I am jealous Alan! Those apricots sound so good. Apricot pie?
It took me over 20 years to figure out the only place to get good apricots on my property was against the SE corner of my house. Branches spreading on the south side ripen first and get the sweetness and juiciness of the best of CA apricots- and it is just an Alfred, not a highly touted variety. The house on this corner has white stucco to reflect light and the driveway comes right up to the wall where the tree is, so light and heat are amplified.
My first fruit tree was an apricot and I love them as much as any fruit.
I’m with you kid!
What are your thoughts on Suncrisp? I have one potted on rootstock I’ll stick in the ground this fall.
Like Fluffy, I consider Suncrisp a very enjoyable apple, even if they were trying to catch the Honeycrisp wave with that name. It is crisp, dense and firm, but without the big cell super crunch of its namesake. I seem to recall some problems with it on another site, I think rots can be an issue. On the single tree in my orchard it has been bearing well for three consecutive years. The flavor doesn’t hold up so well in storage although the texture does.
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Do they grow well for you Scott (the Wickson)? Do you have it as a grafted limb or tree? Do you suffer from any particular maladies with it CAR, scab…or anything similar? Have any of you juiced or sauced it?
My good friend has a pretty sizeable home orchard and he has a crab that makes the most awesome applesauce imaginable…he has no idea what it is, nor do I.
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I had two trees of Wickson, now I have one (well, a half, had to move my Pitmaston Pineapple to it a month ago).
It is a CAR magnet, one of the very worst.
It doesn’t cook to a puree, its not a sauce apple which is unusual for a crab - it shows how it is a different kind of crab.
I don’t have a juicer so can’t comment on making juice.
One reason why I have less Wickson than I used to is this issue of what to do with it - its on the sour side for cider. They are great little snack morsels right off the tree but I haven’t found much else I like to do with it.
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I see a cider press and homemade cider clothes in your future 
and off the list goes wickson.
what you said was exactly what I was afraid might be the case for me. The CAR susceptibility seals the deal.
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For our annual cider making, the Wickson is a nice addition when available because we usually buy a full bin of bitterweets and don’t have enough acid to balance them out (this is for the hard cider run). I’ve used them in pie, but it is annoying to peel a lot of little apples. I bet my screw type all metal Squeez-O food mill could sauce them after being cooked, so they could be an addition to sauce mix. The CAR issue is a bit of a pain though.
Hi John
No, sorry I won’t be able to make it on the first. I don’t have much yet in early apples - my Irish Peach all dropped suddenly around the first week in July but weren’t ripe - maybe too hot being near asphalt… I have a single Discovery so probably won’t be representative. I will be getting the first ever of William’s Pride fairly soon. I had high hopes for Sweet Bough but it died before I got to try it. If you ever get up near Tacoma, Steve Butler grows amazing Discoveries on Butler’s Farm in Gig Harbor. He has a road side stand.
Carole
Quill,
Have you fruited Irish Peach apple in previous years? How do you like it? How old is the tree? It has a reputation of being a tip-bearer. Are you seeing that? Thanks.
I am also an amateur woodworker. Think It’ll work?
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Ummm, yes! It actually looks as if you could press juice from a stone with that thing 
. Looks awesome!
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Matt, I haven’t fruited the Irish Peach before. Rootstock about 5 years old. It used to be all Lord Lamborne (supposedly) but the initial fruit off of LL tasted so peculiar, like mineral water, that I grafted most of it over to Irish Peach. I have Kerry Pippin on it too but growth is vastly overrun by the IP. The Orange Pippin site raves about IP.
To be clear, please don’t base any judgements or opinions based on my experiences with the varities. I have limited yard and am still learning about the different heat units/ exposures of various spots. It is on Bud9 in a pot, near black asphalt and it probably overheated. I live on a sound so dessicating marine winds are an issue here as well.
you’re so modest.
your finished product looks splendid.
Looks wonderful; excellent work!
Actually the first year I made cider with my friend Ben, he dragged out an old basket press like this from his grandparent’s barn with an attached cast iron hand cranked shredder. We had to make some pieces to repair it enough to work, then pressed I think about 60L of juice. The yield on the old basket press was not great, though probably mostly because of the shredder. If you have a good shredder the yield on your press could be pretty good. Also, in future you could easily make up some grates and do a stacked cheese setup in place of the basket. It would be interesting to try both basket and cheese setups to see what the difference in juice yield is using the same pomace.
The Gravensteins are here! First pickings from one of the local orchards-- Red Gravenstein. So fresh and juicy:
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Wow! So much to learn from reading these posts! Thanks.
Tom
Looks fantastic!