Matt, thank you for the information and description of the Blue Pearmain. It may be one I can squeeze into an area just to give it a try. It looks great in your pictures. I just had not read that many actual reviews of people that had eaten them. More reviews in books or from nursery catalogs. I am leery of the catalog reviews. They tend to hide any fruit deficiencies in order to sell a tree.
Thanks for posting that again, Matt. Derek Mills at Hocking Hills Orchard describes Blue Pearmain as one of his favorite apples. I’ve ordered some scion wood from him, so hopefully it will do well for us, too. There seem to be people who love it, people who find it interesting, and people who think its kind of meh, but my wife found the descriptions, and the pictures, very appealing, so it made our list.
I guess I should update the list of things that I’m ordering, now that I’ve sent the orders off.
In the category of old New England/Northeastern apples:
American Beauty
Black Oxford
Blue Pearmain
Gray Pearmain
Hunt Russet
Mother
Roxbury Russet
Westfield Seek No Further
Wheeler’s Golden Russet
(Notable omission at this point: Hubbardston Nonesuch, which I do really want to try but will have to track down sometime in the future.)
And apples from elsewhere:
Adams Pearmain
Ashmead’s Kernel
Claygate Pearmain
Hoople’s Antique Gold
Kidd’s Orange Red
Orleans Reinette
Pitmaston Pineapple
Pomme Gris
Reine des Reinettes
My basic selection criteria:
-
Reputation for being healthy and hardy, or at least not especially problematic (though I’m aware that some of the varieties I’ve selected do have their issues, and in other cases there’s simply not all that much information)
-
Range of seasons and tastes, with a bit heavier emphasis on later apples that keep decently well and an attempt to balance higher-flavored apples with relatively mild but pleasantly distinctive types (my wife’s preference). No real early apples at this point, though.
-
Irrational bonus points for local heroes and sentimental favorites, including a couple of things I just took a flyer on, more or less.
All this will be coming in the form of scion wood which I will be grafting to new rootstock with my dad this spring, once we get past the danger of a hard frost.
For the rootstock, I think I’m going to go with G 935, which I’ve seen get very positive reviews here. It may be a little more vigor than I need for a Belgian fence, strictly speaking, but the recommendations I got trended toward more vigor for relatively colder climates, and hopefully the added oomph will give the trees a little more ability to bounce back from whatever setbacks are inflicted upon them by the environment and, um, me. Because while I’m certainly planning to give it my best shot, I do expect that the first few years of this “experiment” will be something of a shakedown cruise…
Probably getting in a little bit over my head with this, but I decided that I wanted to throw a bunch of stuff out there and see what worked out and what didn’t. And for the price of a stick of scion wood, that’s a little bit easier to do.
Thank you for all your help, everyone, and of course, all your future comments, suggestions, and what-kind-of-knucklehead-are-you?'s will be greatly appreciated.
Jamie
Two sample fruits are growing on Hunt Russet out back. So far, pretty good size, they are coloring up red nicely through the lighter russet than expected. It has been a very easy care tree, despite some warnings I’ve read it can be sensitive to fire blight.
Only fire blight strike in 10 years here hit Honeycrisp. If Hunt turns out as nice as I am hoping, I may top-work any losers among a half dozen others to it in the future.
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I have seen lots of press about latent virus problems on G935 rootstocks where the trees grow a few years then fall into decline. A few months ago Good Fruit grower discussed the issue and some research in progress in Washington where some growers are loosing large blocks of recently planted G935 trees on certain varieties.
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Agreed, from a knowledgeable source G222 was recommended.
Thanks for passing along the heads-up about the issues with G935. I read about that on this thread started by @Levers101.
http://growingfruit.org/t/low-genetic-diversity-of-geneva-rootstocks-and-viruses/9576
Based on that info, I ended up changing my rootstock order to G41, which seems to be working out pretty well so far. (According to the thread above, G11, G41, and G222 don’t seem to share the virus susceptibility issues of G16, G30, and G935.) Grandpa’s was very accommodating about making the change.
Here’s a review of how my bench grafted apples have been doing, now that we’re getting toward the end of the growing season here.
Grafts failed:
Claygate Pearmain
Lord Lambourne
Roxbury Russet (1 of 2)
Hoople’s Antique Gold (1 of 2)
Wheeler’s Golden Russet (1 of 2)
Laggards, slugabeds, barely hanging on:
Blue Pearmain: This graft showed no signs of taking until well into the summer, well after I had started to let the rootstock grow out. At that point I didn’t feel like I could remove the rootstock growth without risking killing the whole thing, so I just let it go. Ended up with only the most minimal scion growth, but it didn’t die, so I guess I’ll nip off the RS stuff when it goes dormant and see how it does next year.
