The best no-spray apple to grow is a jujube. They taste a lot like apples (pit instead of a core), get about 2X the brix of apples and don’t need any spray. You can lose some to cracking (just pick them right after the rain and they are good), but almost 0 loss to insects. Maybe a few to wasps if they crack. And about 1% get a random bite taken out of them (which generally heal and can be eaten). Honey Jar, Black Sea, and Sugar Cane are common varieties which are crisp & crunchy with some juice to them. Many of the other varieties are either for drying or eaten by people who are less picky than me.
If you are stuck on apples (I’ve been gradually shifting from apples to jujubes for several years), then:
Goldrush- great late season flavor, though mine defoliated early (like a lot of my apples) due to the large amount of rain this summer
Bonkers- my father is (was?) growing this one. He wasn’t happy with it, but I’ll need to check with him to see why. I think it had to do with the flavor/quality.
William’s Pride- I have this one and am planning to get rid of it. It’s OK, as summer apples go. But the only summer apple that I actually like eating (as opposed to tolerate) is Zestar. I know at one point in the past Sansa wasn’t bad either, but this year was worthless, either from me not thinning enough, or all the rain.
Enterprise- I grew it briefly years ago. The skin is too thick and the flavor too mild. Maybe thick skin would help it be a bit more durable, but you should see if you can find somewhere to try it first, as there isn’t much point in growing fruit you don’t like.
Liberty- also didn’t qualify as something I wanted to eat. Too much like a Mac.
Florina- I need to give it another try, as I haven’t eaten any for a few years (I have a branch of it, but sometimes animals, etc get it). Ithink it was a bit mild, but reasonably sweet and crunchy/juicy late apple. Not my favorite, but not bad.
Akane- Very flavorful apple that straddles late summer and early fall. Lots of rot problems with it.
Black Limbertwig- I have 3 limbertwigs grafted on the William’s pride, so I’m not sure which one I’ve been eating (Could also be Kentucky or Meyers Royal). But I do like it enough that I’m considering taking wood from it and grafting it if/when I take out the William’s Pride. Medium/small, highly flavored apples. On the dry side (not really dry, but not juicy), hard and crunchy. I just picked the first one of the season and it was 16-18 brix. I should try to figure out which one it is…
Sundance- Goldrush-lite. Productive of big crisp, crunchy fruit. I haven’t been thinning mine enough, so I end up with big, crunchy low brix fruit. But early on I remember getting some decent fruit from it that was like a slightly lower brix version of Goldrush. Not quite as over-the-top in flavor.
