I have 20-something of the red fleshed, most haven’t fruited yet. A couple of them you’re lucky to get a piece of scionwood as thick as the middle part between the ends of a Q-tip!
I am hoping the Odysso will be as delicious as advertised…fruited in 2019 but varmints stole the fruit (thinking they were cherries I guess as the skin looked like a ripe cherry at about 3 weeks after fruit set and size of marbles). Freezes got everything in 2020.
Pink Parfait is the only Etter apple I currently have (Rubaiyat and Grenadine died before they reached bearing age).
I’ve heard no reports from the east that any of the Etter apples are any good!
All the positive comments I’ve heard have been from out West.
A lot of Etter’s apples need a long growing season. That is difficult to ripen them properly in cold zones like my zone 6 and lower.
I am encouraged by how good Pink Parfait tasted in it first year fruiting and how much improved Rubaiyat had in its 2nd year. I have Pink Pearl and Muscat de Venus somewhere on my multi-grafted trees.
Hope they will fruit next year.
I would love to try Katharine but no hope to ripen it here.
This past fall, all my heirloom apples from about 8-10 varieties got picked and eaten by these spawn of Satan. The neighbor got this pic for me as she was walking by and saw the thief.
The orchard is fenced. Would electrifying it keep them out?
I’m not sure why the squirrels left my fruit alone. I installed the one wire a few weeks ahead of the time fruit starts to be tempting. This gave the raccoons and opossums a chance to get stung a few times before it was needed. My opinion is that after the early stings the fruit wasn’t worth the risk to go after it when it ripened. I only used one wire around the perimeter and made sure there wasn’t any places for them to crawl over or under the wire. Raccoons and opossums don’t jump well so they had to touch the wire while passing through. The one strand of wire was 5-7" from the soil level and the charger was set up on a timer to be on during the dark hours. The wire needs a quick weed eating under it about once a week.
@SMC_zone6,
When you tried Victoria LT, was the texture firm or tender? I am not sure whether or not its texture changed after several weeks in storage.
I’ve got a scion of Pink Pearl coming. And I was planning on Rubaiyat and Grenadine until they died on me. But, I’ve got near 30 other red fleshed, so don’t know that I want to get all the Etter apples even if they did do well in the East. Pink Parfait should be good if it ever crops…but more pink than red.
I’m pretty sure they do better in California…the Etter apples I mean. Many of them need a long growing season. I’ve never tried an apple so far that won’t ripen here in KY though of any sort.
@SMC_zone6
Saw your review of Vic LT on another thread. You said it was crunchy and dense-fleshed. Definitely, it was not like that today. It lost its crunchiness and became tender (I would not call it soft). Tasted moderately sweet and pleasant.
Next year, if they fruit again, I will eat it sooner as I prefer crunchy texture.
For me, after 2 months in storage, it was neither crunchy nor dense. So, it should be eaten soon after picking for someone like me who likes crunchy texture.
True, grown anywhere other than the Far West, where dry conditions and 30° daily temperature swings predominate, Twenty Ounce is probably quite tart. My observation, in eating about a dozen of them (first encounter) last September/October, was the intensity of the apple flavor & lack of accompanying subtones or overtones.
I didn’t bake any of them this time around. They were that good fresh. Again, they were grown 50 miles NW of Spokane, WA. Next fall in pies, tarts and slow-baked whole, I hope!
Took out an Orin. No crack. Texture was still fairly firm but skin got tough. Once I peeled skin off, it was good. Sweet and still quite firm but the aroma was not pronounced. Probably would have been better if eaten a few weeks earlier.
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