I too only have about an acre for planting my hobby orchard, but that is enough for my needs. I have a neighbor only a couple houses downstream who has over a hundred fruit trees, and he and I have worked together to graft some trees. When I stopped by and introduced myself, I was hoping the neighbor had a wealth of knowledge and would be able to give me some help and advice. It turns out, however, that I have more knowledge (and grafting skills) than he. In fact, he really didn’t seem to know what he was doing at all, besides digging holes and placing the trees in the ground. Since that time, we have become friends and I helped him to bench-graft 100 apple and 20 pear trees, this past Spring (plus about the same number for myself)…
Anyway, to try and answer your questions, I had two Kingston Black which seemed to be “thriving” on G-890 in large pots for a couple years, but when we got a Spring snow and cold snap, in 2020, they both died, along with a Bulmer’s Norman (also on G-890). The three Hewes Crab trees growing on EMLA 106 in pots beside them survived just fine. Since the Kingston Black had started off so well, I decided this year to bench-graft another onto B-118 to trial…and it did okay in the garden bed, but growth was slow compared with many others…and so it will be a few years before I can give a better report.
The Franklin crab wanted to produce fruit early, but I haven’t allowed it to yet. I transplanted it to the cemetery this Spring, and when it blossomed I removed the flowers Next year, I plan on grafting some other varieties onto it, so it will be self-pollinating. (There are no other apple trees allowed, because they do not want too many attract deer.)
One variety that might interest you is the heirloom Hewe’s Virginia Crab. I grafted a small scion onto the branch of a large exhisting tree, and the following year I got a cluster of five apples–which ripened about the end of September, I think–from the branch it grew. Super tasty too! Have made a lot of Hewe’s crab grafts since, and next year I should be seeing more of that fruit, plus a few others I also grafted onto older exhisting trees for trials.
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What you say about Kingston Black having a heart attack during a late spring frost bodes really badly for it here. One feature of my weather that can murder the hardiest of trees is a January meltdown. We can spend a whole week in the mid 40’s, sun shining, to be followed by sub zero temperatures the next week. Anything that is stupid enough to even think about waking up just a bit (shedding winter hardiness) dies.
I wanted to trial the Franklin cider crab because of reports that it doesn’t mind late frosts. I think it was the winter/spring of 2012, a frost pretty much destroyed apple production in the entire up state NY region and yet the mother tree didn’t care and went on to have a full crop. The only issue seem to be that early October may be too close for comfort but so far so good.
Virginia Hewes has been on my short list of trees to plant but so far I haven’t come across any for either sale or to borrow a branch from for grafting. I should bump it up on my priority list of things to do…
I have Hewe’s / Virginia Crab on M.111, it’s vigorous and precocious. The coloring on mine seems quite extensive leaving me wondering if I have Red Hewe’s Crab, a seedling of Hewe’s / Virginia. It has excellent flavor so regardless it’s a keeper. It has done well here in my Z4a in Upstate NY. I just checked my records, and my trees came from 39th Parallel in 2018 and 2019. I’d be interested in hearing if Mike’s trees color up as much as mine, perhaps it’s something to do with my climate / location.
That’s interesting. When do they ripen there? They look totally different here. They only get a red blush and turn almost translucent when overripe. Your picture looks more like an old USDA watercolor. here is what they look like In Kansas Mid-August.
Very interesting ! Here’s a photo taken 8/24, they look more like yours. The other photo was taken 10/12. By mid-September Hewe’s / Virginia Crab has taken on the deep red color here. Flavor is great, even before they’re ripe. The flesh gets translucent on the overripe here as well.
The Summer heat here does odd things to some apple varieties. I think @scottfsmith had commented that the harvest period For Hewes documented in old texts was not consistent with what he saw.
I had asked about it on some cider forum and Tom Burford felt the modern Hewes was in fact a seedling of the original one… which is why it is so much earlier. I’m not sure why he never mentioned that in any of his writings.
I’m hoping its a great year for cider again. As good as cider is maybe we should double the amount! My goal is to have the cooler done before late season apple and pear picking time.