Roxbury Russet: Started out ok but then kind of stalled, and one of the two main branches died around midsummer. Not sure exactly what happened, suspecting maybe a virus? If it doesn’t bounce back next year I’ll look to replace it.
Decent but a few issues:
Westfield Seek No Further (x2), Black Oxford (x2), American Beauty: All three of these varieties grew ok, but noticeably on the less vigorous side, and with some signs of disease susceptibility (leaf yellowing that I took to be CAR), though this was pretty minor. All three also had some issues with aphids.
When I went out to check just now, I noticed that WSNF seems to still be growing more actively than most varieties.
Ashmead’s Kernel: Grew ok, not great, but looked kind of generally ratty.
Wheeler’s Golden Russet: Grew ok, not great, but wanted to veer off to the side.
OK, middle of the pack:
Adams Pearmain, Orleans Reinette: Both were a bit less vigorous than average but seemingly healthy. OR seemed to want to get a bit bushy while AP seemed to be a little more willowy.
Reine des Reinettes, Kidd’s Orange Red (x2): Both about average in terms of vigor, no particular problems noted. One of the KOR was grafted on a notably skimpy rootstock (my fault there), and came through OK, so that was nice.
Strongest growers:
Hoople’s Antique Gold: Jumped out early and kept going strong. Seemed to handle leafhopper issues better than most, though it did show some minor late disease damage - Marsonnina (sp?)? Very healthy, pretty growth otherwise.
Hunt Russet, Fall Russet, Mother, Gray Pearmain, and Pitmaston Pineapple: All seemed vigorous and healthy. GP may actually have ended up growing the most of all my trees, though it seemed to struggle more with leafhopper damage in midsummer. HR and Mother were right there with HAG in terms of growth and health. FR was slightly less vigorous but notably healthy despite being in a somewhat less favorable spot. PP started quite a bit slower than the rest but has looked better and better as the season goes on, and like FR has seemed notably clean and healthy.
Overall, I feel like things have been going pretty well. Definitely some lessons learned, but the trees seem to be doing ok.
Things to work on for next year include:
Transplanting trees and starting to train them to a trellis.
Improving scion and rootstock storage for any varieties that I’ll be adding or regrafting.
Keeping leaf-damaging insects in check (esp. leafhoppers, spider mites, and aphids)
PS @NuttingBumpus: Happy to hear Hunt Russet has been doing so well for you - I look forward to hearing how it tastes!
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I hope you can get another shot at Lord Lambourne. I really liked this one, but its fruit splits badly in arid conditions. Incredibly precocious, you must strip it of fruits from the first season after grafting (although it makes quite a picture to see it blooming from the top of a whip!) Partially self fertile, it blooms mid-early among apples.
It should go on the largest root stock you’ve got, or after the graft takes, re-plant it and bury the graft union so the bud wood takes root. It will never be a big tree.
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BTW, I have Claygate Pearmain. It is also precocious, blooming in its third leaf. I have two grafted onto Bud 118, hoping they’d get some size in order to put russets by the sidewalk. They grow slowly, and these are affected by turf encroaching on the root zone while young, so must clear that up, give 'em some compost this fall and mulch well. Next year, they may grow that much better.
If this sounds discouraging, you need to know the season is fairly short here, the soil only so-so sand. Claygate is praised by HIghandDry, who lives in Reno, NV. His conditions are similar to mine. For that reason I am giving them more time to prove themselves. Among English apples, Claygate might be a winner in your region.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences with Lord Lambourne and Claygate Pearmain. LL is not something that had been really been on my radar, to be honest, but Derek Mills of Hocking Hills Orchard kindly included it as a bonus with our scion order, and I think he chose really well for us. It’s certainly something I would try grafting again.
It’s useful to know that Claygate may be somewhat on the less vigorous side. If it’s made it through the heat and cold with you out there, it should be able to handle what we see here. Scott mentioned that Claygate had problems with rotting for him down in Baltimore, but I’m hoping it will do ok up here.
Funny that you should mention the encroaching turf, by the way. My current project has been stripping away the sod in the area where I’m planning to plant out apples from our little nursery in the spring.
Hi Jamie! Any updates on this topic? I am planning to espalier some trees and wanted to know how your project has progressed.
