I see this is an old thread, but I’m just curious…I thought Crimson Gold was a sibling of Wickson also bred by Albert Etter? To add more confusion, there is also a modern disease-resistant Czech variety known as Crimson Gold (cv. Svatava), but its full size, not apple-crab sized.
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Yes, it is a Wickson sibling, which probably explains the mixup in the grocery store. Crimson Gold is also full-sized, but the Wickson in the store is small.
I bought a bag of those mislabeled Wickson apples in Prescott, and everyone loved them.
Thanks for the tip that let me know what they were.
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Chestnut is my favorite apple (right now).
Its annual bearing habit will be tested after this year’s bumber crop, One of my trees is so loaded I am propping limbs to relieve some of the weight . Not a speck of scab, minimal insect damage in a spray free enviroment.
First bite… light russet nutty sweet flavor seems as good as ever! Terrific out of hand, syrupy cider similar to Golden Russet
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Four, just the stem left and the next one…
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great looking tree. very impressive. what is the texture like? Will you be giving them to family and friends or doing any sort of apple butter?
Thanks Jeremy.
I will save some of the best in the fridge for son’s lunches, dry some, apple butter sounds like a great idea, cider the rest. And of course stuff myself!
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Jesse,
Fruit looks very clean what did you use for fungicides and pesticides or organic materials? Great Job growing those!
How does it do as a cider? Do you blend it with anything?
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Applenut-your wickson doesn’t look like my wickson. Mine is much more yellow. Our climates are very different. I got mine from a scion exchange. Size seems the same though.
John S
PDX OR
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No sprays.
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It makes a great cider, fresh or hard. I really like cider from russet apples, and Chestnut cider falls into that catagory for me- high brix rich flavored juice traslates into strong, delicious hard cider.
Works fine on its own, could benefit blending with small percentage bittersweet apples.
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I got to taste a few Chestnut Crab this year. I think I could use a few whole trees of that variety. They were very tasty!
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I have 5 Robinson Flowering Crabapple that i just put in the ground this spring. You so Inspired me with the Chestnut crabapple I ordered 2 of them for delivery 2nd. week of November. I am using them as a Deer attractant myself. No fruit on the Robinson yet but they look really good so far. I am also planting two persimmon trees this fall basically for the deer as well. Chestnut Crabapple - Apple Trees - Stark Bro’s
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I was fortunate to have the opportunity to make some cider with a fellow apple geek yesterday. We used his fruit as well as his grinder/press. I basically contributed a bit of work and companionship.
At any rate, much of the fruit we used for a few jugs of the cider were Chestnut crabs. I ate a bunch of them along the way too. They are as good an eating apple as most any I’ve had. I have no idea why they aren’t more popular. I have one tree planted and may add some limb grafts in the future.
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I bet that was good cider! There are two standard trees of Chestnut here, and plan to work a couple adjacent summer apple varieties over to this variety because it seems so reliable, grower friendly and high quality(especially for cider).
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Yep, it was as good as any cider I’ve ever purchased. Really cool experience running the grinder and press too.
Last year’s high brix readings were no fluke, as this year my samples have been reading between 17-19 brix. Pressing a bunch of the crop this weekend, my haul will be around 3 bushels.
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Good looking return bloom on my largest Chestnut after a very heavy crop last fall.
Did not grow much though, and I did some structural pruning as it had started to lean under crop weight.,
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Is chestnut crabapple resistant to fire blight?
Fire blight almost killed my apple tree.