Experience with Red Fleshed Apples

Maybe backcrossing.
Or selfpolinating, if not posible crossing with a red brother.

It seems these red genes a dominant?

1 Like

Anyone have a ‘cut-open’ picture of a Black Prince apple? (Not the US apple sometimes called Black Prince, but the English old apple by that name.) Pictured here.

blackprince

Supposed to have a lot of reds under the skin and sporadically on into the flesh.

4 Likes

if you want some of these varieties, but I think you have them all

4 Likes

Have not tried that apple.
It’s not at the top of my list either…but let me guess, it’s Pink Pearl x Golden Delicious?
Or you have any idea?

I don’t know

1 Like

Almost certainly it’s Pink Pearl. Yellow skin, pink flesh yields a distinctive appearance.

2 Likes

Right. I can tell it has Pink Pearl genes…may be Pink Pearl. (Or a daughter possibly.)

I have Pink Pearl, and over 30 other Red Fleshed in my collection.
It has not had fruits yet.

I had my first pink pearls this past year. They were very fruity and sweet/tart.

1 Like

My Otterson looks
like it’s regressed…
on B-118 in clay soil that seems to ooze for about 30 days in spring…and also a ‘replant’ location.
I may have
to find a donor and start over … nothing good to report on Otterson so far.
But, the deer pruning it early on hurt it a lot.


MSU photo.

3 Likes

So, have you all @SMC_zone6 managed any red fleshed seedlings that are worthwhile? Or was that ever your objective?
It’s a time consuming, patience-trying effort, but I’ve finally collected all the varieties
I need and then some. Now, it’s crossing the right apples, getting seeds to germinate
at the right time, and growing them out. I have only a handfull of seedlings so far, and only one has red leaves…but it’s so red, I expect a tiny red crab apple to result. (In maybe 3 more seasons?)

This last spring I was lucky enough to win a “black strawberry” Scion from Steven Edholm. Got three grafts out of a puny 6 inch Scion. After a bud graft and a bench graft took, I put the last 3 inches onto the top of an established red love Calypso. It’s leaves are as green as my Sweet 16. Being an amateur I feel I might be biased with how red the Calypso’s leaves are. So what I’m trying to say is the leaves might not give you an accurate measurement of the fruit it will produce.

2 Likes

Yes, I concede your point. And it’s especially true if you’re using the genetics derived from Pink Pearl or Surprise apples.

But, I find my instincts are pretty accurate no matter if it’s a pandemic, the economy, or red leaves to match red flesh. If my crosses display no red pigment in leaves using the breeding stock that has red pigments in leaves and inside the limbs…then I’m much more than 90% positive there’ll be no red flesh in apples of the ‘children’.

Can I be mistaken…most likely. For that’s normal for there to be an occasional oddball exception to a rule?!

But, if a Niedzwetzkyana child does not display red pigmentation in leaves, I’m probably going to turn it into a rootstock to graft to. And that one in 500…I’ll just miss.

:slight_smile:

1 Like

That’s right. Pink Parfait’s leaves are ordinarily green but the fruit are excellent red-fleshed apples.

4 Likes

I’m going to speculate with this, but there is a very high probability the green leaves red flesh apples are the varieties commercially acceptable and that taste good enough to market. That means most of the red leaves red flesh varieties probably have off flavors that make them commercially unmarketable. Why? Because the red color is from anthocyanins and one thing almost universally true of this class of chemicals is that they taste bad when concentrated. The reason plants produce them are to protect their fruit from too much sun and to protect from insect and animal attacks.

5 Likes

I’m still going to grow out the most red pigmented apples. Same as I would select for vigor and disease resistance.

3 Likes

Me too…wish I’d gotten started earlier in life. I have 35 red fleshed named varieties.

1 Like

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmPAR8cJwBq/?igshid=YmRhOGE0MWQ=

It appears @SkillCult has come up with something special.

6 Likes

I would like to get a clearer definition of “delicious”. Sweet, sour, balanced, etc. My “delicious” and others’ delicious may not be the same. Hope Skilcult will chime in.

It looks very attractive. Rubaiyat does looks totally red like that.

3 Likes

he has a YouTube vid about it i watched the other day. as many apples’ hes tasted, you know its got to be good if he can pick it out of all the others.

3 Likes