William's Pride apple - is it good?

galinas 2016-06-27 18:45:52 UTC #1

I am looking for a summer bearing apple tree to add to my new and small apple collection. It has to be dwarf and sold by Cummins Nursery(to add to the order). From what they list as very early I only tried Pristine from a fruit stand and didn't like it much. I like description of William's Pride apple. If you grow it, what is your opinion on it? Thanks in advance!

Levers101 2016-06-27 19:02:15 UTC #2

What didn't you like about Pristine? That would help in the recommendation of another apple.

Williams' Pride is a good apple with some complex aromatics in its flavor. It has been 2 years since I have one, so it is hard to remember exactly what it is like. It also has a red tinge to the flesh near the skin. Pristine it will mellow in storage, and can store for a while. Pristine is textbook summer-apple sour when you first get it, but last year when I was getting them for a full month from an apple CSA they got better by the end.

I'm a big booster of Zestar, but I guess they only grafted it to G.935, and G.935 is equivalent in size to M7 in my n=1 experiment.

marknmt 2016-06-27 19:52:50 UTC #3

Do they offer Pixie Crunch? I think it's an outstanding apple, especially for as early as it is. My wife likes it also.

Sorry to say I have no experience with Williams Pride.

warmwxrules 2016-06-27 20:04:23 UTC #4

Scott had sent Williams Pride and Jefferies a couple years ago and i should be able to try them this year as long as a squirrel doesn't take off with them.

Chris_in_GA 2016-06-27 20:07:37 UTC #5

I'm on my 3rd year of harvesting William's Pride apples and find them to a nice tasting summer apple that is easy to grow, fireblight resistant, and one of my most productive varieties. It really stands out in my home orchard of around 40 varieties this time of year because its about the only variety now with a deep red color. Looks like I start harvesting mine here in northern GA is the next few weeks.

galinas 2016-06-27 20:27:52 UTC #6

Thank you everybody!
Levers101, Pristine was kind of bland to me. Too plain sour when picked, too "potato" like when ripe.
markmnt, no. they do not sell Pixie Crunch
Chris_in_GA14m, I like what you saying, I will get the tree.

GANGGREEN 2016-06-27 23:05:29 UTC #7

Not to hijack, but I'm curious what the typical ripening season is for Pixie Crunch compared to Pristine or some other apples I may be more familiar with. I have five fairly young Pixie Crunch that are bearing fairly heavily right now and I'd like to know about when to start paying attention to them. I hand thinned them a good bit, but I fear that I still may have allowed too many fruits on them for their first bearing year. They would have had fruit last year but a late frost killed the young fruitlets, then this year they bore very heavily. I will note that the fruits appear to be very well shaped and sizing up nicely.

warmwxrules 2016-06-27 23:44:12 UTC #8

Am I wrong in thinking that summer apples should be safer from squirrel thieves then fall ripening apples?

Austransplant 2016-06-27 23:54:58 UTC #9

Warmwx

My experience has been that squirrels are far worse on summer apples. It seems that when fall sets in, they change their preferences to nuts from sweet fruit and leave late ripening fruit alone.

Regarding Williams Pride, in my view it can be a very good apple with a rich flavor, though as a summer apple it does not store for long. The tree is very disease resistant and productive. Here in Maryland it is also a curculio magnet.

GANGGREEN 2016-06-27 23:56:38 UTC #10

I answered my own question with a bit of research. According to MSU, Pixie Crunch ripens about 7 days before Campbell Red Chief Red Delicious, so it's clearly a mid-season apple, probably late September in my area, 5A. Back to your previously scheduled Williams Pride programming.

Levers101 2016-06-28 00:43:34 UTC #11

My dad had a 2nd leaf Williams' Pride on G.890 from Cummins. I wish all my trees were like that one. Most of the scaffolds naturally grow at almost 90° from the leader. Does everyone have that experience with its growth? Or is it the rootstock? I know the Geneva series is supposed to induce wide angles, if so... wow.

barry 2016-06-28 00:56:13 UTC #12

Ive got a 2nd leaf WP on 890 too. Very good branch angles. I had to cut off a couple oversized scaffolds but left one on and it fruited which slowed its growth enough to let the rest of the tree catch up. It is my best shaped tree. Its apples are starting to turn color a little. I'll report back on flavor in a few weeks.

hambone 2016-06-28 02:22:20 UTC #13

I only have a few years experience with WP here in Md but it's definitely looking biennial in my yard.

marc5 2016-06-28 04:16:11 UTC #14

I have William's Pride on B9 from Cummins and it is one of my favorite apples. 12th leaf. Here in central OH it ripens in mid-August. It's a large, dark red apple with somewhat thick skin. It seems much less prone to PC and scab than my other varieties. Don't let the term "summer apple" fool you--it has a nice crunch for eating out of hand, with a nice balance of acid and sweet tart. I think it stores well for an early apple.

It would be one of my top 3 apples if I had to limit myself. (WP, Honeycrisp, Fuji or Goldrush).

galinas 2016-06-28 11:46:00 UTC #15

Thanks, marc5. They now selling it on G.41 and G.222, but I need dwarf due to lack of space, so only can get G.41.

Johnthecook 2016-06-28 20:24:59 UTC #16

I have one and I think someone described it well on here a while ago. They said its a good summer apple that tastes like a fall apple, but wouldn't be a top ten if it ripened in the fall. I think I agree with that. My Gravenstein is a better apple too me for late summer.

speedster1 2016-06-28 23:48:32 UTC #17

I should get a chance to sample it for the first time this year. I have 3 growing on last year's graft. So far they are very clean, no signs of any disease. I suspect it will be ripe in August some time.

barry 2016-07-20 01:34:34 UTC #18

Following up on my earlier post, I just harvested the first apples from my 2nd leaf WP. I had 10-12 apples. Fully dark red ones were very sweet but not much else. The ones with some green were much better with a nice sweet tart balance. Texture was decent with some bordering on crisp and breaking but others a bit spongy and dense. None were mealy. Im thinking that these would not impress many folks but they are pretty darn good compared with most of the apples at my grocery right now.

I zip lock bagged each apple. I lost 4-5 to sunburn and mild sun damage gave some off flavors on a few more. Maybe the bags do better up north. It has been a hot dry summer so far. I may try some variations on the bag theme next year.

hambone 2016-07-20 01:37:08 UTC #19

Anybody have their Williams Pride apples split, sometimes several splits on each apple?

mamuang 2016-07-20 02:28:54 UTC #20

My WP from last year. The tree went biennial this year. I can't recall about cracking. It must not be that bad. Otherwise, I would have noticed.

I am in a colder zone. They were all crisp, and good tasting.