Robert, Lodi is the one of the four I am familiar with. And it’s a cooking apple so far as I’m concerned.
I would try Pristine if I were going to buy any of the 4 myself.
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Strawberry Parfait is quite early here (central Arizona mountains) and had a unique flavor. Everyone that tried them liked them. Pristine was almost as early and very good. The Strawberry Parfait is tender and hubby liked them best picked a little earlier.
Williams Pride is also good with a sweeter and richer flavor profile. It’s not quite as early as the other two.
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Lodi was a bug magnet. Never got a decent apple from it.
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Summer Rambo has remained a favorite old time apple here in the Chesapeake region for a long, long time. Anything popular that long merits attention.
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Hambone- Do you know when it ripens? Does it keep or have any sugar?
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Of the ones that I mentioned all of them are very young trees. I only later decided to add early apples.
State Fair, Pristine, and Zestar all ripened in August in NE Indiana. I want to say that the State Fair and Pristine were early August and Zestar a little later. I did not get to try the Pristine as they started so early that I did not get spray on them before the Curculio had their turn.
The Zestar and State Fair were very good to eat from the tree. I hear they don’t keep well but I couldn’t tell you.
It seems that you may be south of me so that could change things.
I am very happy with them all for early apples. Again, I didn’t get to eat any of the Pristine. They were so early I didn’t think I needed to spray as it was only one tree and the others had no apples yet but the Curcs were there anyway.
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Pretty sure it’s an August apple here, can’t remember what it tastes like but I have friends who LOVE it.
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I’ve grown or have bought over several years the following: Williams Pride, Zestar!, and Pristine (bought). I’ve also picked State Fair at the same time as Zestar!, but only in 1 year so don’t have a great set of observations to go off of.
Here in East Central Iowa the ripening order is (July 31) Pristine → Williams Pride → Zestar = State Fair (Aug 20-ish)
Pristine is a true early apple. They will keep about 4 to 6 weeks. I think that the CSA I buy them from picks them in late July/1st week of Aug. They were still selling some on 9/1, but I was not buying because by this time there are much better apples (Honeycrisp, Alkmene, early Mac sports etc). I added it to my new orchard because it is the very first ripe apple that should do OK here that is not Lodi/Yellow Transparent. My best guess is that it over-sets apples and will need heavy thinning as size is not usually the best with those apples I buy. The bigger apples are sweeter and taste better.
Williams Pride begin ripening around Aug 10 or so here. My dad has it and I have had my own graft of it too. Very vigorous tree. They have a long ripening period, possibly over 2 weeks. I just ate one for lunch and it was going a bit soft. I’d say they keep 4 weeks, max. The average Wms Pride is sweeter/much less acid than Pristine. Many folks (skillcult and the fellow from VA that had a YouTube channel on VA apples, forgot his name) think highly of it and have reviews of Wms Pride. They also have a flavor I describe as “red crab apple from the PRI/scab resistant breeding program(s).” It is a common flavor I can taste several of the red scab-resistant modern apples bred specifically for that purpose. That flavor is also present in Redfree and Liberty.
Zestar! is my favorite of all these apples. If you can pick it at dead ripe it is still firm and gets this caramel-like flavor to it. BUT it is later than the previous two. Two years ago it also picked up some of that cherry-candy flavor that its U of Minn cousin Sweet Sixteen gets. It is ripe here about 8/20-ish. I’ve picked it on 8/15 and decided it needs to be picked later for full flavor. Was a very vigorous tree on M7. Still quite vigorous G.210 (new orchard). It also is able to fruit on last years vigorous growth like a peach. You have to be careful to thin those to 1 fruit per cluster or they will push each other off before they ripen. Stores 6 weeks. Occasionally available as sad, sad mushy apples at Hy-Vee and Target grocery stores here.
State Fair - I know less about this apple, but I’ve picked it at the same time as Zestar! at a u-pick and it is beat by Zestar! in flavor. I figure this is logical since it was a earlier introduction from U of Minn.
Others worth mentioning:
Redfree - scab resistant. Mid August here. More subacid mellowing to sweeter in storage. Doesn’t seem to store quite as well as the above. Good enough to purchase a few each year. Probably a “have a graft of variety.”
St. Edmunds Pippin (aka St. Edmunds Russet). Had a graft of this variety at my old orchard, but just got to taste them pre-picked this week from the local u-pick. Late August? Drier, russet-apple flesh texture. Pear-like. May try to re-add this to my Pristine as a graft in a year or two.
