First year with a good crop here and I’m seeing the same. They also look like they are pretty popular with PC.
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Is the Monark any better than the Pristine, Earliblaze, Williams Pride? I like the fact the WP is fairly disease resistant, but those apples are just weird.
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Got a message back from Horne Creek. They did not mean to cause any undue stress. They just appear to have trees that are not what they were identified as. They advised more changes were coming.
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I do not find the disease resistant early apples are cut out for growing in the south. Sort of want to give Co-op-12 a try; but Pristine and Williams Pride did not do well here. And we have plenty of July/ August apples here with the same flavor/texture profile.
So Limbertwigs are vigorous (fast growing). Did not know that.
As far as earlier apples go in my opinion it’s hard to beat Summer Banana and Hunge. Bulletproof and great tasting, Hunge has some acid but SB is like an early Golden Delicious. When I went to Century Farms open house the guy at the table with the apple display said he thought it was one and the same it’s so close in flavor. He wasn’t wrong, but the ripening time is definitely different.
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Not all, just some. I’m not happy at all with my OFLT growth.
Many LTs are LTs in name only, and are not related to either OFLT or Red. They are not the same. I can confirm the Swiss has Red LT DNA. Most don’t realize Winesaps are weepers, but not a twiggy as the OFLT, and it appears some may be more closely related to the Winesap than the Red or OFLT.
The Red, Levering, OFLT, Brushy in particular require a very long growing season. The growing season started a little later in 2025 here in NC and they were not ripe by late Oct. The Brushy in particular needed another month on the tree. I doubt some of these would do well in Washington. California, yes.
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I think that one has to be careful not to extrapolate from a single tree. My Goldrush is a lot more vigorous than my Dixie Red Delight, but that’s likely because it is healthier and in a better spot.
How crunchy/hard is Hunge? It’s on my get list for next year given how much Scott raves about it. Just wondering about texture.
Texture is great. More comparable to modern apples than the old heirlooms. It has a good crispness and not hard. Maybe compare it to Gala or something like that. Definitely not like Arkansas Black. Hunge also has some interesting flavors going on in the background. Almost like a strawberry and cheddar cheese mix. Sounds weird but eating it you don’t mind, it’s actually enjoyable trying to pin down the flavors.
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I have a buddy who grows Hunge near here. In our heat it is very vinous and winey. Pink Lady gets the same way here. For a Strawberry taste I considered getting Gladstone. But that has a keeping time of 30 minutes….lol…At least Hunge lasts a few weeks.
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I climbed an awful, rocky, crumbling poison oak-filled hill on my property to look at a cluster of apple-like trees I found this spring. They were apples!
I think they’re Malas fusca, our local crab. The apples won’t get much bigger, but they will be more yellow and blushed. I have seen dozens of these in roadside ditches. I ate one and it’s too early, but actually edible.
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I’ve haven’t tasted a Summer apple that tastes better than a Summer Banana. That being said, here are a few issues.
Texture is good. Sweet, but sprightlier than a Golden D. Great for pies, fresh eating, sauce.
- The apples tend to be on the small side.
- Larger trees require extensive pruning and thinning due to their dense growth habit and steep branch angles. I’m trying another on a G41. Hope it works well.
- Prone to predation due to being sweet.
- They tend to fall when dead ripe if not before. That being said, they are good even if they’re a little green.
- They don’t keep long at all.
- Good blight resistance. Some black rot and CAR.
- I heard they don’t flavor up well in cooler climates.
- Flowers are white, small, not showy.
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Wonderful information thank you.
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Only thing about Summer Banana is it is not a true Summer apple. September? IMO August is the end of summer apples.
Vernon is wrong. Last week of July into the first week of August.
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Correct. Here in zone 8A, 3rd week of July is about when they reach perfection.
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