We have an Arkansas black apple tree and I saw a website that offers a variety that is a spur apple and then one that is not.
I didn’t know there were options. I looked on our tag, and it says we have the spur type.
I do not know what the differences are could someone enlighten me?
Thank you very much.
Some popular spur type varieties include Delicious, MacIntosh, Winesap, Empire, Starkspur and many others. The other type of apple tree is tip bearing, also called non-spur or terminal bearers.
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Found that online.
I have spur types here… and some can take 3-4-5 years to start developing fruit spurs.
Summer pruning… and limb bending… training espellar… can all encourage the development of fruiting spurs.
Once you have spurs… blossoms and fruit soon follow.
I have an Akane and Hudson golden gem that this year (yr 4) had not one blossom… no spurs developed yet.
I summer pruned them last year… and again this late summer… and this year noticed several fruit spurs had developed. Hopeful for blossoms and fruit next year.
I have a Novamac on b9 trained Espellar… that this year (yr 2)… had 20+ blossom clusters on new fruit spurs. Being trained eapellar, and summer pruning and perhaps the variety… it seems to be very eager to start fruiting.
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Having had a Compspur Arkansas Black, and currently having a 33 year old regular Arkansas Black, I’ll take the old fashioned tree.
What does Compspur mean and what is the difference? Do the apples taste different?
Do you have a picture of a spur you could share? I am new to growing apple trees.
They taste different in the same manner a modern red delicious doesn’t taste like an original delicious. Hard to explain.
And I’ll let someone else explain spur trees and regular ones, plus tip bearing ones.
Yes… good example of what they look like in the spring… they swell, and erupt generating a whirl of leaves and blossoms.
Below are some fruit buds that developed this season on a Novamac on m7 out in my field… year 1 in ground it developed 5 or 6 of these.
In the spring those buds on the end will swell and produce leaves and blossoms.
Below shows a couple on my Novamac on b9 espellar this spring after those little short stubby fruit spurs erupted…
A whirl of leaves to support the develooing blossoms and fruit… and then blossoms… and fruit.
One more example of fruit spurs/buds in spring.
My early Mcintosh this spring… heavy swell stage… about to erupt… then erupting.
If you find your spur fruiting trees to be lacking in fruit spurs… research here (search option) limb bending, espellar, summer pruning…
Below my Novamac on B9… with my first ever attempt at Espellar training… in year 2… it had 20+ fruit spurs and blossom sets. I summer pruned it at the end of first summer.
Great pics, thanks for sharing!
Ed Fackler opined that the ‘Colonial J-Spur’ strain of Ark Black was beautiful, but had the taste of cardboard.
I don’t recall what strain I have or where I purchased it, but it’s a tasty apple.
Isn’t the Compspur a variety from Miller Brothers Nursery? Maybe I am mistaken about that. One nursery was that Comp name on their own version of fruit trees.
Yes. Long long ago, the Miller family ran a good nursery.
I got my Arkansas black from a local nursery and it has a Dave Wilson tag on it.
Isn’t Black Arkansas a spur type tree to began with?
I am not sure that my tree is anything different than regular.
Anyone else have a Arkansas Black from Dave Wilson, please chime in on what type we have please.
My Arkansas black is not spur but not from Dave Wilson.
I do not believe Ark Black is normally a spur type. Not from the ones I have seen.
I miss seeing their catalog. Stark Brothers bought them up and basically killed ( stopped offering) all their varieties. They have very, very few Miller Brother Nursery stock available. My next door neighbor had one of their Comspur varieties. He moved and the flippers that bought his house took out all his fruit trees, berry bushes, and grape vines in one day.
Motherflippers!!!
Why the heck would anyone do that?? Crazy.
I am looking for old fashioned AKB scionwood, I grow the sour type and although it’s productive it lacks vigor here and I like thei variety enough to want a robust tree,
