For the past 30 years I’ve tried to grow Wyken Pippin apple which is described in the literature as an outstanding heritage apple from England. I found scionwood from fellow enthusiasts labeled as such and grew it out, but it was not the same as the original. I also got scion wood from the Geneva repository but it also was not the same. The GRIN database lists it here
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1133190
About 10 years ago I finally fruited an apple that matched the original Wyken pippin description. I have included images of two of my apples, along with images from the National Fruit Collection in England, as well as the image of the red fruit mistakenly identified as Wyken pippin in the GRIN database.
The authentic Wyken Pippin fruit is truly an outstanding apple. Briskly fruity, sweet, and firm. It was worth the wait. It has an unusual growing character. Some describe it as columnar but it’s not quite that.
However the faux Wyken Pippin from Geneva is also an excellent apple, it’s just not authentic Wyken.
I grow all my trees on M27 as cordons so I don’t usually have much extra wood available so please don’t ask. In the past few years I have sent scions of authentic Wyken to a few growers who hopefully will make it available to others. I think Derek Mills might have some scionwood available this year. Other growers should have it available in a few years.
