There is one Winesap that does not crack as easily. It is called Turley Winesap. The others I have grown or know of others growing always seems to crack.
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Ham,
At this point-- What are your favorite 5 or 10 apple varieties that you’ve successfully fruited in Easton?
Very few have fruited yet but this year I’ll get to taste 10 to 12 new ones. My small orchard is still recovering from the death of five trees due to, let’s call it, unfortunate (self-inflicted) causes.
So far Black Limbertwig, Freedom, MonArk, Goldrush are winners for taste and disease. Freedom seems to fly under the radar- grown here at least it’s really good, crisp, a bit tart, precocious, heavy annual bearer, disease resistant. I’ll know a lot more by this November. Parks Pippin is crisp, pretty tart, good one but need more time to see disease resistance.
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One variety which we like is Mantet. It is an early season apple, not great for fresh eating and doesn’t keep long, but fantastic for pies, sauce, cakes and cider. We just started eating some of the one we quickly cooked and froze last fall and they are still great.
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Wow, I didn’t like Cripps Pink that much before. I think it’s because I never had a properly ripened one until today… WOW…that is sweet ! Super hard, sweet a acidic… I bought it at Farm boy in Ottawa, On.
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It is a great tasting apple in my opinion. I have added several grafts of it on my trees and I’m hoping for a small crop this year.
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They are good keepers but the ones in our stores are starting to degrade.
I think that one might have been just picked (within the last couple of weeks)… Perhaps, in Australia? Do you think it could be an american apple from last fall?
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Pink lady aka cripps pink is one of the best of apples when it’s been grown properly.
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I don’t no when they ripen in Australia but that would explain the fresh taste.
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Yes: probably.
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Pink Lady is the perfect apple to me, very firm, sweet and tart while having great crispness and flavor! They are better home grown than from grocery store too! One of the best apples for hot weather as well. Winner here, but needs real long growing season.
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Turley sounds very interesting but I have never tasted it. I have varieties called Old Fashioned Winesap and Virginia Winesap. The OFW are larger, sweeter and later. The Va Winesap is much smaller. After 6 years the size of the Va Winesap trees on B9 is disappointing. The OFW trees are much larger. If the Va Winesap and Stayman don’t do well this year, I hope to remove the trees and replace them with something else. Crimson Crisp and Daybreak Fuji do well here. So far, varieties that ripen early like CC and DF do better than late variety like Winesap.
I’m surprised to hear that Rick, I have the opposite problem. My early apples are prone to mealiness skin rots, and watercore whereas the late apples get none of that. Late apples ripen in cool weather which gives them an easier time overall. It must be related to the particular varieties, there are a few early ones which do perfectly fine for me (e.g. Pristine, Ginger Gold, Cherryville Black).
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I’ve tasted the VA Winesap. It is okay but, like you, the Old Fashioned Winesap is bigger and a lot more flavorful to me. Each area seems to have apple ripening dates that do the best. Get some too soon and they are just okay. Get some that ripen a lot later and they just do not get to their full potential with flavor or sweetness. I cannot plant a lot of very late ripening apples. I get below freezing temperatures and snow/ freezing rain early to mid November most years.
I have to watch what I plant at my place because of those very issues. Plus of course different soils make a difference even in the same areas. I cannot get decent early apples to grow here because we get a lot of Spring time cold weather so the apples are “ripe” but not very flavorful. Then they get soft and mealy too quickly, yuck. Once you pick them you better start peeling them as you walk towards the house. That is about how long they seem to last before they get too soft to eat.
I just planted a couple of early ripening apple varieties to see if they do any better. Probably my last attempt with early apple varieties. If not out they come and I will plant something different.
Very interesting, especially since we are both in zone 7. Summer Rots are a huge problem here, even with a chemical fungicide. The longer the apple hangs on the tree, the more problems I see. I controlled the SB/FS last year, but got clobbered by bitter rot and white rot. Cameo was the worst and may be another candidate for replacement.
When do the early variety ripen in your area?
Probably the earliest would be about late June or early July. I had some Yellow Transparent apples years ago. It would be hit or miss with them. The Lodi’s are pretty tasteless as well.
I don’t like Lodi or Yellow Transparent either. Pristine ripens about the same time in late June/early July my area. Its much better tasting and will keep for a while. Ginger Gold is another good one, but its a little later. Williams Pride ripens about the same time as Pristine and comes from the same PRI breeding program, but its not great in my area. Its marked for deletion if it does not improve this year. Daybreak (early) Fuji also works well in my area. Last year it ripened with Gala in early August. I’m in a crummy area for apple growing which is a lot tougher than I expected. Just a few hours north in central Virginia or a few hours west of me apples do much better.
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My yellow transparents ripen in Early August. I’m in zone 6b.
Great pie apples. tart, almost like a rhubarb pie.
OK for fresh eating if you like a tart apple.