some pictures of different apple varieties growing at our Hocking Hills Orchard located at the Four Seasons Cabins in the beautiful Hocking Hills of SE Ohio.
Discovery is an early season variety from England with red flesh. Ripens here early August and is great tasting. Medium to large fruit with a great sweet tart flavor.
Red Devil is an English variety that is a Discovery x Kent cross, released in 1975. Medium size deep red fruit. Ripens in late August. Pink cortex wood, reddish green leaves, dark pink blossoms.
Last year we decided this is becoming one of our favorites and we tried to make a video for the orchard page talking about it but laughed too hard and scrapped the idea.
Excellent sweet tart flavor, used for dessert and cider and we made a great tasting pie with it.
Devonshire Quarrenden is an English variety first mentioned in 1676 from Devon, England. Medium sized fruit with solid red skin and a distinct strawberry flavor.
Red Devil is intriguing me some. What issues do you think it’s either prone or resistant to? Obviously it’s fairly cold tolerant, any idea on what might pollinate it of the varieties I currently have - McIntosh, Haralson, Golden Del, Red Del, Macoun, Empire, Honeycrisp, Sweet Sixteen, EarliBlaze, and Goldrush.
Do you know what online suppliers might carry this variety?
I wonder how many of the reviews are just someone copying what someone else said? Out of our 1,020 apple varieties I think 190 or so are red fleshed and of the ones that have fruited the majority taste good to me.
Now there are a some that are strictly for adding to cider for the tartness but even a variety like Niedzweckyana, which is the progenitor of most red fleshed varieties, has a couple of days where the sugar is high enough for the fruit to be eaten fresh.
Thanks Derek. About half of my grafts this year are red fleshed varieties, the majority from scions I got from you. All seem to be doing well (although they have only led a protected life in the GH so far).
It’s good to hear that Red Devil is a good variety, as it was and is one the the more vigorous grafts I have.
Just a few more years and with any luck I will get to try it…
I only have a handful of apples I’m looking to acquire next year, Golden Russett and Wickson. But if these red fleshed apples are actually good I’ll would be more than happy to try grafting a few varieties.
I find it interesting that the descriptions from the UK on OrangePippin.com suggest that the red-fleshed character is much more muted than the pictures you have.
Those early season red-fleshed varieties are very interesting.
I didn’t even know I was growing a red-fleshed variety but I see on your site that Brown’s Apple has some red to it. Somehow it made it into my short list of cider varieties for a backyard orchard even though it is a very high acid variety. Though descriptions say it makes vintage cider, so maybe that is why.
I’ve got Arlie’s Red Flesh, Pink Pearl, Rubiayat, and Pink Princess.
This year I have a whole 8 apples on the Arlie’s. The others are still pretty young.
I might have to get more red varieties next year. I heard Scugog was good. Would you share your thoughts on that variety?
Steve333, glad the scions you received from me are doing well! Nothing wrong with letting new grafts grow in a protected environment for a while. l have two enclosed in areas I call my nurseries that they grow in for 3 years before being transplanted or sold. And Red Devil will probably have fruit the 3rd season and if not at least by the 4th.
Levers101, the red flesh coloring can fluctuate on some varieties. If we have a cooler and wetter than normal summer for us then Pink Pearl will barely have any coloring. Hotter and drier then the coloring will be intense. Now this typically only holds true for the red fleshed varieties with green or yellow skin. For varieties like Winekist or Almata or the others with the reddish tinged leaves and red skin the flesh will be red or pink.
And the coloring in Brown’s Apple is also not set in stone but we have made cider with just that variety on a year when the red flesh color was great and it made pink cider and that variety is a vintage cider as you noted.
joleneakamama, I start taking orders for scions in November if you want to grow some new red fleshed varieties .
Scugog is a good variety, especially for cold climates, but a little better tasting that is that same smaller size as Scugog is Winekist which bears like crazy every year.
and here is another one of the 1,020 varieties growing at Hocking Hills Orchard at the Four Seasons Cabins in the Hocking Hills of SE Ohio.
Geneva is a seedling of Niedzweckyana that is medium sized with red skin. Dark red mahogany foliage. Red flesh on the outside edge and the inner core has a tart flavor. Ripens from late August to early September and we use it for dessert, cider and jelly.
Excellent thread! I am interested in these as well. I like small apples so Winekist might work for me. IowaJer asked about disease issues. Can you tell me about that for these varieties?
Thanks,
JohN S
PDX OR
