when I used to browse a qdma forum a bit, Dolgo, Chestnut crab, Arkansas Black, and Liberty got most of the attention.
Edit: Limbertwigs and goldrush came up a fair bit too…as well as kieffer pear
I don’t see where Kerr, Black Oxford, and a host of disease-resistant varieties like Dayton couldn’t compete as well…
long-term, my intention is to test out a bunch of russets and northern heirlooms (Chieftan, Canadian Strawberry, Wolf River, Black Oxford) as well as a handful of known disease-resistants like the Dayton above…I am getting pretty fond of russets, and if some made it I could see grabbing an apple or 2 on my way past the mast trees, and the others all had good reputations for doing pretty well in Z5.
In addition, I have found a tree I mentioned elsewhere that was still holding yellow, sweet, and largely unblemished apples about Nov 20 in a dog-park where there is no spraying at all, and lots of other apple trees absolutely smashed w/ curc and other apple pests…I want scions of that to test further. Planning to cut some later this week, if possible, will cut enough to add to my scion exchange list as well–it may have been a fluke year, but I was very impressed with that apple’s condition, and it clearly drops LATE