Bought this Empire apple tree at a local nursery in '08. I had bought a few overpriced twigs from Willis prior to this. 2 out of 3 died. This tree cost $60 at the nursery. It may have been the 4th tree I ever bought. I found out a week later I could have bought the same tree from the same tree farm for $37 at the local COOP. Around 2022 the Coop started to charge the same price that the nursery did in '08.
This Empire never produced 1 apple for 10 - 11 years. It produced 1 pretty good crop maybe around year 13 or 14. This year it has maybe 3 apples on it. It is end of summer, but it tends to lose all it leaves before the Fall.
The apple circled in yellow is the one pictured here. I think the Empire apples need to go to late Sept. But just guessing after I sampled this one. Not many chances to experiment this year to find the sweet spot for ripening. Sept 6 the Empire was edible, but tart.
I am doing better with keeping notes, so won’t in the dark about infrequently fruiting trees. I will also mark the verso on the metal tree tags as to ripening dates. Apples grow poorly here. Lots of disease with wildcrafting them. But the big problem is many do not fruit or produce very, very low crop yields. I’ve tried about 20 apple trees over the years. Very poor outcome when it comes to wildcrafting and disease. Nothing at all like the disease free, bumper crop Asian pears I grow.