After stalking around on this forum for a while, I am finally putting in an order for apple and pear trees. Can I run my options by you and see what you think? I have easy access to two very reputable nurseries within a couple hours, so I prefer to stick with varieties they have, but I could mail order a couple if necessary.
I am in Hurdle Mills, NC, z7:
Apples: I want six, at least one, maybe two Goldrush
I am looking for fall-ripening all-purpose apples that I can make into dried apples, eat out of hand, and make sauce and butter. Not every apple has to check every box. Ease of growing (disease resistance) is one of my top considerations, especially Fire Blight and Scab. I know that Goldrush is susceptible to CAR. Since I will already be spraying for CAR, I’m not too worried if other varieties are also susceptible. Any specific comments on these varieties and this combination? Any pollination problems you see? Am I missing any variety that I should definitely be considering?
Goldrush
I want a russet. I am leaning toward Roxbury Russet, but American Golden Russet is an option.
Keener Seedling
Grimes Golden
Stayman Winesap
Blackwig Mammoth
Ashmead Kernel (yield isn’t my highest consideration and the nursery makes it sound intriguing)
Pears: I want 3 Euro and 2-3 Asian. Once again, easier to grow (resistant to fireblight?) varieties. All for eating out of hand. I like a nice juicy, low-grit Euro and a juicy crunchy Asian. Of these varieties, are there any I should exclude and do you foresee any pollination problems? Am I missing any variety that I should definitely be considering?
Asian: (My brother lives in Taiwan and every time I go there and get so excited about the pears in the fruit market, he reminds me that there they just call them “Pears.”)
Korean Giant, Shinko, Nikita, Tennosui, Shin Li, Daisui Li
I have several of the Euro pear varieties that you listed. These haven’t bloomed yet so I don’t know how resistant to fb they will be. My Asian pears including Korean Giant typically get a little fb but I break out the infection on my morning walk. As of now they do well with my procedure. I added a few scions of Shinko this year which is reported to be more resistant. Each location is different and you might not have any problems.
I used to live out your way. The Grimes Golden did not do well for me. I would be wary about this one. Low vigor, disease prone. The Cox Orange Pippin did better for me than the Grimes Golden.
There are many strains of the Stayman. Some are very similar to the Black Twig. The BT does ripen a couple weeks later. Some redundancy here.
I would spread out the ripening dates. If you’re spraying for CAR already, you may want to replace one with a Hunge or an early ripening apple like a Summer Rambo, Monark, Aunt Rachel, Pristine, St. Claire, Earliblaze, Novamac. Avoid the Williams Favorite being it’s a blight bomb. Same is true for Red June. I’ve grown both. I’m not sold on the Williams pride yet.
check out 39th Parallel if you want to mail order. he is the best.
Ease of growing/disease resistance combined with great flavor was very important to me too.
For apples, I’m starting with Arkansas black, Black Limbertwig, and Yates this year. they sounded quite bulletproof based on discussions with others here have said. I’m also rolling the dice on Butterball and Candy Crab for fun (sometimes you just have to take a risk). I’ll be grafting all these varieties this spring.
For the apple varieties, check which cultivars may be triploid (pollen sterile). I think I was told to have no more than a ratio of 2 sterile triploid apples to every 3 good pollinators. I think the winesaps, Ashmead’s Kernel, and Roxbury Russet are triploid but not 100% on that, so double check the varieties you want to get to make sure you have pollinators for all the pollen sterline ones. https://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/fruit-tree-advice/triploid-apple-varieties
For pears, I’m going to be growing the following hybrids:
Ayers on Provence Quince
Douglas on Provence Quince
Turnbull on Provence Quince Acres Home on Provence Quince (+Inter stem) Southern king on Provence Quince (+Inter stem)
Europeans:
Potomac on Provence Quince
Warren on Provence Quince
Magness on Provence Quince
and Asians:
Korean Giant on OHxF333
Honey Asian on OHxF333
I have Ayers and the 2 Asians already on their 2nd year, and the others are on order. all are custom bench grafts from 39th parallel. for Acres home and southern king, I got the scion wood from Marcus Toole and then mailed it to 39th parallel to graft to my rootstock I ordered from him.
