My Brushy Mountain Limbertwig finally produced some edible apples this year. 
Just picked the last of them yesterday. they are still a hard, dense apple but with a nice sweetness. I’ll store the rest to see how they taste later. IMG_5271|690x517
7 Likes
A couple of kentucky LT on a frankengraft. Not entirely crisp. Kind of crisp but a bit of spongy. Maybe that’s called dense? Nicely sweet. I liked them.
4 Likes
I actually had a good limbertwig year and was able to sample around 30 varieties and graft some very rare varieties that hopefully turn out to actually be limbertwigs. I really hope they are because they were not cheap as far as scions go. Kentucky for me was the only one that did not suffer from the sooty blotch and apple maggot hits like all of the others. The squirrels and the maggots forced me again to clear my trees early . Here is what I was able to get pics of on one of the only days I was able to find time.
16 Likes
Very nice!
Excellent report, Dale. Hope to be able to taste most of those varieties in a year or two.
My Red Royal had a small crop this year. I thought they were excellent. Enjoyed them so much I bought bought a Myers Royal LT tree from century farms. I’m hoping to get more. Folks say they have a “classic Limbertwig taste”. Not sure exactly what that is but I think I like it.
2 Likes
Taste report! Taste report!! 
All I had was a few KY LT. I have decided it is a Fuji-like apple, mild and honeyed. Note this is vs “a real Fuji”, not the Fuji picked a month too early that you will find in the grocery store which is usually a garbage apple. It is indeed bulletproof, very impressive in that regard.
I did have some Brushy Mountain ripening up nicely but they were a little low and the deer got 'em all.
3 Likes
I grafted quite a few Limbertwig varieties over the past few years. The first and only one to fruit this year was Red Limbertwig. I picked it in early November due to 20 degree temperatures expected. Pretty sure it could have hung longer. It cruised through 23 degrees without damage. I let it sit inside in a cool place for about 2 weeks then ate the best one. I only had 5 fruit and only 2 made it until November. On the very small side in terms of size. No rots and not a ton of insect damage, but most fruits were pecked by birds. Extremely hard dense flesh. Very very sweet, reminded me of chewing on a stalk of sorghum or sugar cane. A little bit of acidity and a green grassy flavor, with a hint of astringency at the end. Not very juicy, thick chewy peel. There is a slight but noticeable weeping tendency to the branches. I’m looking forward to hopefully tasting more Limbertwigs next year.
7 Likes
Thanks for all of these excellent Limbertwig pictures. The scale is very helpful. Well done!
2 Likes
Excellent photos and information. Great looking LT apples. I look forward to trying some out.
I grafted several limbertwigs years ago, but regrettably, I lost the tags on the tree. It often isn’t a big deal, if I graft 2-3 types on a tree and lose the tags, as I have detailed notes about what was grafted where (height, compass direction, angle from horizontal). But, on this tree, I put a ton of grafts on (36 grafts, 20 varieties per the spreadsheet), and it is made a bit tougher given that the branches bent a bit, making height and compass measurements less accurate (and they were generally only estimates originally- “looks about a foot over my head, so it is 7 foot”, etc).
There is one part of the tree where I put a bunch of limbertwigs (fairly high up, 6-8’, in the South, so they could bend down):
Brushy Mountain LT
Kentucky LT
Meyers Royal LT
Black LT
There are also 2 others in this area:
Democrat
Hauer Pippin
Ark Charm
If I was to guess, I think the apple in the upper left is either Brushy Mountain LT or Black LT (Democrat is an outside possibility, but I think is further East on the tree, based on the notes). This is the one I’d most like to figure out, as it was highest brix and very tasty.
I would guess the bottom apple is either Meyers Royal LT or Hauer Pippin.
The soft one from the upper right is probably Ark Charm, an early apple. At least I hope it isn’t one of the late season limbertwigs, given how soft they all were.
Here are a few more pics of another example of the high-brix one from the upper left. This one actually had even higher brix at 19-24.
I cleaned some of the sooty blotch off this one. This pic shows the lighter part of the apple. The other half is all dark.
On the tree (taken from South, so the apples look all red, but the undersides are lighter):
4 Likes
Actually I did find a source who is in the apple business on a few different levels and his grandfather who had an orchard with many limbertwigs was friends with some of the more well known apple people of that time. He is also very familiar with many old orchard owners in the limbertwig region. Only time will tell if they are truly limbertwigs.
@scottfsmith , I really wish I had the talent others on here have for describing the flavors and textures of fruit but I do not, what I can say though is I am not thinking of getting rid of any just yet. I think next year I will record audio or a video/audio as I am sampling.
5 Likes
Great looking Limbertwig apples.
1 Like
I had my first little harvest of a Black Limbertwig that I put in 4-5 years ago. It is a dwarf tree that I purchased from a nursery in Tennesse. The apples dod not look good, dark red with black soot markings. I made a batch of Applesauce with them. It was amazing!! WOW the apples held up to the cooking and the flavor was tart and sweet. I can not wait to make more next year.
3 Likes
Glad it was worth the wait. Isn’t that one of the best feelings, finally getting fruit from a tree that you have been waiting so long to actually taste one for the first time?
3 Likes
I wonder if there’s any chance that seedling and rose Limbertwig are the same variety? They look identical (pictures above) as far as shape, size, and outside appearance. Calhoun lists rose as a seedling of red Limbertwig. Things that make you go hmmmmm.
1 Like