I got both Crunch-a-Bunch and Baker’s Delight. BD is actually the one I am most interested in, as it is the result of the GR/Sweet16 cross and is supposed to have Honey, anise, cinnamon, and vanilla hints and a floral taste. I think highly of Sweet16 and Goldrush, so the mix seems like a great idea. If you missed it, be sure to check out the PDF linked from the first post, as it has lots of details about the MAIA apples.
Note- the screenshot has Juliet, something that I was thinking about getting as well, but have held off on for now.
Coincidence: About 4 hours ago I got to sample Evercrisp. Indeed a great apple,and I am hard to please. Somewhat of the Honeycrisp texture (a texture to me more of a curiosity than something to be sought after), but this Evercrisp gets it right, and has more flavor— balanced just a bit toward the sweet side. Also I thought it was me to have a jaundiced attitude toward Gurney’s. Glad to see others in agreement. Among other things they don’t come out and tell you what rootstocks they are grafted on.
I gave in and added Baker’s Delight to my Crunch a Bunch and Juliet cherry order. I changed them from Li’ Deluxe to just a Li’l tree (M 27). I simply do not have space for the M 111 and do not want to deal with pruning it to keep it small.
I am not impressed with Gurney. They said they would ship the trees to me in late April. That’s kind of late for me. I asked if they could be shipped them to me by late March or early April instead. They said they could not change the shipping date. Never encounter such an issue with other nurseries before.
That’s strange- have you tried going back and looking at your order online? When I checked my order online, they have it shipping on 3/16, which sounds about right. When I first placed it, the site showed late Jan as the ship date, but it looks like they caught and corrected that on their own.
i put in an order for those 2 new ones now, so should be getting them this spring. I used the 50% off everything coupon, so didn’t have to mess with 25 off 50, 50 off 100 etc.
I spent 20 minutes with the lady. I have a feeling that she is not stationed in the US. They will send me a new confirmation e-mail. On the first order, it listed Jan. Also, it’s odd that the confirmation only listed the trees I ordered but there was no price (cost) on it.
I’ll see what the new confirmation looks like. For me mid March is too early. Our soil is still hard to dig and most of the time, snow on the ground. I don’t like digging through the snow :). My perfect planting time is mid April. Gurney can’t make it happen.
i feel a little more comfortable that a couple standard apples I bought from them years ago, finally produced this year and were correct. Always had worried about these type of companies whether I was going to get a bunch of mislabled stuff.
Mid-late March isn’t always snow-free, as it depends on the weather- we could still be getting new snow then. But, most of the time it is OK, as I think I’ve only had to plant a couple trees through the snow. But, I don’t mind if somewhere wants to send in April, as that will help space things out. It’s never good to have too much digging to do at once. Especially when I’ve got grafting to do.
Even if they don’t adjust it, I bet that the two weeks between mid-April and late-April probably won’t be that big a difference. It’s better than late Jan would have been
But, since they are M27, you’ll probably want to baby them a bit. They aren’t a plant and forget type of tree. After mulching and staking, I tend to leave mine alone for a bit, which may be part of why they stay so small. Maybe I should water them more during the summer…
I think Raintree can be a bit difficult on this front as well, since part of their shipping involves renting a big truck to move everything for a general area, before shipping from regional hubs.
I ordered from Raintree a few times and have had no issue about requesting delivery time. They may tell you they will deliver one or two weeks sooner or later. Gurney don’t let me move the delivery date for a month time. Or, maybe, the lady I spoke with did not know how to make adjustment specifically for that. She was able to change my order but not delivery time.
Thanks to some members here who made us realize that Deluxe does not mean a bigger or better trees. I changed my order from Li’l Deluxe to a Li’l regular one. I don’t need those extras.
I tried contacting this Midwest Apple Improvement Association a year ago and they never got back with me. Sounds like a good plan on getting small growers involved but I now wonder if it is just all talk .
My Crunch-A-Bunch (feel stupid using that name) standard is planted, wood chip mulched, hardware cloth around the trunk, and 4’x4’ cattle panel enclosed planted on a hillside that happened to have nice loam soil.
Hopefully I won’t slide into it with the tractor or hurt myself trying to avoid it.
This is my first standard apple - or even M111 if that’s what it is. I can’t wait to taste one. Sounds great, but even if it were just Goldrush ripening earlier, I’d need to get one.
A year later and I got to sample Evercrisp. The orchardist from the farmer’s market has over 100 trees of Evercrisp in their 2nd leaf. They attempted to thin off all the fruit, but about a dozen snuck through. That means that most of these apples were alone on young trees, so it isn’t necessarily representative going forward. But it was very very good. I had one of the 2 he gave me and it was 17 brix, crunchy, and sweet, yet flavorful. It had watercore, though I’m guessing how it was grown is responsible. The guy who grew it said that it was much better than the ones he had last year (from another grower).
I shared it with my wife and a daughter (the other daughter was unlucky in that she was away at an activity) and they both thought it was great- much better than 2 different Golden Russets (one from me and the other from the farmer’s market). I really like GR, but objectively EC was better than these apples. Maybe the best GR I’ve had would beat it for me, but even then, it’s winning on sweet by a bit and losing on texture.
One apple (not from MAIA) which has really impressed me is Florina Querina. This is the first time I’ve grown it, though I did have 1-2 from an orchard a few years ago (which made me want to get it). The brix is only 15-16, but the crunchy texture, flavor, and juiciness is great. My daughter said it was almost as good as the Evercrisp, but not quite.
