Apples 2025

[CRhode]

@pine

A colleague shared a Wolf River last year and it was giant, soft, bland, and kind of dry. May have been a little old, but this was still in the fall.

That’s Wolf River! It’s fluffy!

“Enormous fruits, often one pound or more. Pale yellow skin almost covered with pale dull red. Soft, tender, slightly mealy, creamy white flesh. Subacid flavor. Long-lived, very hardy, productive tree. Strong, spreading, sturdy limb growth. Hardy to -50°F. Open-pollinated seedling of Alexander found growing on the banks of the Wolf River near Fremont, Wisconsin, in 1875.”

• Seed Savers Exchange, Inc. Fruit, Berry and Nut Inventory. Ed. Kent Whealy. 3rd ed. Decorah, IA: Seed Savers Exchange, 2001.

150yr old apple tree

OH, NO! I live only about 85 miles from Fremont, WI, where Wolf River was found. It’s a local favorite and is at it’s best around here (full sun, sandy soil), which I suppose is the reason for its initial appeal to collectors way back in 1875, so I feel bound to stick up for it. The apples are dry, not bland. They are huge but light weight, which means they soak up whatever flavors they’re cooked with, and, I suppose, would be great for drying if anyone ever did that anymore. People do sti…

Unfortunately for me my tree declined and died. I’m not sure why. County Extension looked at pix and thought it may have been a victim of polar vortex — a disease common to orchards in Wisconsin.