My absolute favorite apple to eat out of hand is Wickson, usually considered a crab. It is like all the flavor, sugar, and acid of a full sized good apple got packed into a little package, plus a mysterious extra fruity taste that is hard to pin down. Great addition for cider too. Iāve not picked them myself but my cider making partner Ben goes and gets them at Poverty Lane orchard in NH every year. He doesnāt always succeed in bringing them home, so I take it the trees tend toward biennial bearing or get nipped by late frost or something. Ben also reports their small size makes them a pain in the ass to pick as far as volume/time goes. But dang, they will knock your socks off in the flavor department.
Being a ācrabā one would expect Wickson to be somewhat less trouble to grow. It is reported to have relatively high vigor. Canāt comment on other issues, but of my 7 varieties on my city lot, Wickson got hit worst last year by CAR. This year is a lot better; may be due to a dryer spring or because Iām spraying Michael Philipsā organic brew on them. Still, there is a section of new growth where I can see the CAR spots developing. Not clear at this point if the amount of CAR Iām seeing would really impact tree growth or fruit production (this is only itās second season). Here is my baby Wickson this spring, with tulips and muscari in front of it.
I also love Ashmeadās Kernel, Golden Russet, Spitzenburg, Cox Orange Pippin, Roxbury Russet. Cox is weakly growing and not great for disease, Golden Russet is supposedly tip bearing so I didnāt plant it for espalier. Honeycrisp is of course a great apple and I like it a lot, but I think there are better apples. Of varieties you can buy at the grocery store, I think Cripps Pink/Pink Lady is good.
