Well, the S.16 which I speak of is in a clay loam that almost never dries out.
I have a Northern Spy that I planted in 2013. This year and last year I got one apple each year. They do really good here. At least so far. I’m looking forward to getting more of them. Sorry you can’t grow the N. Spy there. I have some clay here as well. Time will tell if I get some Spitz worth keeping the tree.
Braeburn is delicious when fresh, but has limited keeping ability. Sweet tangy rich flavor. It is disease susceptible, so not as friendly to backyard organics. It grows particularly well in NZ/Aussie and sometimes can be found in grocery stores shipped from Down Under. They are good during our springtime (after having just been picked in the New Zealand autumn).
Fuji is a fantastic apple. It is acceptable to eat, even when picked a little early (often what you find in the stores). Then, it has classic Red Apple flavor combined with a unique sort of grassy Fuji flavor. Fuji is best when left to hang long on the tree, and then put into cold storage. It is the second-best keeping apple behind Goldrush, in my opinion. To me, a cold-stored Fuji achieves maximum sweet flavor in March. By then, its greenish flesh has turned yellow, and it becomes super sweet like apple juice. By March, I am miserable from winter, so a sweet crisp Fuji is rad then.
Goldrush picked in November can keep until the following June… and still be delicious! If they are solid green, then they are underripe and nasty. If they are bronzey yellow with small red speckles on the surface, then they are rock-and-roll. Pleasing crunchy-textured juicy flesh with a tangy fruity flavor.
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I can grow N. Spy here, I’m talking about one site. I manage it at other sites where it does well.
Some of my Suncrisps seem to be getting richer and do taste world class. I guess in the past they’ve mostly been a disappointment out of storage. I’m always a “what have you done for me lately” type of apple evaluater.
That makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.
Thanks Matt.
I was planning on getting a some of each variety to start comparing and learning the difference between apples. The Gold Rush are at a different orchard and not ready yet. I have never put apples in the fridge for storage to be used later and I will try that with the Fuji.
Put the Fuji in plastic bags in the bottom crisper of your fridge. Pull one out every time you feel like eating an apple, and observe their improvement over time. Same w/ Goldrush.
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Will do!
I like many including winesap and ark. black but my favorite is cinnamon spice. I have 2 friends,
one a gardener and the other is not. Both planted a cinnamon spice tree after tasting it. My friend who is not a gardener told me he really did not like apples but after tasting this variety he had changed his mind. It is one of the best and most unique I have ever tasted.
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Our Cinnamon Spice were very good this year. They had a super long picking window. We ate them in early Aug. When the skin was mostly green, and they were suprisingly sweet, not really starchy, and had a nice flavor. About 8 weeks later there were still apples on the tree, and they were red and super sweet.
Goldrush when yellow and blushed are really good off the tree. Hubby says they are about the best. We still have Goldrush on the tree, and a few Arkansas Black that are pretty good, even fresh.
Maybe our Spitz planted in 2012 will make next year. The Ashmead’s planted the same year set about 5 apples this year, but they never really ripened.
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Where did you get your cinnamon spice
Trees of Antiquity is where we bought ours @Jwsemo It was planted 2013, and made a few dozen apples this year.
I think there are better (and by that I mean more complex) apples, but Cinnamon Spice is good, and is staying. It’s better then many apples we’ve bought from the store.
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Thank you
Jolene aka Mama,
Does it have any real cinnamon or spicily-reminiscent flavor?
I don’t remember a spicy flavor jumping out, but they were easy to eat, and everyone liked them.
We started eating them long before they were fully ripe, but even the last few of the tree didn’t seem spicy. They were very sweet though, candy in a skin sweet.
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I got my favorite reply from someone this year after eating one of my Williams Pride apples…“best apple I have ever had”. They are beautiful in color and shape, and tasty when eaten. I have never had a bad one in 2 growing seasons. Its my earliest apple, and gives me a break from eating stone fruit. One interesting characteristic: when bitten into, the red color of the peel gets pulled into the flesh, like a red dye.
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You have all fall and winter for that break. Everyone has different tastes and most apples have different tastes depending on where they are grown. Nevertheless, I’ve known of people declaring the same thing of W. Pride here, but generally folks aren’t drawn to them enough in a mixed orchard to make them all that useful, In sites I manage, lots of them go to waste. Not so of stone fruit. I’ve stopped offering WP in my nursery except as graft add-ons and focus on later apples.
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Visited Cornell Orchard store twice in three days.
The store offers Acey Mac, Autumn Crisp, Jazz, Jonagold, Ruby Frost, Shizuka, Snap Dragon and several other more common varieties. They allow customers to try each variety for free. I tried 6-7 varieties that I was not familiar with.
None of them stood out. Most were very sweet, crunchy but not much else. Actually, I prefer Jonagold to Snap Dragon or Jazz. At least Jonagold has some tartness in it to make it more balanced.
The smallest bag size is 1/4 peck. You can buy a bushel but you need to call to order. I could not carry many so I bought two 1/4 pecks of Ruby Frost and Autumn Crisp. Of the one I named above, Shizuka is the only one I won’t buy. It tasted similar to Golden Delicious but not as good. They sell GD, too, and it tasted fine to me.
If you are heading toward that area, Ithaca, look it up and stop by. They have several pear and apple varieties for sale. Not free tasting for pears ;(
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