That would be terrific! I’ll send it my haves later in the year and perhaps I can offer something you would like.
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Very nice apple, we’ve already eaten the few harvested and wouldn’t mind having more. These descriptions are spot on:
https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/vab.html
I’d perhaps add “nutty” to how they describe the taste. It’s also possibly the best tree I have as far as natural branch angles.
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Have you grafted Centennial? It’s not an easy grafter, I’m still trying to get one last tree on M.111 to fill out a row.
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i planted 4 crabs last spring. one maybe centennial.
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Got mine from Century farms! It was a good apple but not the best in the orchard. A fair bit smaller than my other apples. Some still hanging and I’m slowly taking them off. I like the little pool of russet on the top. I don’t necessarily taste the nutty, but I’m not good at picking out the flavors in most apples. It is a pretty tree on MM111.
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Apples brought in this morning. Left to right
Summer Banana, Virginia Beauty, Arkansas Black in front, Golden Delicious, Key in front, Old Fashioned LT, Red Delicious, and Johnson’s Keeper in front. Would have had an Ambrosia but the little bugger clawed it out of the organza bag. I was one day too late!
Regarding the Key apple, a fellow grafter shared the scion and as I recall proclaimed it “Key” for the family that lived next door.
Took off an Arkansas Black early and boy are they sizing up and a month left to go.
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I just planted one of the Crunch a Bunch trees today. I look forward to trying those apples in a few years. I took out a tree that had not produced hardly any apples. I have had it in the ground since 2014.
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My Honey Crisp on an unknown rootstock produced 2 apples in year 6. Nothing in year 7 and produced a good crop in year 8. And, it has been mostly biennial.
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I am getting rid of my two Honeycrisp apple trees next spring. They have produced very few apples, maybe 6-8 a year if that. They have been in the ground since 2013. I wasted too much time with them. I should have pulled them out a few years ago.
I am taking out about 6 trees next spring because of that reason. No fruit and they have been in the ground about 10 years. That is enough time for them to produce or be replaced.
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You might be taking them out just as they are ready to set a good crop. Why not graft some other varieties into it and leave some branches of the original tree?
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I thought about that but I am pretty much done with them. Just an irritation just looking at them.
If they haven’t produced a good crop by now I feel they probably will not. I keep saying that every year, " probably next year they will produce a good crop".
I appreciate the suggestion though. I may change my mind about grafting something different on it by spring time next year. Honeycrip has THE worst leaves and sick looking leaves of any apple tree I have ever seen. I have done everything to try to get them not to look like they are mineral deficient. I looked up the problem and there is nothing that can be done about the leaves. It is just something intrinsic with that variety.
"The odd leaf symptoms you are seeing are a characteristic of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple and occurs wherever it is grown. The blotchy yellow areas on the leaves and interveinal chlorosis are quite similar to a nutrient disorder or a virus disease problem.
It has been suggested that the symptoms are the result of excess starch accumulation in the leaves. However, it is not known what causes these symptoms or whether it is detrimental to the tree. The leaf symptoms occur early in the growing season and often worsen as the shoots grow. By leaf fall, leaves of ‘Honeycrisp’ are often visibly more brown than other apple cultivars. The symptoms often are more noticeable on trees with light crops or on less vigorous trees. Whatever the cause, they are commonly seen on this cultivar and do not appear to affect growth or yield."
Courtesy of the "Statesman Journal "and well as other sites I have looked at have said the same thing.
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I’ve got a decent crop of them this year and they are big and juicy, good quality. They Have lost the starchiness, and are tart, not a lot of sugar. My daughter likes them. And I like eating them too, but would like them much better with more sugar. I’m hopign they’ll still get sweeter. mine don’t have any blush yet, but also low on the North side of the tree.
Way better than the Honeycrisp on the same tree.
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@MikeC
I really like @northwoodswis4 ’s idea. Grafting on existing trees, save you years .
I know what you talk about re. Honey Crisp. I have a 14 ft tree for about 10 years now. I am not at all bothered by its “yellowing” leaves since it is a disorder, not a disease.
Two things led to my grafting HC over to a multi grafted trees are
- a strong tendency to go biennial
- when it rains a lot at ripening time, fruit become tasteless. I threw away all HC one year because it tasted like crunchy sponge. This year is very light year (call it biennial). A few fruit it set taste like I described.
We tend to have rain in the summer and the fall.
Granted, when it’s good, HC is really good. For me, the high quality of HC for my area is inconsistent due to factors beyond my control.
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Hello,
I am brand-new to this forum and am not sure about where to post my questions.
You mentioned grafting on existing trees and that’s on my mind now. I finally have a property where I can grow fruit trees. It’s in SE corner of VT zone 5b I believe. The area for orchard is about 1800 sqft and has 2 mature pear trees that bore delicious fruit this year and one 10’x13’ unidentified fruit tree that’s been grafted but no sign of fruit. The area is about 30’x60’ and is SW of the house with lot’s of sun after 11am.
I love stone fruit and would like to add plums and apricot. My inclination is to add 3 semi-draft of semi-standard trees rather more dwarfs. The idea of having larger trees with stronger root system and more spreading habit appeals to me. I would give them good spacing for air circulation, light and nutrition access. And, if I wanted more varieties later on, multi-grafting them would be the way to go.
I don’t have first-hand experience growing in this part of the country so my knowledge is from reading and research only. My choice for the 3 trees would be: Mount Royal Euro plum, Chinese Sweet Pit apricot, and 4-in-1 Mirabelle plum from Raintree. I would be grateful for any feedback re. suitability of these varieties for the climate.
There is also an area with good sunlight where I could plant an apple tree. I am eyeing a Hudson’s Golden Gem on Bud 118 from Fedco, but intimidated by what I read about how long it takes for the tree to start bearing. This rootstock seems to be less problematic than M111 but still it’s a large size tree. It is possible for a complete novice to properly care for it and to shepherd it into adulthood? The payout would be delicious russet apples which I love, opportunity to graft other varieties on existing tree for cross-pollination and diversification. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts here.
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How were they? I’ve been tasting mine, but think they might need a little longer on the tree.
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Hi There,
On the top left corner, you will notice a pink square indicating that this category is Pictures. The category you want to post your question is called General Fruit Growing.
To get there, look to the right corner of the page, you will see a three short line symbol. That is for a lot of info including categories.
Click on the 3 line symbol
A lot of listing will show up
Click on Categories
Click on General Fruit Growing.
Once you get to the correct category, you can create a new thread using a plus sign on the top right corner of the page or you can check the thread that is relevant to your question and post your question there.
Good luck
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It is supposed to be a late apple but squirrels and wind caused all but one to dropped. I don’t know how long the last one will hang on to the tree.
Most of my apples taste diluted. I ate one russeted apple today, it was very good (for a change). Unfortunately I could not remember what variety it was.
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