Apple Tasting Results- Aug 29, 2017

General Fruit Growing
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I had my parents over tonight and we had an apple tasting for desert. My father is retired and has more time (and fewer trees), so he thins and bags them and as a result they are much larger than mine. He also installed an electric fence and was using cups of ammonia (refreshed nightly) to keep the animals away. 3 of the biggest apples (the bottom row in the pic) are from him.

Sansa (13-14 brix)- Very sweet, crisp and juicy, with bright white flesh and a bit of rustteting. Favorite of my older daughter and father and probably my 2nd favorite. And this is even without thinning them any, so the tree was overburdened with small apples. I should probably graft another tree of it, as they seem to be good over a decently long period, as they were sweet, even 2 weeks ago. People at work really liked this one ~1.5 weeks ago. (B9 from Grandpa’s Orchard in fall 2012, by me. Medium-small size tree, heavy crop load)

Honecrisp (12-15 brix)- Bigger range than most apples. The sweet parts were sweet/tangy, with other parts more tangy/acid. Lots of juice, with typical Honeycrisp texture and crunch. I give this one the nod as my favorite and the kids liked it a lot, with it being above average for my dad and not to my mom’s tastes. Honeycrisp trees don’t get that big anyway and I made the mistake of planting mine on M27 rootstock, so it is very small, even after 6 years. There were about 8-10 apples on the tree, but animals ate a lot off early, so there were only 3 when I picked it today. (M27 from Raintree in 2012 by me, tiny tree)

Initial (12-12.5 brix) - Reactions ranged from “not bad” to “excellent”. It had a mildly sweet flavor, and was fairly crisp. I put it more in the “not bad” area, but it was my father’s 2nd favorite and the top apple for my mom. My oldest daughter didn’t like it much. (M7 from Cummins in 2011, by dad. Large tree).

Priscilla (11-12.5)- A very interesting flavor. “It doesn’t taste like apple, but I like it…” I think it is supposed to have a hint of anise, but I don’t detect any licorice flavor. It is crunchy, firm, and mildly juicy. Full, but not overpowering flavor. (B9 from Cummins in 2011, by me. Med-lg tree, with med-heavy load)

William’s Pride (11-12.5 brix)- My father picked this around 8/10 and kept it in the fridge for 2.5 weeks (other apples were all picked within a couple days of the tasting). I think WP is near the end of it’s storage, as it was getting softer and lost a bit of crunch. Still a good flavor and it does have a decently long season. The last of my WP are ripe now and getting destroyed by the wasps. (G11/MM111 interstem from Cummins in 2011, by dad)

Red Boskoop (14.5-16 brix)- These started dropping about a week ago, even though Raintree says that they ripen in late October. I recall a lot dropping early in past years, but I think this is the first time that a decent number are still hanging on. Edit- Maybe more have stuck until now because it has been a bit wetter this year and M27 needs more irrigation than I give it. Even though they have the highest brix (surprising, given how overloaded the tree is), they are still very sharp. I liked them better than Freedom, but I think they will be much better after a few weeks or a month of storage. My mom speculated that this would be a great pie apple. (M27 from Raintree, planted 2011 by me, medium tree (very large for a M27), heavy crop)

Freedom (10.5-11 brix)- Edible, but not that impressive. Not a ton of sugar, but the flavor wasn’t actually bad. Large celled (and just plain large) apple which reminds me of Mac or Cortland. I’m not really a fan of this type of apple, so this was the lowest ranking for me. There is still green on the skin, but my father said that when he waited for the green to turn yellow, they got soft. (G11 from Cummins in 2011, by dad)

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It is always interesting to see taste comparisons. Thanks for posting. Bill

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Thanks for the report, Bob!

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Thank you, Bob. Always enjoy reading fruit tasting reports.

You’ve helped putting Sensa on my radar.

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Another tasting, this time at work…

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Yellow/green seedling from Clark (13-14 brix)- Mild/sweet, juicy, with large cell size. Crisp, but not real crunchy. Got some good comments.

Clustering crab seedling from Clark (14 brix)- Crunchy, sweet with a hint of sharp. Pretty good. Very small though. From Clark’s pictures, I think this one could get bigger. I also may have picked a bit early, as he waits almost until the frost.

Colby Baldwin (13 brix)- Juicy, crunchy with a full sweet/tart flavor. I like Baldwins and this one was probably my favorite from these first 5. Some at work thought it was too tart.

