Yes, Williams Pride had very clean leaves, even at the end of September, a month after I picked the last apples from it. It has a great return bloom this year.
Several other DR’s did very well, especially Priscilla and Sundance. Both are listed by Purdue as resistant to Scab, Fireblight, and CAR.
I know Priscilla got a bad reputation on fruit quality, but I find it pretty good. It has a sweet, interesting flavor which most people seem to like. The one problem I’ve seen with it is that it can get soft if you wait too long. So for me, it is more a late August apple, than the September it is advertised as.
Sundance it a bit like Goldrush in that it is very acidic off the tree, except that it is harsher. SD really needs some aging, but it keeps very well. I saved a half dozen or so and they were very good after a couple months. I think that I’ve still got one in the fridge, which I should try soon.
Some of the old varieties also had very clean leaves. In particular, Old Nonpareil, Court Pendu Plat, St Edumunds Russet, and Ross Nonpareil. The full list is here.
I started out just bagging, then switched to spraying Surround last spring. This year I’ll probably go back to bagging more and finish up my package of Surround. I’m planning to do an early summer fungicide for peaches, as the rot I got on NJF 16 was horrible last year. Given the bloom on the tree, I can get a bumper crop if I can protect them.
Here’s a GW post where insect resistance was discussed. I sent you PRI 672, a scab resistant Golden Delicious type with 17.9 brix. You ordered PRI 996 from ARS yourself- that’s the one with Scab and PC resistance, whose brix measured 17.3.
I agree- I put almost the same caveat on my Apple leaf report post. But it is still interesting. From what others have said on the board, fireblight in particular can be particularly capricious, as diseases go, striking where you wouldn’t expect it. Thankfully, I haven’t been hit by it at all yet (knocks on wood…).
Looking at my note, I see “crunchy” appearing several times for Liberty. I also have a vague recollection that the texture itself was different between the high and low brix areas. I’ll keep an eye on it this year.
My tree is on G65 and thus so small that there isn’t much in the way of shaded parts. In the case of the above apple, part of it was covered by leaves. One wouldn’t think that would matter so much, as those leaves should be feeding the apple. But, it appears that the apple either makes use of the sunlight, or it creates a condition within the apple which leads to sugar development.