Thanks Scott. This is the point I was planning to make while skimming down this thread. There must be more sports of Red Delicious than any other apple. There are likely sports of sports of sports that are successively selected for the qualities that guarantee that the folks here won’t like them.
I’ve had Red Delicious (30+ years ago) that are better than most commercially available apples around here.
Americans are extremely visual consumers and RD is truly a beautiful apple. When I was a youngster in CA I liked them well enough until I tasted my first Newtown Pippin from near Santa Cruz.
Had ten friends over last night for apple and cider tasting. Newton Pippin and King David tied for favorite apple and the single varietal Newton Pippin cider from Foggy Ridge called “Handmade Cider” won the cider poll.
I need a King David scion.
King David is one that I’d like to try as well. Have many people tried it in the south or southeast?
Recently there was a discussion of its fireblight susceptibility - King David Apple and Fireblight: Beware . For me the combo of fireblight and lack of fruiting for many years has made me a non-fan. I do hope to finally get fruit this coming year as it did have a few blossoms this last spring.
Thanks @scottfsmith, that’s too bad. I lost a small multigraft apple this year to fireblight and lost quite a few varieties that I had grafted on it over the last two years. I might need to reconsider KD or at least prioritize others. Some of the ones you list above (like Rubinette, Hoople’s Antique Gold, and Ginger Gold) sound great and worth grafting for me next spring.
You, m’lady, have Margil, Edelborsdorfer and CPP! Excellent! I think trying a close cousin to CPP, Court Pendu Rose, is worth trying. Derek Mills in Ohio reports it possesses a floral nose. Margil is something so few ever mention and I wonder if we can work up a fruit swap in a few years. Edelborsdorfer, well, we have already corresponded about that. Nice selection.
I bought some russet apples(tagged as russet, no variety name). Did googling to try to figure out what variety. It’s kind of like razor russet or hoopoes antique gold. The apple is big. Flavour is stronger than GD. Flesh is coarse.
Scott, any clue on razor or hooples?
Thanks
It looks like Razor to me, Razor can have little bumps on the surface and I think I see some. Hooples is more smooth. Also Razor has more coarse flesh than Hooples. It does look like one of those two for sure.
Thanks. I am relieved！It’s not hooples! flavour and texture don’t meet my expectation for this apple. I have planted 2 hooples last year based on reviews. Hope hooples wouldn’t disappoint me.
I wouldn’t judge any variety on one batch of apples, especially if I didn’t know the growing conditions.
No I do not but have read about it.
I went through some of my varieties ending at Coe’s Golden Drop the last time here are a few more observations.
Cornish Aromatic (Cornwall 1500) - Medium size fruit, late season. Excellent HQ dessert variety. Dull scarlet, netted pattern on skin, russetted, very crisp and aromatic. Would keep until about March but we eat all of them. Light but regular cropper so that is a drawback but once they bore for the first time last year I grafted more trees of this variety this year.
Court of Wick (England late 1700’s) - Medium size fruit that ripens late. Crisp with rich, sweet, yellow flesh. The ripe apples have a complex acid drop flavor. The skin is splashed red, with gold russetting. Thought to be a Golden Pippin seedling. Acid drop flavor is one of my favorite attributes in an apple.
Devonshire Quarrenden (Normandy 1678) - One of our best early apples, with medium fruit of stunning deep red. Fruit has a strawberry flavor and are sweet, juicy and crisp.
Discovery (England 1949) - One of my favorites. Early dessert variety that is medium sized with bright red flush. Great tasting flavor, red fleshed, and stays crisp longer than most early apples.
Esopus Spitzenberg (New York mid 1700’s) - Not so unusual but a great tasting variety. Medium size fruit ripens mid season. Mottled orange red skin with excellent flavor. Always a top rated variety in our apple tastings.One of the favorites of president #3.
Etter’s Gold (California) - An Albert Etter variety, one of my favorites of his many named seedlings. I always take this variety to grafting classes I teach. Fruit is round, large, and golden yellow. Ripens over a long period and the trees are exceptionally heavy bearers.
Golden Harvey (England 1600) - Also called the Brandy Apple, as it makes very strong cider due to the high specific gravity of the juice. Fruit is small and uniformly golden, and has an intense sweet flavor when ripe in late October.
Hen’s Turds (England) - a bittersharp cider variety. What a bizarre but cool name for a cider variety. Haven’t had enough fruit from this variety yet to make into cider but they are bittersharp like Foxwhelp and Kingston Black.
I always liked the name Ashmead’s Kernel, but Hen’s Turds is the first variety I’ve ever heard of that would be worth growing just for the name.
I agree w/ alan…how productive, disease resistant, etc. would a nice hens turd be?
That’s up there with “Slack Ma Girdle.” Old English cider apple.
I googled hens turds and found an article on rare english fruit that also mentioned “shit smock” plums…even better.
Since you brought it up, how about Goose’s Arse, a rare Welsh apple. As an added bonus, the website actually has a photo that shows how it does look like its namesake 