Edit: I see you had posted on this thread Attempting Espalier with Two Super-Dwarf Apples - #9 by JinMA
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Hey Ryan,
Cool to hear that you are thinking about an espalier project. Personally I think it’s a great way to go for a backyard (or frontyard) orchard.
If you haven’t checked out @HollyGates excellent threads on his espaliers, I’d definitely encourage you to do so. Like you, he has an engineer’s mind and approach to things, and his project is much better thought out than mine. (I would probably be the first little pig in the story, but the wolf hasn’t come to blow everything down yet, so…)
Personally, I’ve been really happy with the espalier approach. We have a fairly small yard that’s partly shaded by our house and large city street trees, so making the most of space and sun is a big thing, and I also feel like espalier makes the trees easier to take care of overall. I especially like the Belgian fence setup, because the individual trees are much easier to manage than a multi-tier espalier would be, but the cumulative effect is still equally striking. (And we get a lot of positive comments on the more visible fence in our front yard.)
In terms of updates, it looks like my oldest trees are now heading into their fifth year since bench grafting. We have not yet gotten fruit, though a couple of trees did have a few blossoms last year (Blue Pearmain, Hunt Russet, Wheeler’s Golden Russet, and Reine des Reinettes are the ones I remember). Reine des Reinettes started to form fruit but they didn’t mature. More of the trees do seem to be starting to form spurs, though, so I’m optimistic that we’ll start to get there soon - should know more in a couple of months.
I’ve also had better results on grafting since the first year (where I shot myself in the foot by storing my bench grafts in pots that drained poorly). Grafting in-ground rootstock works better for me, I think.
Here’s my current variety list with a few notes (again, no fruit yet). In keeping with the theme of the thread, I’ve noted the ones with MA/New England connections):
Adams Pearmain: On the less vigorous side but pretty well behaved.
American Beauty (MA): Has grown pretty nicely.
Ashmead’s Kernel: Declined after being transplanted out of the nursery and eventually died. Attempting a new graft this year.
Black Oxford x2 (ME): One of the stronger growers. Pretty striking tree: kind of like the fruit, the bark has a really dark purplish color. Have had a little trouble training it as a Belgian fence because it really wants to form a central leader.
Belle de Boskoop: Grafted last year, seems vigorous.
Blenheim Orange: Grafted last year, seems very vigorous.
Blue Pearmain (NE): I really didn’t think this one was going to make it the first year, but it recovered from its early struggles and is now a pretty strong-growing tree. Distinctive bark color, similar to Black Oxford but not quite as dark.
Bramley’s Seedling: Grafted last year, runaway freight train. Both Blenheim and Bramley are supposed to tend pretty strongly toward tip-bearing, so the plan is to grow them as freestanding trees and graft other, less vigorous tip bearers onto them.
Claygate Pearmain: Finally succeeded in grafting this one last year. Time to transplant it into the lineup.
Cornish Aromatic: Grew well initially but had a roughish year recovering from transplantation (I’ve ended up moving things around more than was good for them - one of those lessons learned)
Court Pendu Plat: Grafted a couple years ago. Not terribly vigorous. (This is one that I suspect I may rethink down the road, but I was in a “why not?” mood at the time.)
Edward VII: Grafted a couple years ago, and seems to grow pretty nicely. Pollination partner with CPP (both are supposed to bloom very late).
Fall Russet: Seems to grow pretty well but tends to get some kind of leaf spot towards the end of the season. (Not scab, I’m pretty sure - I think it’s Glomerella?)
Gray Pearmain (ME): Grows well, nice sturdy tree so far.
Hoople’s Antique Gold: Decent grower, generally healthy, but seems to be subject to the same late season leaf issues as Fall Russet. I know you were looking for this one - I believe I got the scion from Singing Tree, and there are other places that have it.
Hubbardston Nonesuch (MA): Botched the graft on this one a couple years ago and it’s struggled as a result. If it doesn’t come on stronger this year I will probably try to regraft it.
Hunt Russet (MA): One of my stronger growing trees.
Kerry Pippin: Grafted last year.
Kidd’s Orange Red: Grows well, healthy, seems to take well to espalier.
Mother (MA): In the middle with vigor, but healthy.
Old Nonpareil: In the middle with vigor, but very healthy.
Orleans Reinette: Another moderately vigorous but healthy tree. This is one that seems to respond to heavier heading cuts by bushing out into a lot of twiggy growth. One reason I have come to prefer notching as a much more reliable way to stimulate secondary branching. I’ve had an Orleans Reinette that was one of the best apples I’ve ever eaten. So good that I’m planning to graft another tree this year.