Alkmene - Cox Orange Pippin child. Has Cox-like aromatic flavor. More acid than above. Late Aug. Short keeper.
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Great break down. Exactly what I was looking for. I have tons of mid-late apples and really wanted a super early apple. After reading your post I am leaning towards pristine and zestar. No longer buying bare root. Do you know anybody that has them mail order in pots?
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I have Redfree. A vigorous grower, but not our favorite.We made some apple crisp from some today, but it isn’t near as good as when we use Cortlands. It doesn’t keep very long, either. I grafted a bunch of other varieties onto mine this past spring, and they are doing well.
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Everyone has their right to an opinion but I would argue the fact that potted plants do better than bare root. My experience has been just the opposite. I’ve done both and my bare root tree albeit smaller when I buy them have taken to the soil better and quickly outgrown the potted ones.
I suppose the difference may be that the potted ones were all from Big Box Stores and rootbound to begin with. (too big for their pot)
Anyway good luck with your trees however you decide to plant.
And lastly the Zestar! apples are really good for early apples.
If you decide to go bare root, I have 50% of my trees from Stark Bros bare root and I have yet
to be disappointed with the exception of the GoldRush that will not ripen in NE Indiana until they are covered in ICE. That was my fault.
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I was given a very very russeted Gold Rush recently. No smell. I assume it’s not ripe.
Anyhow, I’ll keep it awhile…maybe it will show signs of being ‘likable’ eventually.
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I grafted a Goldrush onto one of my trees this year. It sounds like it is probably wishful thinking in the Minneapolis area, but at least it is only one branch, not a whole tree.
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Out of my apple varieties, I have Alkmene, Pristine and Zestar.
I chose the obscure Alkie because I wanted a Cox descendant that would do well in my climate. It fruited last year on G11 rootstock, but it was just one apple and it rotted, so. But this year it fruited quite a few more, but unfortunately some varmits made off with all but one of them. I tried it, and although it had some sooty blotch and a little bit of rot, it was quite good, a bit sweet, tart and kinda crunchy. I liked it despite its appearance. My Alkmene seems to be very precocious, unlike some of my other older trees. Maybe because it’s on a dwarfing rootstock.
My Zestar (G30) fruited this year for the first time, but just 4 apples. I got to try two of them, but they had either bird or wasp damage, so they weren’t in the best of shape. The flavor was okay, but prob should’ve been picked a couple weeks earlier.
We have tried Zestar at a local orchard before and really liked them, they remind me of a milder version of Honeycrisp, which makes sense considering it’s a HC offspring. Probably easier to grow than HC, too from what I’ve heard from those that grow them. My tree has been very vigorous, over 10 feet tall, but not a lot of branches on it.
Pristine (M7) bloomed for the first time this year, and had a few fruit, but those disappeared too. For some odd reason it bloomed twice, once in early May, and again in early June. The later set of blooms turned into fireblight, so I had to prune that out pronto. The tree struggled growing for its first couple years, but took off this year.
BTW, the Alkmene and Zestar were planted two years ago, the Pristine three years ago. All of them came from Cummins.
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That surprises me. WP in NY can be somewhat tart, but is best when we don’t get much summer rain and it is subject to water core and tastes almost like a Macoun- a true world class apple.
Pristine is like an early Yellow Delicious which is famous for being very low acid.
Both are worthy early apples that most like a lot more than Yellow Transparent.
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The reviews on this apple are inconsistent. Some claim it is very tart, others say it is more sweet than tart, like typical GD. Mine failed to produce a first crop this year so I have no input. Of course, I don’t trust the first crop or two to give a good indication anyhow.
So far, MonArk is the most tart tasting summer apple I have, but it’s not super intense. I think it might be medium on acid with low sugar. Flesh is crisp and it’s good for baking. Like William’s Pride, the fruit has been clean without sprays. It ripens in second week of August here, a week after WP starts. Some of these characteristics could be influenced by the seedling roots.
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I picked some Winesap on August 22, and I think some of them are now about ready to eat. I already made a pie with the drops.
So, everything seems to be early this year. But, blooming last spring was early.
(From my younger days, I thought Winesap was picked late Sept and stored in a closet or root cellar to improve. Like pears.)
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Things are a little early this year here as well. Picked bartletts third week of august.
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I don’t have but one pear, but my neighbor had first crop of Bartlett…and I picked a big handful on Aug. 22 and told him to put them in the bottom drawer of the fridge. Tomorrow I may drop by and see what’s become of the ones still on the tree.
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Had a winesap for a while. They are much later, but their are many sports of winesap with winesap in the name.
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