Ruby Red (12.5-13.5 brix)- I find it a bit tart, but not bad. Everyone else (people at work, kids, wife, etc) makes a face and thinks it is too sour. Good crunch and texture. It was kind of funny to see people look at it and ask what it was. I think this one could be a good one to breed with Goldrush or a sweet russet.

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Victoria Limbertwig (13.5-15 brix)- A different flavor, but I’m not sure how to describe it. The texture is different too- dense and very fine (small cell). I found it OK, but not outstanding. Another co-worker really liked this one.

Egremont Russet (16-18 brix)- Universally liked. Several people exclaimed that it was a pear.

Albion- The only one I didn’t get a chance to taste myself. Described by a co-worker as “crunchy, a bit tart, but I like it”. I think there is another 1-2 on the graft, so I should get a chance to try it myself. The wood was sent from Chikn and described as “unknown variety, from a park in central Ia. called it for the city”.

Carnival peach (14-17 brix)- This one shouldn’t really be ready for another 3 weeks, but the recent rains cracked it so I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet it is (with a decent dose of tart). It was dense and crunchy- not very much like the other peaches I’ve been having recently, which have been juicy, soft and lower brix. I prefer this one, but a co-worker remarked that they far preferred the other ones I’ve brought in recently. This one is more like a peach trying to be an apple :slight_smile:

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@BobVance: Hi Bob- any chance you have a photo to share of your dad’s electric fence? Am in the middle of planning my own here for squirrel, raccoon. Steve

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Thank you, Bob.

I have to check if I grafted Egremont Russet this past spring, if not, I will be on my wish list.

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I love this! I wish I had any friends that were into apple tastings/comparisons. To do it at work is doubly amazing!

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Sure- he said he’d send me a pic tomorrow.

One downside to it is skin problems. It’s been worse in the past, but I still have both rot and bitter pit issues with it. But it is a tasty, high-brix apple when it goes right. But you may need to peel a lot of them…

I’ll add some pics of it- both good and bad.

The quantity of feedback I get at work is much less than when I have samplings at home. But, I suppose it gives me a better picture how “normal” people view fruit. At the very least, it lets me sample 5-6 kinds in one sitting without having to eat 5-6 whole pieces.

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Hambone, here is the link to some pictures of my electric fence I put up last year. It was a lot of work installing but glad I did. It does a good job of keeping out the squirrels, racoons and possums which was the goal.

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Thanks Chris. Say a squirrel jumps on to the fence at a height of 3 feet- how does the squirrel get grounded for the charge to work?

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Bob,
I went out to check apple grafts. Yes, I have Egremont Russet grafted this year. Thanks for the warning about its issue.

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Steve, they have been getting fried by my top wire. My charger is connected to 5 - 10’ ground rods. I’m a novice as far as electrical stuff but followed the charger instructions and somehow the electricity completes the loop and works even though the squirrel is not on the ground.
I have been accidentally zapped a few times touching nothing but the wire with rubber sole shoes on. Maybe someone else can explain it better.

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He took some pics today and wrote the following:

The top wire (18 gauge galvanized) is located on insulating poles separate from the metal fence and pulses with 22,000 volts (it’s attached to the positive terminal of the control box). The fence is attached to the negative (ground) terminal of the control box and also connects to two bare metal rods hammered into the ground. The animal climbs the grounded fence and is fine until it touches the top wire! The fence is held up by zip ties to 4 foot metal stakes hammered 1 foot into the ground. I used single strands from copper Romex wires I had laying around to make my connections to the control box which was bought at Tractor Supply for around 30 dollars. I also used some of the Romex wire to try to keep the insulating poles a set distance away from the fence. The weight of a large animal may cause the fence to move back and forth so the fence should be well supported by the metal stakes and the live wire should be slightly above the fence so that they don’t short circuit if the fence moves a little bit.

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I think I see some bagged Goldrush in at least one of the above pictures.

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Thanks a lot Bob. For squirrels guess I’d just lower that top hot wire a bit.

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Yup- I asked him about it and he responded as follows. I also asked if the water container had ammonia in it, as I know he was experimenting with it as a deterrent.

The water you see is water. The ammonia doesn’t last long enough to be a deterrent for more than a few hours. I’m primarily interested in keeping out the raccoons. Our cat worries the squirrels enough during the day so they aren’t a problem. If the squirrels become a problem, then the fence would have to be modified. I would try to reduce the distance between the live wire and the fence. Also, I might try some sort of insulators to keep that distance fixed. Another thought is to put another live wire next to the first one.

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Thanks

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Thanks for your posts Bob. I love, love love reading them.