Is anyone growing Hauer Pippin in Zone 7 and getting it to ripen? I grafted a bunch of it two years ago mainly for friends but after reading more about it, it might not ripen in zone 7.
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Hambone I’m growing this apple and I hope it ripens in zone 6. I realize it’s a very late apple. It will take a couple of years before I find out. Every thing I read says it can be grown in my zone http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=57. I’ve heard leaving it in on the tree that extra month makes it better but I bet the furnace like Kansas heat from summer and the frosty cold fall days will ripen this apple. The first apple that forms I’m leaving.
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My HP has not fruited yet but I hear it takes a long, long season and then some storage time to peak.
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Yes I read ideally November- December ripening and then 1 month storage. I can handle November ripening and then start eating them on Christmas. Read it’s an incredibly good apple like most of those really late apples are.
My experience with it is that you can both let it hang on the tree until its ready to drop (in which case it will take on a unique flavor in the vinous spectrum, along with mellowed acid) or pick it earlier and store it which case it gets sweeter and mellower but not with the same complexity as letting it hang on the tree a little longer. Even when picked when they are ready to drop, they will store well into Spring. In my location, I would view picking in mid-November too early unless you were aiming to pack them away for something to pull out of the fridge as late as possible. They are a treat now, both for eating and baking, but I usually pick mine around a week before X-mas. I’ve not encountered the flavor it takes on when fully ripe in other apples–its a “darker” and not particularly “applely” flavor; if you like that, I suspect that you will like Hauer a lot.
At least in my location, I think it’s an underappreciated apple: The tree is an unstoppable grower, is free from disease, and consistently produces good crops; the fruit is large, virtually free from blemish even hanging on the tree X-mas day, and good to very good from now until the start of May under refrigeration.
Comparing it with GoldRush, Cripps Pink, and Arkansas Black (which is the limited set of good late keepers I have to use as a basis for comparison), it beats Arkansas Black in all eating qualities; Cripps Pink is a little crunchier late into the Spring than both Hauer and GoldRush for me; Hauer, GoldRush, and Cripps Pink, have roughly comparable quality and intensity of flavor and it’s a matter of mood and personal preference come Spring. I say that with the caveat that I don’t think that I have figured out how best to grow GoldRush yet. My personal ranking is usually Cripps Pink, Hauer, GoldRush, FWIW.
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Vohd,
Sounds like I made a great choice with this variety. I wanted a very late great storage apple. I will let you guys know how it does here. Who knows with the weather behaving as it has lately once in awhile I might experience it as a December apple.
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Update: Today saw a Hauer Pippin tree full of beautiful apples despite never being sprayed. It was one of my 2014 or so bench-grafts that I gave a friend. Just as @Vohd said above HP is under appreciated. Nice branch angles off the leader, healthy leaves, tiny bit of blight, one of my rare success stories.
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I wish I could grow the Hauer Pippin here in my area. Nice apple flavor if it is left hanging on the tree. It would not reach the ripeness by the time freezing temps arrived. We can get snow or below freezing temps in mid November at times to around Thanksgiving. I am in zone 5b.
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