Pitmaston Pineapple: Very good grower, espaliers well.
Pomme Gris: Grafted a couple of years ago, transplanted last year, seems to be doing ok.
Pumpkin Russet (NE): This one has really struggled for me, partly because it got moved a couple of years in a row. Taking a wait and see approach on this one.
Reine des Reinettes: Another moderately vigorous but generally quite healthy tree.
Roxbury Russet x2 (MA): Kind of a tale of two trees here. One barely made it out of the first year, and while it’s survived, it’s been outstripped by the tree I grafted a couple years later, which has been a good solid grower. Out of the antique apples that we’ve tried, this was probably my wife’s favorite, and one of mine as well, right up there with Orleans Reinette.
Westfield Seek No Further x2 (MA): Local hero from Western Mass. Seems to grow well.
Wheeler’s Golden Russet (MA): Probably my rarest variety. According to Burford, apparently a sport of Golden Russet from nearby us here in Western Mass. Strong growing, very healthy. Had a couple of flowers last year if I remember correctly.
This year I’m planning to graft:
Ashmead’s Kernel (replacing the tree that died)
Orleans Reinette (adding another tree from my own scion)
St. Edmund’s Pippin
Windham Russet (NE)
Also growing some pears, but they’re not as far along. Current varieties:
Beurre Superfin
Comtesse Clara Frijs
Dana Hovey (MA)
Harvest Queen
Harrow Sweet
Honeysweet
Korean Giant
Magness
Tyson
Des Urbanistes
Winter Nelis
But a bunch of the pears got mauled by rabbits (snow was high enough to expose unprotected scaffolds - another lesson learned), so we’ll see what shakes out there.
This year I’m planning to graft:
Beurre Clairgeau
Cabot of Vermont (VT)
Louise Bonne de Jersey
Kind of second-guessing myself already on BC and LBdJ, but we’ll see how it turns out.
In general, I have had much more trouble with pears than I have with apples, partly due to pear psylla and partly due to the challenges involved in getting OHxF rootstock to establish itself. (In my experience, it does NOT like being transplanted.)
And we have one peach tree, Madison.
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Great selections. I hope these all take and you get some wonderful apples from them.
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Thank you for the update Jamie! I have seen @HollyGates project as well, it is also very impressive. Keep those pictures coming once things progress! I think that having updated lists of which trees do well for espalier (and disease resistance) for certain areas is very important.
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Did a little thinning of the apple trees today. First time that I’ve had apples to thin, so that’s exciting. Here are a couple early observations:
Adams Pearmain was the first tree to bloom this spring, and by a good margin. Pretty pink buds and pink-veined blossoms. Set a bit of fruit which I thinned pretty heavily given that it’s still growing into its space and it’s not the strongest growing tree.
Mother had the heaviest bloom and fruit set, which surprised me a bit, as I expected it to take longer. Also attractive buds and blossoms.
Reine des Reinettes also had a good amount of blooms and blossoms. It had blossomed very lightly last year without setting fruit, but fruit is developing this year.
Hunt Russet had also blossomed lightly last year without setting fruit. Not a lot of blossoms this year, either, but a fruit or two does seem to be on its way.
Two that had blossoms and now fruit for the first time are Orleans Reinette and Pitmaston Pineapple. Neither had blossomed previously. Black Oxford, Gray Pearmain, and Hoople’s Antique Gold also had at least a smattering of blossoms.
As the trees are starting to have blossoms for the first time, I’ve noticed that some trees (like Adams Pearmain, Mother, and the two Reinettes) seem to have most of their blossoms lower down in the tree, while others (Black Oxford, Hunt Russet, Hoople’s Antique Gold) seem to have them more up toward the top. The lower-blossoming trees also seem to be blossoming more readily than the higher-blossoming ones. I’m not sure what that portends if anything but it’s something I’ve observed.
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This discussion got me thinking about the trees in our orchard. About 20% of our orchard apple trees have New England origins.
Northfield Beauty, Vt
always abundant, very good (in its season)
Magog Readstreak, Vt
never has produced the giant-sized fruit we were expecting. Better as a cooker.
Garden Royal, Mass.
great things in a small package
Striped Harvey, Me.
its striking appearance is its best attribute
Porter, Mass.
that it was included by name in the original Fanny Farmer cookbook should have warned us it is not so great as a fresh eating apple, but it is a great cooker
Mother, Mass.
one of our all-around favorites, but is a bit variable in flavor some years
Red Canada, Conn. or Mass.
the only apple in Beach’s Apples of NY to get a “good to best” rating (as opposed to vg-best). We must have the right growing conditions for flavor, because the apples are quite enjoyable.
