Those look so freaky! Almost outer space alien freaky. They look so out of place against the green of the cedar.
Those are also some of the biggest cedars I’ve seen, I’m used to them being short and shrub like. But, the ones I remember were back in OK where they don’t get that big.
Red cedar are fairly common to my area. They are a pretty tree and I am happy that they are around but for someone who likes to grow apples they are a real problem. Thankfully I am not shooting for organic so I can spray in the spring to try and mitigate the impact that it has on my trees.
So… I just had what I would describe as the first-ever good batch of CrimsonCrisp apples. However, I still don’t think I like them very much.
I wanted to share my thoughts with forum members:
One of the local farmers here has been growing and selling CrimsonCrisp for a few years now. He’s told me that he is very excited about the variety’s sales potential.
Every year I buy a bunch from him. They’ve always looked beautiful and blemish free, with a strong purplish red color all around. But the taste and texture is usually underwhelming.
This year, the apples look different, and are particularly gorgeous with a ruddy orange color. This better matches with what the apples are supposed to look like based on internet photos.
Here is this year’s batch of CrimsonCrisp:
This year’s batch of CrimsonCrisp are pleasantly crisp and juicy, with a perfectly pleasing texture. They are mildly sweet with a strange but distinct SAVORY taste I cannot quite describe. The savory flavor is quite strong in this batch and I don’t quite care for it, but I would imagine others might.
CrimsonCrisp is one of the PRI Co-op apples… perhaps the most successful ever disease-resistance focused apple breeding program. Others from that program include Pristine, Pixie Crunch, Goldrush, Williams’ Pride, etc etc.
The literature admits that CrimsonCrisp can suffer from rust and fireblight, but it is listed as field immune to scab-- a huge boon.
Pixie Crunch recently skyrocketed high up on my list of favorite apples. It has the same kind of savory flavor I’ve noticed in CrimsonCrisp, but the flavor is much more subtle in Pixie Crunch, instead of dominating like in CrimsonCrisp.
No apples here yet. My trees set sparsely this year.
The local farmers will have apples here in about a month.
Lodi comes Fourth of July— barely edible. Then Pristine which is okay here.
The first apple I really look forward to is Sansa. It’s almost as good as a Gala or Minneiska SweeTango, but VERY early season.
I have learned that the PRI apples are really not more disease resistant than non PRI apples. overall.
Although a particular variety may be more resistant to one disease the same apple they me less resistant another.
Pristine has a bad problem with FB and Goldrush has a big problem with CAR for example.
If I started over, I would ignore the resistance benefit and focus on the other features that make the PRI varieties good or bad. Pristine is excellent for such an early apple in my area and I like Goldrush a lot too, but the so called disease resistance really does not produce any real benefit in my opinion. In my area Williams Pride has a very tough skin and a bad bitter pit problem even on 5 year old trees on B9.
The PRI apples were bred to limit their susceptibility to apple scab. Their resistances to other diseases vary.
See below for a good summary.
Very true. However, I believe the overall disease resistance of the PRI apples is over promoted and my experience with some of the trees is much different from the chart.
Noticed the Purdue chart rated Goldrush or Crimsom Crisp as MR to Fire Blight and Pristine as R. That has not been the case on my trees.
The same chart list Fuji as VS to FB which is not true for my orchard either.
My experience is not research based. Just observation of about 100 trees on each variety over 6 years, but I get a lot more FB damage on Goldrush and Crimson Crisp than Fuji and Pristine is the worst.
I don’t know if you know, but for me one of the most interesting and resistant is QUERINA FLORINA
How does Q.F. taste?
Sweet, crunchy, bi-color, resists ventura ssp and podosphaera leucotricha. Here, is not attacked by cydia pomonella.
Very good conservation.
No need to remove fruit to have caliber.
For the tast, I also like the variety " belle fleur jaune"
I keep in mind the fact that everyone…despite their best intentions , could possibly be reporting on apples and other fruit that is…as is often the case…mislabelled, and with that in mind… I have some Haralsons, Liberty, Novamac, and those are probably my best looking healthy trees going through the season…having said that, my Wealthy apples look terrible and I wonder if they are Wealthy, as those are reported to be relatively disease resistant…not mine…I have purchased another Wealthy tree from a different source and on standard stock…the ones doing poorly are on M26…which I thought might be the culprit…however I have a Bramley’s s Seedling on M26 that does well. I have a Chestnut Crab on standard that looks decent most of the time…Winesaps that often look better than others…and Hoople’s Antique Gold…Kerr Crabapple is several years old and looking good this year…too early to tell but Holstein may be a relatively less affected tree …as is my Ribston Pippin…they sort of go downward from there…i have a lot of varieties…not so many of one type. CAR is the main issue with my trees. We are surrounded by juniper that scrubby looking tree that moves in when all the good hardwoods (and softwoods) are cleared.
Don’t know about FB…Haven’t seen it for last couple of years…but Crimson Crisp is not one of the better looking apples that I have…I got it because of the description but am not pleased with the health…it’s OK I guess…I would put it in the 40 percentile in relation to health of all my apple trees. …Gold Rush (I have only one so maybe not a good example)…but I hacked it off at about 10" a couple weeks ago because I didn’t like the look of the trunk…its leaves were always having problems right through the season. the small remaining pencil thin branch looks decent…hope it comes back OK …from the description…it is just the kind of apple I would most like for eating. I am updating these posts here to say that most of this trouble has been from CAR.
Have you tried the Enterprise apple ? What is the quality like ?
Enterprise tasted blah here but I know people who like it. Sorry I wasted about five years on it.
I have Enterprise and I like the fruit. I have a friend that was impressed by the flavor and he is fairly picky when it comes to fruit.
On the forum peoples’ opinions are mixed. Some don’t like the skin which is thicker than most commercial apples. Flavor is also somewhat regionally dependent since the climate effects flavor for all apples. It does well here in the Midwest and actually the test orchard for the PRI program that bred the apple isn’t far from my home. The fruit also keeps well in storage.
The tree grows well and the leaves are the cleanest in my orchard. That helps a lot if you don’t want to spray often. I think it would be a good choice especially for organic growers.
Here is a link to a thread that talks about the Enterprise apple.
edit
You may want to look at this link for Enterprise. Click on the review tab and a bunch of people have reviewed the apple.
This nursery has a good collection in its range of resistan apple varieties.
There are very good varieties, but there is one that stands out above all the others, and if you do not know it, I highly recommend it.
It is one of the best varieties in my entire collection of apple trees.
It is truly spectacular in every way.
The resistant varieties of the CIV (Center of Varietal Innovation) in Italy are also very good.
I have in my collection the most relevant varieties of the CIV:
I like apples, crisp, juicy, with a touch of acidity but a predominance of sweetness, so the most interesting of these varieties for me is Fujion.
Fujion
Regards
Jose
Those are some beautiful looking apples.
