Hmmm. Sounds like Smitty’s was a great discovery, and you were wise to have preserved it. And it also sounds like something I might like to try growing here in Montana, where apple growing is known to be “tough,” and where my Zone 4b location is more likely Zone 3 in reality. Perhaps you might sell me a few scions next year when you do your pruning?
2 Likes
I won’t sell you any, but I will happily give you some.
7 Likes
I don’t think there has been an obituary for Roger Way posted here. He died last year at age 100.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/06/empire-apple-breeder-roger-way-dies-100
9 Likes
Actually my benchgrafts onto B9 seem to get the best jump.
But, so far, I’m OK with the B118.
M111 just takes too long. … and probably not hardy in your area.
If I find I can get out of staking B9 or B10 or G202…I’ll do more for sure.
1 Like
Anyone tried Reinette Zabergau? What’s it like? I was intrigued by the description on Cummins website, which called it “intensely flavored”.
3 Likes
Our Zabergau tree is sporting blossoms for the first time this year, so we may find out this year.
A description that intrigued me about the apple came from dmays posted back in 2015.
Side note: I like calling it Zabergau Reinette, just so my list of the apples we grow can go from A to Z.
9 Likes
I think my iittle guy died last winter…so no ZZZZZZZZZZ’s in my list I guess.
But I have plenty of AAAAAA’s.
2 Likes
And who needs the “von” in von Zuccalmaglio’s Reinette?
But does anyone in this group grow it?
2 Likes
I got Zabergau scionwood from @BobVance last year. The graft took. It is flowering right now.
@BobVance may have this variety fruited by now.
1 Like
The lists of apple varieties that you propose are interesting , but there are still countless varieties that we have here in Europe ( the list can be endless , especially with high - quality and disease - resistant varieties ) .
Lately I’m very busy with work and I don’t have time to participate in the forum, but I’ll try to take some time and prepare an extensive list of the varieties that we handle here in Europe (many of them available in the United States).
Best regards
Jose
10 Likes
Interesting to find in Tom Vorbeck’s list Ashmead’s Kernel is frost tender. That was my conclusion with its stingy bearing, (besides great lengths of blind wood and tardy bearing) which experience nudged me to try grafting. So I guess I can thank AK for making a few little homely apples with loads of taste to sample & seek a better option.
That said, Rosemary Russet will bloom any day now from its first two spurs - six blooms each - & might offer two samples from a much more amenable tree. Lovely shade of pink to its first flower, BTW, & reputed to be frost tolerant.
Living in High Desert on sandy soil and south facing slope, I find some apples produce untold riches while others just can’t hack the challenges.
And speaking of growing in the High & Dry, thank you again, Neil, for recommending Orléans Reinette. My graftling on Bud118 is slow growing - same pace as Lamb Abbey Pearmain - and I hope will prove every bit as worthy of patience here as in Reno, NV.
My experience and growing conditions make for a short list so far. What I tend without sprays & recommend:
GoldRush
Redfield
Lamb Abbey Pearmain
Hunt Russet (drier than elsewhere grown, but concentrated flavors)
Claygate Pearmain
Twenty Ounce
Grown commercially by others nearby (with sprays):
Empire
Granny Smith
Newtown Pippin
Winesap (old Virginia)
Twice I drove across WA to an orchard on the bank of the Columbia River to savor Lady. After Christmas, Lady was wonderful, with almond overtones. I do not know if it would succeed where my conditions lack even the micro-climate of higher humidity within feet of the River.
What didn’t play well here?
Ashmead’s Kernel
COP/Queen Cox/M26 (fruit looked OK but tasted BAD; tree shriveled/croaked at 90°f & 13% humidity)
D’Arcy Spice/Bud118 - fruit dropped in above conditions, every year
Liberty on too small a stock (EMLA26) to maintain tree and crop, huge favorite of codling moth
Wynoochee Early refuses to grow in summer, fruit flavors evaporate on tree
Lord Lambourne needs vigorous stock, rich soil and north facing slope to succeed out this way
Howgate Wonder needs no less than Bud118 stock to tackle extremes of winter & summer (one in a higher, slightly cooler situation might actually produce a decent crop - in another couple years)
Honeycrisp - I wouldn’t foist on my worst enemy
6 Likes
Sounds interesting.
1 Like
I think it tends to be a low bearing tree everywhere. I think that’s why it’s not grown commercially, not just because it’s small and ugly.
2 Likes
I planted it in 2014, but the tree is still pretty small. Both it (on P2 rootstock) and the tree next to it (Milo Gibson on B9) are only 4-5’ tall. But, I got a handful of apples from each last year. I didn’t pay too much attention, as I was pretty focused on jujube at that point, but remember that Zabergau was pretty large and I think it was reasonably good. I can try to get a pic this year.
3 Likes
Not only is Ashmead’s frost tender, but triploid, a fact little discussed. Had I known, it would not have been in my rooky purchase. This is why Rosemary Russet compels such anticipation for me, so many years later.
1 Like
Take a little look at this apple nursery (Dalival gets its own clones and mutations).
Best regards
Jose
4 Likes
Good to see you again! 
Yes great info on this site…
1 Like
Hey Luis, I’m very busy with my work, and that’s why I don’t have time to participate in the forum, and on Thursday I have to go to the Urologist, since I have acute prostatitis.
The years weigh heavily and we are no longer children.
Luis, have you ever heard of an apple farm called “Finca La Rasa NUFRI”?
It is the largest apple plantation on a farm in Europe, and I think in the world, it is in the small town of Burgo de Osma in the province of Soria.
Well, my friend Raul has his poultry company very close to this farm and he is friends with the NUFRI technicians, so we can graft all the new varieties that are introduced year after year in his field of experimentation.
Although I have a very large fruit orchard, it is totally impossible for me to graft all the new apple varieties that come onto the market year after year (innovation in apples is crazy).
Only in the Kissabel variety there are 10 mutations ( with different assigned numbers ) , in different reddish tones of the flesh , and different harvest dates .
10 mutations of a single variety “it’s crazy”
Best regards
Jose
6 Likes
I sent a PM
1 Like
What is the downside of it being triploid, unless you are short on pollinators?
(There are a lot of seedling crab apples in my area, so many that i got permission from my backyard neighbor to take scion wood from the prettiest in her yard to graft to a newish seeking in mine. But… Like maybe a dozen i can see out my window, all small and growing along peripheries where lawnmowers didn’t take them out.)
2 Likes