Hubbardston Nonesuch, Mass.
Scott and others list this as a later ripening variety, but it is ready much sooner here, similar in season to what Scott Farm reports for southern Vermont. Glad we don’t have to wait. Another favorite.
Dyer, RI
the tree took a long time to first bear fruit, but it is now in my top five favorite apples
Pound Sweet, Conn.
got scionwood from a friend. Better than its original primary usage — food for pigs — would suggest. How’s that for faint praise?
Tolman Sweet, probably Conn. or Mass.
only started to come into bearing, so have to withhold judgment
Peck’s Pleasant, RI
after a few years of failed grafting attempts, this year two are showing signs of success.
American Beauty, Mass.
first tree died before fruiting. Successful graft this spring, so no opinion yet.
Starkey, Me.
quite flavorful, even without allowing a few weeks to mellow
Briggs Auburn, Me.
this was the first year the tree was not full of blossoms. OK flavor, but we use most of the apples in cider
Westfield Seek-no-further, Mass.
I’m reading no love for Westfield. Both my wife and I like its distinctive flavor and don’t taste any astringency. A friend, however, top-worked her Westfield after renaming it Eat-no-further. It took our first tree on Antonovka 9 years to first bear, and it has been a shy bearer. However, a second tree on B9 was quite precocious, and this year it is very full.
Black Gilliflower, Conn.
successfully grafted last year
Blue Pearmain, unknown New England
our first one was mislabeled and turned out to be some crab. Successfully grafted scionwood a few years ago but still waiting for our first fruit. Based on samplings of friends’ Blue Pearmain, I have high praise for the apple. Good appearance, satisfying flavor, and a full apple eating experience
Baldwin, Mass.
expected it to be fully biennial, but hasn’t been. In its first couple years of bearing, the fruit did not have a good flavor, but we might have picked too early. Now that we pick later and the tree has matured, flavor has improved, but it has never been better than good.
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It’s been a little while, but I thought I’d post some updates on our apples as they’re beginning to bear fruit.
Possibly/probably misidentified
Hope it’s not actually Hoople’s Antique Gold
The tree flowers and fruits pretty prolifically, which seems right for a Golden Delicious sport, but the apples are small and green with a smooth, waxy skin, no russet. The flesh is firm, not crunchy, and on the drier side, and many of the apples are watercored. Some of the apples have hints of interesting, vaguely GD-like flavor, but on the whole they have not been very good. I’m probably going to give it another year before regrafting, but it’s on probation.
Probably not Pitmaston Pineapple
The tree grows well and produces nice-looking apples, but the fruit is (a) quite large and (b) almost entirely unrusseted, both of which seem wrong for PP. It also seems to be late ripening, and I’ve only had samples that were too green to evaluate properly. Still have a few hanging and will update when I try them.
Probably not Orleans Reinette
I don’t know what this tree actually is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not OR. Two years ago we got some pretty, nice-tasting apples from the tree. In appearance, they were fairly large, similar in shape to Gala, with a pink blush. In taste, they were crisp, pleasantly sweet, and rather mild, which my wife liked. Not bad but not exciting. This year they’ve been smaller and a bit washed out, possibly due to the wet weather we’ve been having. Whatever it is, it’s another one that’s on probation.
Reine des Reinettes?
Honestly not sure about the ID on this one. The apples look sort of like some pictures of RdR but considerably less like others. Fairly large, roundish/conical, in many cases prominently ribbed, with a red blush over green to light yellow. Little russet. The flesh is quite hard, firm, and white. Out of hand, they’re pretty interesting, with a rich flavor and a distinct smack of astringency (which I kind of like). Knowing that @mrsg47 has recommended RdR as a baking apple, I figured I would take a few of these for a test drive in an apple crisp, and whatever they actually are, we were very happy with the outcome. It’s possible that I’ve been picking them a little early - I’m still trying to get a feel for that with a lot of things. I’ve got a few that are still hanging and will see how they turn out. Whether or not it’s RdR, I think it’s going to be a keeper for baking if nothing else.
