Any chance the soil or something else could be influencing the flavor?
Nice to hear from you Amigo. This is one of the few times I grafted a scion and had it grow into a multi-branched limb and fruit the next year . So I am hopeful it will be more promising in years to come. This was on a ,multi-graft tree and the other varieties were excellent. In fact Rubinette shares a scaffold with it and fruited for the first time and was awesome.
A somewhat belated report:
We harvested decent crops of Christmas Pink and Rubaiyat this year, and our first samples of Pink Parfait. The former two were a little tart for fresh eating, even after a month of storage, unless you like your apples pretty tart. The berry flavors were prominent and very appealing. However, they made exceptionally good cobbler - the berry dimension to the flavor survived cooking, as did the color. We’re looking forward to getting enough of these in the future for more cooking uses. Christmas Pink cooks up softer; Rubaiyat maintains more of its shape.
We probably could have let Pink Parfait hang until Christmas, but we only had a few, so to be on the safe side we picked them at the beginning of December and stored them. We just ate the last one. It was especially good, definitely within our top 5 apples of any type for fresh eating. It was sweet enough for most palates, but had a cherry-like tang in addition to the more conventional apple flavor. The texture was particularly nice, both crisp and juicy. We’ve heard that they cook up beautifully, too, but it’s going to be a while before we have enough to give that a try. This one is a winner here.
We got a small crop of Muscat de Venus and Crimson Gold. Both were quite good; the latter had an especially nice crunch and gloss. Hope to have bigger crops of these next year.
Pink Pearmain and Blush Rosette both bore a decent little crop this year. Both had excellent color and flavor, though I think the latter might have have had slightly better texture. Neither was as sweet this season as last, which I think may have been due to the weather. (Few of our early apples were up to par this season - our Pink Pearls, usually very good, were boring this year. Even the Gravs were affected. Later apples like the Wicksons were much better.) I suspect both of these are good cookers, though we haven’t had enough to try yet.
We got a couple of Thornberry fruit this year, and while I recall that they were hot pink inside and tasted fine, I don’t think that they were good examples. I may have let them hang too long. We should get a better sense of this one next season.
Atalanta’s Gold produced a small crop this year, and it proved to be a bit of a sleeper. The fruit is small and bright yellow, and packs a surprising flavor punch. It’s every bit as sweet/tart as the Wickson, and that’s saying something. It’s crunchy and addictive.
Victory fruited, but I don’t think that the examples were representative. Our graft of Alaska also fruited, but it looked and tasted so much like Golden Delicious that I’m not sure it’s really Alaska. We’ll see what happens next season.
Still to fruit: Grenadine, Katharine, Vixen, Amberoso, Etter’s Gold.
Thanks for the great report Jerry. I love reading these reports. I so look forward to my Pink Parfait fruiting. Are you growing Airlie’s? It is such a nice apple that the pink interior is icing on the cake (I know it probably isn’t an Etter). I picked my Christmas Pink too early @ late October. Last year I picked in December but the texture was soft although somewhat sweet.
I do have Airlie Red Flesh grafted here, and it produced its first fruit this season. I’ve read speculation that it may have been a descendent of a sample that Etter sent to an Oregon ag research site near where ARF was found, but I don’t know the truth of that.
I’ve grafted Mott’s Pink, too, and expect it to produce this coming season. I’ll also be grafting Devonshire Quarrenden and Discovery this season, thanks to @derekamills, and planting a Red Devil on MM111 from Neil Collins near the Strawberry Parfait that he sent me a couple of years ago. The latter is quite tasty, and makes great pink apple sauce.
Obviously, I’m fascinated by red-fleshed apples. It’s probably a good thing, all in all, that I’ve run out of room for new trees.
