produces small apples with inconsistent flavor if not thinned with a vengeance.
Westfield SNF - The deer got nearly all. One reasonably well ripened one was fine, your standard savory apple. Not too exciting as an eater.
Smokehouse - Apple cider on a tree, no better way to describe it.
NOT Doctor Mathews - This graft is making a few fine apples, very sweet and flavorful. I don’t think this is true to name however, it is supposed to be a summer apple and it does not match my old graft taste. Anyway this is a perfectly decent apple worth keeping for a few more years.
Blenheim Orange - A very flavorful apple good for both cooking and eating. Deer took all the lower ones. Relatively little damage, super reliable and consistent production etc – this English apple really likes the mid-Atlantic!
Freyberg - These I had to harvest a bit early due to squirrels. They really need to hang for the best flavor and the ones that fully ripened were really fantastic with a highly aromatic Golden Delicious flavor with anise thrown in.
Rubinette - Significant rotting problems this year. Another reason to do summer sprays next year. The tree set a ton of apples (too many) so I still got many of them. The taste this year was much less like Cox and much closer to Golden Delicious: not nearly as sour as usual. The later heat really changed the flavor on this apple. Fortunately they were still excellent if not up to their usual. I also had some inconsistent flavor several years ago on this one, it appears to be dependent on the weather at ripening. Anyway in spite of the downsides this year it was still one of my best apples.
Hoople’s Antique Gold - Excellent – GD on steroids.
Razor Russet - Very good but not quite up to Hooples on average; is also less crisp then Hoople’s.
Shizuka - Very similar to Golden Delicious but much bigger - perfectly fine.
Mutsu - GD with licorice added (this is after a month or so of aging). This apple is much better than Shizuka, also sweeter for me unlike what Cummins etc states. Overall it is quite excellent really, keep this tree for sure… It had some bitter pit, for the first time.
American Golden Russet - Bad rot this year, just like GR. They had bad curc issues which probably helped along the rot.
Hunge - A unique-tastin flavorful apple, it looks to be well worth growing. It tastes a bit like Limbertwig with its own twang (a hint of cheddar cheese?). It fares better than average in terms of bug damage. The flesh is dense but dry, its very unusual. Minor watercore issues.
Abbondanza - I am getting somewhat less keen on this apple, it is very aromatic (rose petals) but is often low in sugars. I need to make sure they hang a long time, they look ripe earlier than they are since they redden up very early. They also seem to need some (but not too much) aging.
Hubbardston Nonesuch - See Abbondanza, they are very similar and I expect related. It sizes up more reliably and seems a bit sweeter as well as more sour. Brix measured 16 which is not bad.
Steeles Red - I had only one fruit which was pretty un-interesting, it was early though. It needs another year or two but is probably headed for removal. In the Abb/Hubb school of apple, and also has a similar ripening time.
Keener Seedling - It is getting a lot more red and less russet this year due to late heat. The taste is still good but not consistently so. My “keen”-ess on this one is declining though, its a good apple but has a fairly narrow window for a late apple: its boring early and its mealy late. On the plus side it has tannins and not too sour, so it could be good to throw into the cider mix. Curculio really like this apple but the moths don’t care for it at all.
Reinette Clochard - High flavor and high sour. There is a savory component to the flavor. The apples look ugly with streaks on the top (a nickname in French for it is “Hobo”), and they are not firm fleshed at all. This is probably best as a cooker. Need to see how it cellars, it could mellow out. Definitely extreme on the sweet/sour scale, probably beating out GoldRush.
Reine des Reinettes - This tree set very well but the deer nearly got all of them. It is a hard-fleshed and more savory version of Kidds, and is one of the best cooking apples. Its also good for eating but not as crisp as Kidds. It is sometimes biennial but is otherwise very reliable and gets few skin or bug damages.
Maigold - This apple is very prone to bug damage, it doesn’t end up with many hanging. It has also consistently under-set for me. Maybe time to give up on it, its a really nice apple when it pulls through but I need some production!
Newtown - It had bad spot rot this year, lost all to rot or deer. Apparently it is prone to summer rots. It always rots a bit but this year it rotted badly.
Magnum Bonum - They still need more time. I may not have the correct apple here as it is later than the descriptions.
GoldRush - Early ones are excellent of course. I need to remove low limbs as the deer are harvesting all of those, let the tree get a bit taller.
Rambour d’Hiver - A super reliable apple which seems relatively impervious to pests and diseases. Its a standard slightly-savory apple in taste and is a good all-rounder. The main thing I like is the absolute bulletproof nature of it.
Yates - Very late and small, not in yet and will need cellaring. It shows good potential for cider as it has a deep rich flavor.
Katherine - One apple off my small graft. Wow, a really great tasty crunchy apple. According to Axel it needs storage to be optimal, but it was excellent right off the tree. On further investigation Axel probably mis-spelled this one (“Catherine”) and I have Etter’s Katharine so I renamed this entry. It pretty much perfectly matches that apple. It is well worth putting in a better spot. This apple can crack but no issues for me there (and, I did have some other apples crack this year).