Here in southern TN … Gold Rush suffered from CAR and Fireblight something awefull.
The CAR stunted the growth some… which might not be such a bad thing.. slower growing trees are supposed to get less fireblight.
But my GR… grew slow and still got covered in fireblight.. early blossoms on it would bloom and set fruit.. but blossoms during the last half of its bloom turned black and it went past the blossoms and spur into the scaffold wood.
Dead in year 5.
Many others suffered that same fate here over the years.
If you spray for it you may have better luck than me… I am a no spray guy.
I had never thought about the early apple bloom time correlation to not getting fire blight until I saw you mention it in another post. Last year Early Mac and Bastian Orange bloomed early and neither got fb. This year both are on track to be the earliest again. If I get a repeat this year I’m going to look for early blooming varieties to trade.
FWIW, I’ve read reviews indicating that plain old Winesap is superior to Stayman’s. I grow the plain old and like it. It’s very productive and trouble free.
Among russets, I’d give the nod to Ashmead’s Kernal for flavor / complexity. Roxbury Russet is very good so long as it is fully ripened. Mine seem to improve after a couple weeks of sweating. Golden Russet is very sweet with good flavor, whereas the others are tart. I haven’t grown or tasted your other names.
Among the pears, I grow Harrow Sweet, Harrow Delight and Warren. I’m starting Potomac this year. None of the three has been bothered by fireblight. The two Harrow’s are very nice pears, which ripen at different times. Warren is tasty too but my tree was slow to bear. Here the winner is Harrow Delight based on flavor and productivity – I pick ~100 pounds from a single tree.
Shinko has been productive and trouble free as well.
@Auburn … good luck with the early bloomers and FB.
One thing you will notice about Early Mc is it blooms quite early (FG2) and that early bloom ends before it gets warm enough for FB… but on the limb tips.. new growth.. you will get some extended blooming.
If you do get FB on Early Mc.. it will most likely be on those extended blooming limb tips.
If you like the flavor profile of Russets, then get a couple. Definitely get Ashmead’s Kernel and Roxbury Russett
Grimes Golden has good (not great flavor)…but is self fertile and is an excellent pollenizer.
I have one and it really helps with the surround Cox varieties that I grow.
Pears: Warren should be your 1st choice…excellent flavor…since Comice is a parent.
I found Seckle to be mediocre and can become mealy.
According to 39th Parallel, the Roxbury Russet has little resistance to blight. The Piedmont of NC is land of fire blight. I’ve lived in NC most of life and have been growing apple trees for 30 years. You cannot afford to grow wobbly apples if you have a day job.
Nearly all blight I see in NC starts at the blossom. Fireblight is like an STD. If you have an infected blight bomb tree in the orchard, it will infect the rest. However, cooler temps suppress blight. Even if you have a highly resistant tree like an Ark Black, if the blossom is infected, it will not produce fruit. Many neophyte growers think blossom blight damage is frost damage.
A Starkspur Golden D is too blight prone to grow in central NC. Everything you plant should be more fireblight resistant than the SP GD by a wide margin. I’m at the point where I don’t want to plant any tree bred with a Golden D.
Coddling moth is your second most troubling issue. Ark Blacks are coddling moth magnets. Winesaps attract them as well. Spraying pesticide such as Carbaryl every two weeks does not provide enough protection. Some trees require trap monitoring with very well-timed applications.
It’s not advisable to plant sweet apples that ripen late July-late August, especially if they’re red. The birds, hornets, yellow jackets will eat them. If you do, get a dwarf tree and cover it with netting or bag the fruit.
Do you have any experience growing these apples in the Southeast? I wonder if the flavor is as good in hot humid climates as it might be further north.