In our environment, Christmas Pink seems to be best picked somewhere between Thanksgiving and the end of November. It keeps in fresh-eating condition for a month or so.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Airlie’s Red Flesh came from Etter. It is my favorite red flesh by far and seems too refined to be an accidental pippin. I’ve been able to try Christmas Pink, Pink Pearl (from store), Niedzwetzkyana, and Mott’s Pink plus a couple other forgettable ones.
I’ve grafted 3 of the Etter apples…but no fruits yet.
Odysso seems promising of the Swiss bred red fleshed apples.
Be at least 2 years before I have fruit on it.
Etter’s Gold changes flavor significantly as the season progresses. It sounds like you picked yours way before the fruit was at its peak. They will hang on the tree for a couple of months and the flavor keeps getting better, although there is a point toward the end when it starts going downhill. When they look perfectly ripe, wait another month before picking. If you pick too early let them sit for a few weeks.
Thanks for the tip. I grafted it last year, and it grew quite vigorously. I expect it to fruit this season, and I’ll remember to be patient and let them hang for a while.
Just as an FYI, they were falling off the tree and it was in November when i picked them. Last year they did not size up at all and the squirrels enjoyed them.
Then you waited way too long. They start going downhill before they fall off. I don’t eat them if they have fallen off.
How many days after red delicious does it ripen or after petal fall? Or what does it ripen with?
I’ve been seeing a lot of Wickson and Crimson Gold in the supermarkets lately. Wickson is my absolute favorite apple, and the Pink Pearls I happened to find in an orchard last year are easily in my top 10, even eaten fresh. This year I ordered Vixen, Rubaiyat, Grenadine, Thornberry and Muscat de Venus from Greenmantle. Considering Pink Pearls seem to be considered one of the least favorites of his varieties I’m pretty excited. I’m not far south from where Etter worked so hopefully they’ll all do well.
Has anyone tried Vixen yet? That’s the one I’m most intrigued by.
I’m just south of you at Point Reyes, and the many Etter varieties that I’ve planted here are doing well so far. Most are producing now.
Not Vixen, though. I planted one about four years ago (as a benchgraft), and it was quite vigorous here. Huge leaves. However, it was killed down to the ground a couple of years ago by a freakish late cold snap that hit after most of my apples had broken dormancy. A half-dozen others (and the last of my apricots) succumbed as well. I planted another, and it’s a healthy whip now, but it’ll be another couple of seasons before I see fruit from it.
@SkillCult has Vixen grafted and producing up near Ukiah, I believe.
I have fruited vixen several years. It’s very good and very much like Wickson. It isn’t as intense or concentrated, but it’s very wickson-like. They can also get close to medium size apples. I wouldn’t call them a crab at all.
It doesn’t ripen like most other apples. Ignore what other apples are doing. I would guess that the fruit is at its peak 30-70 days after it appears to be mature (has reached decent size and has colored up). The first fruit that look mature on my tree appear in July and the last that look mature will appear in October. But by October that July fruit may still be hanging there and will be well past its prime.
So if I understand you, you are saying that Etter’s Gold not only ripens over time but it is over a period of months vs weeks. If so wow, and that is very different.
Exactly.
So (drum roll)…in your opinion how good is this apple in terms of taste? My point is, I certainly do not know in terms of taste as mine apparently were picked wrong but, it sounds exceedingly difficult to pick (but as a home grower it may, in some fashion be ideal), I know it is a CAR magnet (I have never seen an apple get hit that hard before), so in your estimation is it worth the effort to grow? It certainly was an attractive looking apple. Curious…
@TheFluffyBunny I hope all has been well. Good to see you again! Wickson can even be difficult to grow here in the Midwest. Wickson is one i do grow. Ideal conditions is hard for us to come by here so the Etter types likely will never reach their peak. I grow non etter apples eg. honeycrisp and have had similar experience with it. Some apples such as hauer pippen really are likely best grown in California.
I think the hobbyist, the curious, should try what piques their interest…but some varieties would be a mistake to plant for commercial purposes in some areas. (Unless lots of spraying is done.)