So I’m looking to perhaps add another Apple Tree to the two I already have. I’m in North Florida and I’m wondering what Apple Tree types people have had success with. Currently I have an Anna Apple which has done great, and a locally cloned tree the Nursery I got it from called an Elsa Sweet. Both have been solid and easy to grow.
But this year my peaches, nectorines, and apples got stung by several late late freezes in February after a warm January had them all in full bloom. Needless to say between bloom loss and untimely rain it appears this year’s harvest will be small.
Has anyone grown the Gala or Fugi in Florida. Our local Tractor Supply has both along with some other peaches that I think are probably more appropriate for Georgia than North Florida. Anyone have any luck with Fugi or Gala? We get about 400 chill hours where I live pretty reliably though it can come at strange times. Last year we hit 500. But usually it is around 400 chill hours between 32 and 45.
Shockley, Ben Davis, Tropic Sweet, J.W.Day and Shell are documented in North Florida. There are many more though that will be hit and miss. Baldwin does great just across the border. There is an army of Alabama, Georgia, South/North Carolina apples that flourish on the coast. Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas too.
Beverly Hills, Gordon and Pettingil from the west coast too. Gordon is an ok Cooker.
We have Fuji and Gala here. But we get like 650-750 chill hours here. Hudson Golden Gem does well here.
Thinking about pulling Anna and Dorsett Golden here. The bloom is constantly messed up and they rarely fruit right.
It is in fruit ban until 2027 as it is on P.2 and I want it to get full height. It sets them though.
I have found fruit quality and flavor is not and issue if I use foliage spray fertilization. I gave up trying to do it totally by soil. Sandy loam is not going to hold it long anyway.
Try some organic recipes online. 2-3 days and you will find the leaves really suck in the spray off the leaves.
Yea I can understand that. Put your time into something that is more reliable. The first year or two I wasn’t a fan of the Anna. But with age the sugar content improved. I leave them on as long as I can before things like bugs and rot get to them. When I let them hang long they are real good and have that classic apple taste. I guess what I like about the Anna is that it is also a great pie apple. It has enough tart to really make the pie taste like an apple pie should taste like. The Anna definitely works in Florida. But yea my other apple tree got it’s blossoms killed by two late freezes. So My Anna might not get cross pollinated very well this year. I might still get a good set we will see. The other apple tree I have tends to have a long bloom time. But in previous years both tree would be smothered with blossoms.
So I’m looking for maybe a third apple tree to help with pollination.
Yes you see a lot of folks go sour on Anna and somewhat on Dorsett Golden here in South Georgia. Like U of F suspects; many sold here are of crappy or suspect lineage. Many that are widely sold by a nursery in Alma Georgia.