That’s quite a contrast. I’m thinking your TCK just threw a sport mutation. I’d mark the spot on the tree and not prune it. and look for a repeat performance next year.
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@KPS I was wondering that, too. But Thompkins took the last year off and didn’t produce even one apple, so I couldn’t remember if this happened before.
Every year a few Liberties off one tree are bell shaped and more yellow with a blush but somehow I never think to notice where they are on the tree and if it’s just one branch.
Now that I think of it, there’s a good possibility that the white winter pearmain scion I grafted and thought died is not dead because I actually marked the wrong branch. If this apple is a WWP it would be a month underripe.
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Yesterday’s apples:
Hella Kitty is great. Definitely sharper and more acidic than @SkillCult’s other cross, Cherub. But plenty of sweetness and flavor. Plus it’s kind of shaped liked a donut.
Cordera is solidly fine. An appley apple.
Friandise is a very strange apple with great flavor. It kind of has that honey/nutty russeted thing, but also good sweetness and some traditional apple flavors as well.
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I haven’t seen much on Cordera. Is it a fairly easy to grow apple? I’ve read that it’s disease resistant.
Apples look great by the way.
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It gets two or three sprays (depending on time) like everything else in my orchard. Some stuff struggles with that. But Cordera looks near perfect on the tree.
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These apples are from a tree in a parking lot near a hatchery and it has never been sprayed and only pruned by the power company. This year in my area most of the orchards lost at least 80% of their apple crop and this tree is loaded with apples. I like the apples because they are tart and flavorful. They ripen in the first week of sept but in about a month they start getting soft but that is without refrigerating. Does anyone have an Idea what the type might be no one at the hatchery knows who planted it but it looks like a grafted semi-dwarf tree.
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You should ask to winter prune it and collect scions.
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I got a couple of scions off it last year and grafted them to my brother’s ornamental crab apple tree I already asked the manager about getting a few more this year. He left me get a few apples both year and this year he is going to have the rest made into sweet cider. I hope it makes good cider then if the power company asks to cut it down, he might tell them no. In our area if an owner of a right of way wants to cut down a fruit or nut tree, he has to get permission from the owner and if the owner says no then they have to show just cause and the location where this tree is they can keep pruning it away from the power lines.
Judging by the grafts to my brother’s tree last year it seems like they will be fairly vigorous. They grew about 2 ft on a small branch and a Winter Rambo that I grafted on the same tree at about the same level only grew about a foot.
Tried another Lindsay Russet today trying to find the harvest window. Not fully ripe yet, but quite good with a Brix of just under 22. Not much information out there on Lindsay. Maple Valley’s website says “A small apple that will become larger if properly thinned. Excellent and unique flavor for cider, sauce and eating. A vigorous, heavily productive tree. Is an early and regular bearer.” Looking forward to more of these next year.
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I love MN 1734 aka ‘Minnesota Russet’. I heard it is hardy to USDA zone 2.
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Well… this is my entire apple harvest for 2026… a single Fireside apple. It tasted delicious, but had a tougher texture than usual.
Late spring freezes intermingled with 90-degree days and destroyed most apple blossoms. The few apples that did form on my trees dropped in June. This lone survivor was hand-pollinated with pollen from my red cinnamon tree. I protected it with an organza bag and by keeping my ducks nearby to reduce the pest population. For this, I was rewarded with two seeds, which I will try to grow this spring.
Here’s hoping for a better harvest next year!
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I tried growing it but it seemed prone to disease and not terribly prolific. I concede that it might have been my fault as the grower. Did you spray routinely? Did you have any other issues with insects and/or disease?
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@GrumpyPantsPlants i beat your harvest by 2 apples, not technically though, they are still hanging. One deer in one minute can take those out.
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@treefrog1 congrats on your bountiful harvest! 
It’s crazy how much difference spring weather can make. Last year I had so many apples that I was inviting people over to pick them by the bucket load.
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I do spray, yes. Typically dormant through first cover; roughly April through May here in Syracuse. Old as dirt Captan and Rally being largely responsible for clean trees and fruit. I suffer more from leaf fungus, early defoliation, and Japanese beetles rather than fruit rots here.
The two trees have about 8 fruit each and this is their first year fruiting. Probably 2” caliper on G935.
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Yeah. I have iron deficiency hitting trees here. Time to throw rusty nails in some vinegar.
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I’m finding Captan increases russeting on several varieties, do you note this as well? I have been very happy with a rotation of Avaunt and Assail for control of Japanese Beetles, Assail being the more effective of the two.
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