Apples 2017

SH ripens in late September -early October here. I agree with Alan that it is a naturally spready tree.

I did cut it back to the trunk with that plan, but it grew back one limb which was so productive I decided to keep it. Five years ago I was not interested in production and ease of growing as much as I am now … Smokehouse is not the most amazing apple for taste but its perfectly decent and is a big win for reliable production.

Its a spindle, taking up almost no space. It might be naturally spreading but my tree is the opposite.

What is its rootstock?

Its M9…

I only know about trees.

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Hey Scott. Have you had many disease issues with your Mutsu?

No, its been a very easy grower with relatively little fruit rots, bug damage, or other problems. Its now #2 on my overall top list for that reason. I ate Mutsu from storage after I posted the above and they were still not as good as last years. They need more hang time than I gave them last year (due to deer).

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Scott- I got Newtown Pippin from you, but I don’t see it on your list. Mine had blight terribly this summer, much worse than anything else. Wondering if you had the same issue and if you’ve yanked yours…

Its just gone biennial - no fruit in the last year. The tree is not in a very good spot, too little light. I have had blight on it but not much worse than average.

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Where is your latest top ten list posted? I would love to review it. :slight_smile:

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On vigorous roots it is fairly biennial here and sure gets dirty from sooty blotch like most or all late yellows. It is also a tough one to manage for shape. I’m surprised you like it that much- to me it is just a nice apple without a very interesting flavor. It’s also too big and bland by Feb or so out of storage. Of course down there they may be different. I don’t even grow it in my orchard- prefer older strains of Yellow Delicious which is more grower friendly and reliable.

Its not biennial here but it does get a lot of sooty blotch (which I don’t really care about). I expect my longer season may be better for it, it needs a long hang time to be good. This year the deer forced me to pick earlier than usual and they were nothing special at all. The seeds were brown so I was within the harvest window, but clearly too early for the good flavor. They are a very rich flavor when properly ripened.

Here is the current one, I keep tweaking it … looking at it now I would probably take Kidds off the reliable list, its too biennial for me. Rubinette used to be higher but its been rotting too much so I moved it down.

Apple quality alone top (notice the top 5 are all Golden Delicious sports or children, yes I like GD)

1)	Hooples Antique Gold
2)	Mutsu
3)	Suncrisp
4)	Freyberg	
5)	Gold Rush	
6)	Blenheim Orange
7)	Rubinette
8)	Reine des Reinettes
9)	Pitmaston Pineapple
10)	Kidds Orange Red
11)	Reinette Clochard
12)	Swayzie (similar to but better than Pomme Gris)
13)	Ashmead's Kernel
14)	Black Limbertwig
15)	Nonpareil
16)	Adam’s Pearmain
17)	Newtown Pippin
18)	Golden Nugget
19)	Wagener	
20)	Hawaii

Overall top - tasty, reliable, productive, disease and bug resistant, years of proving it to me

1)	Hooples Antique Gold
2)	Mutsu
3)	Kidds Orange Red
4)	Reine des Reinettes
5)	Blenheim Orange
6)	Gold Rush (but prone to biennial and CAR)
7)	Rubinette (but somewhat prone to rots)	
8)	Rambour d’Hiver

Early apple overall top

1)	Ginger Gold
2)	Cherryville Black
3)	Primate
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Thanks a ton for the top 20! I ordered a Hooples Antique Gold and Kidds Orange Red based off your previous top ten. Would you suggest substituting the Mutsu for the Kidd? Looking for low spray options.

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Hooples and Mutsu are both GD types and Kidds will be something different so I would proabably stick with Kidds. If you keep the load balanced you should be able to avoid it going biennial. I have too many trees and too little time to do that.

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Will do. The deer got the only two apples I had last year and I can’t wait to try a fresh apple from our orchard! The metal cages have worked like a champ so far. Just need to re-train all of the apples to grow up and out of the cage. :frowning:

How about out of storage, from Jan. on.

I don’t remember exactly how late I have stored them but I remember the good ones got a lot better in a month or two of storage.

In looking at my notes I see I had a small amount of bitter pit one year. It is also highly prone to blister spot but I never had that on my tree.

@scottfsmith Scott have you trialed Freedom apple at your place?. It does real well here on the Shore for me and I like its subacid taste and texture.

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I eat most of my apples after Dec. Suncrisp is already starting to turn bland, while Goldrush is better than at harvest. Most of the other apples are gradually losing texture and many, flavor.

No I never tried that one. I haven’t grown many of the modern disease-resistant apples in general, many of them aim for scab resistance and scab has been low on my list of problems.