re Haralson…I do like tart…my concern was they seemed starchy…is that at all how you would characterize them ? I mean, if I want a potato…Yes now that you mention it my Frostbite is not great re CAR…but better than my bad ones. I dont have quite that many varieties of apples…maybe half, but same on the pears.
Picked early, Haralson can indeed be starchy. Since they aren’t my favorites, I tend to let them hang until fully ripe. Around here, that generally means they’ve seen at least a few low temps in the upper 20s. A few frosts seem to help them fully ripen and develop better flavors. I personally wouldn’t plant the variety again, but the deer do enjoy eating most of them.
I guess I haven’t look close enough at them to think about if that might be related.
Hmm…well they are among the healthiest trees I have and have decent vigor too , maybe i will graft them over to Rubinette or some other taste treat.
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Yes, I chose my first apples that I planted 8 years ago ( and since) based on the fact that CAR doesn’t kill trees typically, and instead focused on fireblight resistance which can kill trees …but I now realize that CAR is an unavoidable issue where Im situated and that nothing will change that, the pressure is so high as to make it not worthwhile to bother with CAR susceptible trees , unless I have them already growing…i will try to manage those differently, but Im going to just avoid further frustration… I mean, my Wealthy apples are among the first bunch I planted and they are so poor…every year is a setback…they are on M26…should be making apples by now, they are not even thinking apples
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white cedars are in fact Arborvitae. what people call ‘cedar chests’ are made from juniper…aka ‘red cedar’.
real cedar trees are one of these or they aren’t cedars:::Atlas Cedar, Cedar of Lebanon, Deodar cedar.
Junipers from Europe and Asia can carry the CAR, but juniperus Virginiana seems to be the main host.
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yup…real "red cedar "are western…the eastern are not cedar
I don’t know what your stance is on spraying trees, but a few applications of Immunox in the spring can make a world of difference. I know a guy who has apple trees in MO. His trees would be defoliated from CAR every year. He started hitting them 3 times each spring with Immunox and the trees look great now.
Some varieties with Cedar Apple Rust resistance include: Zestar!, Red Delicious, Empire, Arkansas Black, Macintosh, Redfree, Baldwin, Enterprise, Keepsake, Spartan, Winesap, Odysso…
And based on clear foliage this year from my personal observation, evidently Redfield, Winter Red Flesh, NW Greening, Cornish Aromatic, and Golden Sweet. And Fuji.
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cant quite see the label is it considered organic ? …does it persist ? I have used in the past, not recently, and don’t want to overuse or regularly use Bordeaux as i dont want apples that taste like sulphur…not sure if that would work…
I don’t know the answer to either. Myclobutanil is the active chemical in Immunox, so that may help in answering your questions. I’m not an organic guy. I’m a minimal synthetic spray so I can have some nice, clean fruit guy 
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Sorry, there are no western USA ‘red cedars’. There are arborvitae, there are redwoods or sequoia, and there are juniperus scopularium or western cedars.
Only real cedars are cedrus.
Cedrus Deodora
Cedrus lebanii
Cedrus atlantica
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I think (one) of the main reasons i leaned off the Bordeaux too, although I sometimes use it on a rag to wipe on as a concentrate if Im concerned about pruning cuts or whatever…is that im starting to develop some really nice soil around the periphery of my trees with all the duck/goose pen manure ( poop ,straw ,wood shavings) coffee grounds from the local cafe and wood ash… (we have clay to clay loam limestone bedrock with granite glacial till from 1 hour north of here.) anyway…the mulch/soil around my trees are very myco/fungal and i dont want to mess with that as I think it will greatly contribute to the health and pest/disease resistance as they become more established. I also from time to time reestablish and extend outward the grass free /weed free areas around my trees by putting down cardboard, and duck/goose manure and/or wood chips. Im on a learning journey filled with a lot of heartbreak but it’s so very interesting, Im an RN , and take a fairly holistic view of health based on my training and also my experience…and what I believe to be true of the human body I would also reasonable apply to my trees, good health, good broad nutritional intake and reduced stress is going to benefit the resistance to disease it makes sense to me , but I want to see and verify for myself what I’ve been reading regarding organic culture. Many many years ago long before growing fruit trees/bushes i was a gardener and I read and observed something regarding organic practices that was at that time much less sophisticated than it is now. That was the observation that nature would correct itself, the pests arrive and the farmer panics…sprays chems…we don’t have it in us to watch patiently for the time it takes while the predator bugs discover where their food is at. …because all we see is the loss…but it usuall does occur. Now keep in mind weather and other factors that determine if those bugs are even around as all things will vary from year to year…This year we have an abundance of walking sticks and praying mantises here…we have always seen them each year , but I see them everywhere tis year…did they love the drought ? is that favorable to them somehow ? …I dont know…but there sure are a lot of them considering they are not the types of bugs that I have ever seen in numbers…as is usually the case with “pest” destructive bugs…
redwoods…i stand corrected…but at least more like a true
cedar than the junipers here
I respect your approach. I don’t like synthetic chemicals either, but have accepted them as part of my daily life. I spend April through October pretty much outside. Around here, you either wear permethrin treated clothes for ticks, or end up picking dozens of them off. I also use a lot of DEET to deal with skeeters, deerflies, and horseflies. I figure a little bit of orchard chemicals probably aren’t going to harm me anymore than those things will.
