Hi derek,
I see that you have Etter’s Alaska. Do you also grow his Katharine?
If you do, could you please comment on this variety?
Thanks a ton for the write up Scott! What were your top 5 apples for flavor and disease resistance? I may have to add Ginger Gold to my orchard after reading your write up.
Gee, Here is my current list which keeps changing.
1) Gold Rush (but prone to biennial and CAR)
2) Rubinette (but somewhat prone to rots and not completely consistent year to year)
3) Hooples Antique Gold
4) Kidds Orange Red (but highly prone to biennial)
5) Pomme Gris
6) Mutsu
7) Blenheim Orange
8) Reine des Reinettes
9) Rambour d’Hiver (the most bulletproof award)
Note it would not be a good idea to just get the top ones, there are far too many Golden Delicious related apples on this list and would get a bit old.
Summer apples are all inferior to the above but here is my current list of the top ones there:
1) Ginger Gold
2) Cherryville Black
3) Primate
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I’m a fan of Mutsu, although sometimes they’re a bit too large for me. I recently tried my first Shizuka. It has the same parentage as Mutsu, a similar flavor, but is a little more one dimensional by being sweet without the full compliment of acidity. Still very good though.
I tasted Shizuka side by side with Mutsu last week and came to the same conclusion. I also agree its too big for my liking. But Mutsu has a really fantastic flavor when well grown.
Derek: glad to see comments on Akero, Brownlees and Claygate. I have Claygate started here and have found so little commentary on its habits and taste. Encouraging, Akero and Brownlees both look like worthy candidates for trial Out West. Maybe I can get them grafted and live this time! I’ll be in touch.
Some of outcomes in the PNW growing mostly on B9 all in containers:
-Beni Shogun Fiji - I was ready not to care for this one. Grafted 2013 thus first crop allowed of 3 apples. Picked mid October as stems clung like crazy. I just sampled one one was surprised with great crispy, sweet crunch and juice.
- Bonum- Picked mid Sept. 1st crop was poor qufluke.with green, tart, dry, thick skin. Hope it is only a fluke.
-Court Pendu Plat- Growing like a cordon. First crop was nice russeted, spicy (nutmeg?) slightly dryish texture. Late bloom.
-Edelborsdorfer - Another old one. Pleasantly surprised with a mildly sweet, juicy, crisp apple. A keeper.
-Grimes Golden - 1st crop was generous. They were overly sweet for me but seems like a dependable variety. I will pick earlier next year.
-Margil - produced 1st apple on stepover. A bit dry but nice flavor in the Ribston pippin arena.
-Rhode Island Greening - This one is reliably productive of tart apples good in apple crisp.
-Irish Pippin - Premature drop for 2nd year. Adieu. - Karmijn - got invaded by the neighbor’s tree roots. I was able to sever the roots but need to report when dormant.
All in all, great year especially since I was gone x 3weeks in July. Carole
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This video by “Ben B.” appears to corroborate Beni Shogun’s success in your area. He is in the Seattle area:
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I’ll have a more complete report on my apples this year sometime next week after I finish a,work-related report that’s occupying my time and mind. Meanwhile, you know Claygate is near and dear to me. It’s been my most reliable cropper for several years now and set a huge crop on a modest-sized espalier this year. It ripened just about 100 apples this year of varying quality. They were all good, but there were distinct differences in size, texture, intensity ripening time and storage ability. Very strange. I love this apple.
I bought some Zestar at a farm stand. Tasted like an OK but not great apple with just a generic apple taste. Maybe they were mislabeled or growing conditions weren’t good. I’ll try to find some again next year.
I love reading the reviews from everyone. Too bad mine are still in the molding/shaping (and probably pouting) stage so nothing for me to report on my so little variety choices. Maybe next year…
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Is it too late to post pics of your Caville Blancs?
MrsGTI, I put in a Caville Blanc on G30 this spring. Very vigorous growth, branch angles are flat, and it may bloom next year as it has a few spurs on it. If I ever get picture posting back, I will.
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@SkillCult is biting into his late-season apples! Get a load of the Grenadine x Lady Williams cross he bred. The apple is a beautiful red color. What a looker!
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Matt,
Looks like it comes down to gold rush and wickson , pink parfait leading the pack. I’m not overly surprised what skillcult picked. Grenadine seems like his apple of choice to breed for red pigmentation but I may have misunderstood.
I got some new-season Red Delicious at the store, and it was a nice crisp, juicy, sweet apple
Not all the flavor in the world, but there are worse apples. I think RD is overly-maligned.
Not possible if you are referring to some of the cardboard textured, ultra-reds that are often found in stores today (or a couple of decades ago when I was in the market for store-bought apples).
Anyway, the reaction is justified as a resistance to their overall dominance, which is fortunately declining rapidly.
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On rare occasion, I’ve had an edible and reasonably eatable Red Delicious. Keyword: rare.
At the peak of ripeness, they are okay. I have tried so many disappointing RD (in box lunches, etc), it is conspiratorial. Just my opinion.
The growing variety of good apples in the market today is certainly a Good Thing, but I’ve always liked a fresh RD
I think their prior problems came from being stored forever and turning all mealy. The one I had yesterday, I had to keep wiping up the juice, it was so fresh.