Apples I’ve been happy with
Adams Pearmain
I’ve found this to be a really nice apple. It’s relatively small, yellow flushed red, about 50-75% russet, and tends to the conical/ovate in shape. Really rich sweet-tart flavor. I’ve read descriptions of AP and other russets that talk about a pear-like or nutty flavor, but that hasn’t been my experience so much. Instead, I’ve experienced more of a citrus thing - with AP, it’s like a really intense orange. Several of our other apples have something along the same lines, running from tarter orange to tangerine to more lemony: Hunt Russet, Gray Pearmain, Black Oxford, Wheeler’s Golden Russet, more or less in that order. But while I enjoy the whole range, AP is probably the most appealing and best-balanced.
Black Oxford
We didn’t get any fruit this year, but I’ve had a chance to try a couple in the past. Very pretty, distinctive fruit. Similar in flavor to Adams Pearmain and Hunt Russet, but maybe more tangerine than orange (in other words, a little tarter), and perhaps a little drier. Have not had enough to store but interested to see how they do in that regard.
Gray Pearmain
Starting to like this apple quite a lot. They’ve been flattish, fairly large, mostly green to yellow with about 50-75% russet. Fairly hard, quite crisp, but more of a “breaking” than “crunching” crisp, if that makes sense. Picked on the early side, they’re pretty intense, with a lot of lemony tartness but also a good amount of sugar. When more fully ripe, they mellow a bit and the really nice ones develop a kind of buttery thing in the background, kind of like lemon cake. It will be interesting to see how they do in storage. I’ve tried one that had been in the fridge for a bit and it had mellowed and sweetened quite noticeably.
Kidd’s Orange Red
I had some questions about ID on this one, but thanks to some helpful photos from @mamuang, I’m pretty confident now that we do in fact have KOR. It’s a very nice apple, and probably the one that’s been most broadly popular in our family. Crisp, sweet, fairly juicy, just a bit tart, and all coming together harmoniously. Our daughter’s favorite out of the apples we grow so far.
Mother
An interesting, unusual, and highly variable apple. Looks kind of like KOR, though it tends to be a littler more long where KOR tends to be a little more flat (ovate vs. oblate), and the texture is less crunchy/a little more delicate. Most of the time they’re just pleasant and rather mild, but when everything comes together they’re really delightful, with a smooth sweetness that reminds me of cream soda and an unusual feeling of coolness in the mouth. They seem to have a relatively narrow peak in terms of optimal ripening and storage.
Hunt Russet
I like these. They’re a good sized, nice looking russet. Pretty hard, perhaps a little on the drier side, but with a nice breaking snap and a rich taste that reminds me of a rather tart orange. Similar to Adams Pearmain in many respects, but tend to be bigger and not quite as highly flavored (though still very good).
Wheeler’s Golden Russet
Our first year getting fruit from this tree, and I’ve only tried a couple. Generally similar to Gray Pearmain, but not quite as complex in flavor. Still very enjoyable, though, and the tree grows well. Will be interested to see how they do in storage. (This is not Wheeler’s Russet of the UK, but rather a local sport of Golden Russet.)
Have had fruits from a couple of other trees, but not enough to form an opinion.
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I’m confident it is not if mine is. Mine is fully russeted.
I will give a report on my favorite apples after harvest when everything’s fresh in my mind. However, I like modern apples at least as much as heirlooms as a general rule and by about mid-winter I like Pink Lady and Goldrush a lot. It seems seasons too short for Goldrush are getting rarer here and I’m growing the Barnsby’s strain of PL which ripens at the perfect time here… so far. It’s about 3 weeks earlier than the original, at least 2.
Currently and for a few years now my favorite heirlooms based on taste are Spitz and K.David. More New England growers should grow King David as the season is plenty long enough to ripen it to perfection.
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Any pics of the ones in questions? Many people here may be able to help you identify them.
Hoople’s is totally russeted even mine graft is in shade ( most of my apples are).
I am quite sure my Pitmaston is true to label. It is beautiful deep yellow color. It is a small apple.
@scottfsmith , @HighandDry and @jerry grow a lot of apples. Although they don’t live in New England, they probably can tell you if you have the correct apples.
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Good point about pictures for ID. I’ve been having trouble transferring pics from my phone to my computer for whatever reason, but when I get that sorted out I’ll try to post a few.
Thank you to you and Alan for confirming my suspicions about Not the Hoople. That one may be up for regrafting sooner rather than later.
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Regarding Reine des Reinettes, in response to a post I made in 2020 on a King of the Pippins thread, in which I pointed out similarities and differences between the apples on a KotP tree and a RdR tree, Scott made a good point.
So your RdR tree could be a RdR.
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