I recently found out about an apple cultivar called ‘Clivia’ which is a first generation offspring of ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ which retains the general flavor profile of its parent, but is supposed to be less susceptible to disease and is apparently naturally dwarfing to the point that heavy dormant season pruning is recommended to encourage more growth.
I have a sort of fascination with naturally dwarf apples because they could in theory be grown on their own roots and not be subject to the shortened life expectancy of apples which have been grafted onto dwarf rootstocks to make them dwarf. I suspect that due it its great flavor and small habit if it would be a good “patio tree” for urban gardeners who are tight on space, but still want a super high eating quality apple.
Oh yeah, one more thing. ‘Clivia’ is also supposed to keep well; up to 5 months in cool storage.
Hi Johann, I am not familiar with this apple, but it seems fairly highly rated by growers in Germany. The most detailed sources I found are in German, so here is a link to a helpful site and a translated version.
Sounds attractive. I’m a Cox’s fan but it can have some issues (splitting, abscesses) and I don’t remember it being a great keeper -I never had enough of them to trial very long.
got 6 cultivars grafted on a 6ft sargents crab. the way the tree grows there are no crotch angles. the limbs grow strait out from the trunk . its a well-formed tree that doesnt much bigger than what it is now. going to be interesting to see how much fruit it will set. its in a spot protected from the wind. maybe some fruit next summer. got 3 cultivars from Skillcults collection on there.
6 scions of 6 different cultivars. got burgundy, williams pride, liberty , black strawberry , grenadine. i dont remember the other one off the top of my head. my yellow transparent has at least that much on it. maybe more.
Sorry if this is slightly off topic, but I’ve seen this mentioned a few times, the idea of dwarfing trees being shorter-lived. Does anyone have any data on this? I’m wondering about the longevity of Geneva series trees/semi-dwarfing trees, as I do most of my grafting onto G969. I know 969 isn’t old enough for us to know how long they last, but some general info might help me.
@steveb4 You might have meant to post this in a different thread since it doesn’t seem related to the topic of the ‘Clivia’ cultivar.
@wildapple23 I doubt there is conclusive evidence for all cultivars, but the general reason for lifespan issues seems to be that the grafted variety eventually overgrows the rootstock too much to be sustainable. I suspect this would be less of an issue for naturally dwarf cultivars even if they are grafted though.
