I mentioned in an earlier post that my goldrush had survived in 7b 8a. In my sense of glee over one of my apple trees actually surviving my fireblight epidemic of 2017 that killed 7 trees, i forgot to mention that every one of the 50+ nice goldrush apples i had on the tree last year rotted and were inedible. My experience is very consistent with blueberry and others in the SE. Im bagging this year in hopes that keeping the rain and spores off (maybe??) will help. Ive got about 75 bagged now. If that doesnt help its time for more pears and peaches.
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Bitter rot is why I gave up on fall apples.
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Years ago when i was grafting some for my dad, ar Auburn, AL., on the 7/8 interface
At that time, one variety that Ed Fackler recpmmended I try there was Lady Williams…good quality and low chill
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Some that I’ve recently planted that haven’t been mentioned above are…
Akane
Braeburn
Granny Smith
Jonathan
Terry Winter
Virginia Beauty
Yates
Has anyone had any luck with any of these varieties? 
Virginia Beauty was a fireblight magnet here in 7B year after year so I grafted it over. David Vernon at Century Farm told someone on the phone that VB will not do well in the hot coastal plain.
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In zone 7b central Georgia I had a little bit of glomerella and bitter rot last year. Any fungicide suggestions?
Same for me during the incredible rains we had last year. I’m spraying some fungicides and hoping for dryer weather this summer
Pink lady has been extremely fireblight susceptible. It’s got to go if that continues, but I know a small commercial orchard a few miles from me that’s had success with it. No fruit yet, this will be it’s 3rd year.
Liberty has suffered from no diseases but doesn’t seem to want to set much of a crop. Still a young tree, we’ll see.
Enterprise has been good in one location and hit by some diseases in another. This is one that did get hit by glomerella and bitter rot, and a bit of fireblight.
Unknown local heirloom 1 has been hit by fireblight, starting with blossoms, but not too bad. Hoping the copper + streptomyacin keeps it away this year. Has set fruit for the first time this year for me, but the mother tree fruits with very tasty apples in early fall. The mother tree for this variety has been around for at least 60 years and produces every year with no spray.
Unknown local heirloom 2 also gets hit by fireblight and cedar apple rust. Cedar apple rust a minor issue, fireblight a serious problem. The mother tree for this variety produced reliably every year in October/November even though it was never sprayed and mostly shaded, and was probably over 90 years old when it’s owners decided to chop it down last year.
Arkansas black should set a few apples for the first time this year. Apparently it’s going to grow as a columnar apple, despite my efforts to prevent that, which is weird. No leaf, blossom, or shoot diseases so far.
Grimes Golden produces every year. The apples are usually very good. Some bitter rot. Some fireblight. Bad rusts but easily controlled with myclobutanil/immunox. Always terrible sooty blotch/flyspeck. Last year the apples tasted as good as always, better than anything I bought in the grocery store, despite the extreme rains.
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Akane: fireblight magnet and super duper sensitive skin to diseases (bitter rot in particular - the absolute worst variety I ever grew for bitter rot). I really tried to get this apple to work as the taste is awesome.
Braeburn: known as being very difficult due to skin problems. I had one but based on personal stories from others I topworked it before it fruited.
Jonathan: Should be good, but I didn’t get enough years of fruiting to be sure personally.
Virginia Beauty: also should be good as its a southern apple, ask me this fall since this should be my first fruiting year.
Yates: this should have been on my bulletproof list above, its one of the most bulletproof varieties out there! I’ll edit my list here…
I would consider topworking part of your Braeburn and Akane now, that way if its no good you will already be on the way to replacing it.
@blueberrythrill Re bitter rot, thats one of my main disease problems as well. I have removed a great many varieties that were sensitive to it. Its too bad there is no massive southern apple breeding program, it might get us more bitter rot resistant varieties. All of the ones on my bulletproof list above have been resistant.
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Scott
How many years did it take to produce your list of suggested varieties?
Its an interesting list and I had to Google some of the varieties for more info.
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Hal
Here is some of the research on bitter rot from NC:
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I started growing apples in 2002. By 2003 I think I had over 100 varieties going. Unfortunately I started with lots of English apples and Euro cider apples which mostly were no good at all.
Re: rots, I should pay more attention to what kind of rots I am getting. My guess is bitter rot is the most common as I often see those concentric circles, but I also get black rot and white rot. Here is a good set of slides I just found which goes through all three of these rots:
Rots have overall been one of my biggest apple problems and I have always been surprised how relatively little discussion there is of this issue compared to fireblight, scab, etc. Part of the problem for me is I want to minimize summer cover sprays because its so annoyingly hot here and I get worse rot problems for that reason.
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Thank you all for the all the recommendations so far! It has helped so much!
I was looking into getting a few of these apples this fall. Has anyone had any experiences with any of these?
Doctor Matthews
Hall
Hauer Pippin
Hawkeye Delicious
Hubbardston Nonesuch
Magnum Bonum
Mollies Delicious
Pomme Gris
Keener Seedling
Knobbed Russett
Rambour d’Hiver
Splendour
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Hauer Pippin is a winner here on taste, good branch angles and good blight resistance.
Hall has taken forever to bear here even with branch bending. It’s a weak grower, almost a natural dwarf.
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Doctor Matthews
- I had this a long time ago, it was a tasty mac-type apple but it died and when I re-added it was the wrong variety. So ask me in a few years for more info as I finally have the right variety going again.
Hall
- Mine died of fireblight, seemed very susceptible.
Hubbardston Nonesuch
- I like this one, easy grower, beautiful apples, unusual taste aromatic like roses a bit.
Pomme Gris
- Another easy grower, on my bulletproof list above; I find Swayzie a bit tastier but they are very similar.
Keener Seedling
- An unusual apple, very dry texture, most people probably won’t like. But its a good southern climate apple in terms of few problems.
Rambour d’Hiver
- You probably heard of this one from me as I seem to be the only person growing it. Its bulletproof and very productive. Good all-round apple as well with a somewhat savory flavor.
Note that none of these are modern “crispy” texture apples which many people demand these days.
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Hauer Pippin
- Excellent. Firm, crunchy, interesting flavor, attractive, productive, great keeper. Ripens very late - December here in Northern California.
Magnum Bonum
- Vigorous and productive. Apples are tasty and attractive, and slightly smaller than average. Ripens mid-October here.
Hall
- Got my first one or two of these from a young graft last season, so the sample size was small, but they were promising. Small, as advertised, and good flavor. Should get quite a few this year. Ripened in early November here.
Doctor Matthews
Keener Seedling
- I have grafts of both of these that will bear this year, but no data yet.
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Anna and unknown seedling apples starting to ripen. Zero effort put into this tree, should have thinned more. No spray and never gets fireblight.
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Very neat!
Do you know if the seedling is from Anna, how is the fruit?
Looks great!
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We have an old homestead near us that has an apple tree in the yard. My dad dug up a root sucker (he asked) and planted it here. I told him he dug up rootstock and was wasting his time. It produced the next year and the fruit was true to the original tree so it too is either a seedling or was also a root cutting. I grafted Anna onto it later. Top picture is the unknown and bottom is Anna. The unknown is a little more of a tip bearer but fruit is very similar to Anna. Both are a sweet apple.
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That’s so cool!
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Good looking apples @c5tiger and free fireblight. That’s a keeper! Please let me know if you some scions available when available!
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I can get you scions. Remind me in early January.