FWIW…my fruit trees are growing in pretty much “virgin” soil. I own 87 acres and from what I can tell, it has never been farmed (pastured yes, farmed no). I’ve found pictures going back to the 30s and the land looks about the same now as it did then. I suppose it may have been farmed in the distant past, but I really doubt it. It’s basically 87 acres of glacial till.
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Yes, mine are at the east end of my property…downwind position unfortunately…(from my apples) (everywhere is downwind of Junipers here)…and they do get some rust not sure if CAR or Quince and/or some other…but I imagine Im going to have a time with them , too bad because they are now thigh high and just starting to make berries…very nice berries.
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Its a commitment that i do believe in but it’s not just for that alone, although that’s reason enough for me, I just don’t have the time …my feeling is if it takes that much fussing it’s not worthwhile for me. Im growing every kind of fruit tree and bush imaginable for this area…With all those different timelines for pruning and clearing brush and ensuring weed free areas around them and fertilizing and mulching and if need be watering (although Im working toward making that all but unnecessary, hardly had to water my trees despite a drought this summer) with the cardboard /duck poop / coffee grounds covered in wood chip mulch… …the last thing I have time for and probably wouldn’t even be ABLE to keep to a specifically -timed schedule…(what if I miss the ideal spray day and then im working the next few days ?..then I’m done…no point) would I love to grow the most flavourful delicious apple in the world…sure but if it’s going to drive me to distraction …no
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I understand. I’m retired, so my land and my plantings are pretty much my full time job for the growing season. Between wild trees and those I’ve planted I take care of around 85-95 trees on semi-standard or standard rootstocks. I couldn’t do what I do and work full time at a real job.
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Me either, but I attempt to anyway 
…wont be retired for another 8 years…if I can retire at 65…which is looking doubtful. I have also planted a lot of trees aside from fruit, mainly Norway spruce 100s…and to a much lesser number, red pine, blue spruce, red oaks white oaks red maples silver maples black maples, northern pecan, hickory, catalpa, black cherry, honey locust, basket willow, larch, jack pine, scots pine , white pine…the list goes on …hope to put in more red maples…probably because im enjoying the colours so much right now !
Andrew - I don’t have CAR (thankfully) but I do have Haralson, a very hardy variety. My experience with the fruit is somewhat the same as Stu’s, but i like them more than he does I think (if you search the site there are several threads on the Haralson). They are a storage apple and aren’t much for fresh eating, or sauce, when first picked (but they do make really good apple crisp!). I harvest mine the end of September. I think they do best ripening on the tree and after some frosts. Mine are just now (a month in storage) getting OK for fresh eating but they continue sweetening and getting better as time goes on. That’s their niche. In 2018 I ate the last apple the first of April and it was very good, but starting to lose texture. Last year I didn’t have enough to last that long. This year was a bumper crop and I’m looking forward to having them all winter.
I have just one graft of Goodland bearing one apple each last year and this, ripe end of Sept. A beautiful, large, very juicy, moderately crisp apple with a sprightly sweet flavor (touch of grape?). Great fresh eating but can’t share much more with just one apple harvest experience. But I’ve grafted many more branches of this one. Sue
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