Grimes golden apples

Does grimes golden get scab and fireblight cedar Apple rust do the apples taste sweet

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Grimes is a fine eating apple. Self fruitful. (Needs thinning or apples will be small.)

I lost my old tree several years ago, and my new one is just two years old and hasn’t bloomed. But, as I recall, it lost leaves to some extent, but I can’t remember if it was rust or scab or what…(scab I think was it’s issue, but that isn’t what killed the tree). (As I recall, a neighbor set the woods on fire, and they unloaded a bulldozer on my private property to fight the fire…I was out of town and not aware for some weeks.) (I lost trees another time from electric line weed killer spray…again I wasn’t home at the time.)

I do know they take awhile to bear on M111 roots. So, I’d recommend B-118 or M106, or a dwarfing root.

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Grimes died here from blight and I’ve read a lot of similar stories from other people.

If you live in fire blight country and don’t spray for blight I would not grow it.

Here, GG is a disease free tree, and a must have IMHO. If your tree
is small, it needs a pollinator. Once it gets large, it will be self fruitful.

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I have a dozen or so apples on my 3 yr grimes on g-41. One dropped today. It had some internal browning and seeds were not fully darkened, but decent tasting. When do these normally ripen here? I probably have very similar conditions to @rayrose. Im not sure who else is growing it around here but i know he has mentioned it as a good one for him in SC. Im in east central AL.

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It all depends on how ripe you like them. I usually pick before they fully
ripen, because I like them extra crunchy and more flavorful. You’ll have
to experiment with your taste preferences.

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What time of year does that usually happen?

August through the fall

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This is my second year with grimes apples. Same deal as last year. They seem to go from underripe to overripe very quickly here and there is some internal Browning of the fruit if they are anywhere close to ripe. I picked a couple dozen today and about half feel soft. It may be too hot in my central AL yard for this apple to be at its best. The flavor is decent but nowhere near my Crimson crisp which ripen about the same time here.

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I don’t know but isn’t grimes golden a sept apple? It is here anyways. I can’t remember where it is from but I would think it would do ok in Alabama. Maybe someone from the south can chime in.

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I think wv is it’s origin…it’s not performed for me…2 times my Grimes have died…and I have grafted it once more. Back around 1997 I got a harvest of small apples. I do like them better in taste than y. delicious.

Maybe I should pick underripe and store for a few weeks. But again why bother if Crimson crisp taste better and is very forgiving in terms of picking time.

Grimes has been a winner for me here on the cool California coast. It sets heavily and reliably. Compared to its offspring Golden Delicious, it’s larger, earlier, has a better texture and a much more interesting flavor. I also find it superior to Sinta, a back-cross of GD to GG. None of these are good keepers, though.

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Update: I picked all my grimes about a month ago. They go from under to over ripe on the tree real quick so I picked the remaining fully green and underripe tasting ones about a month ago. Sure, taste is subjective but these would have been acceptable to very few people and definitely not the awesomeness that grimes reportedly achieves farther north. Well the underripe ones after a month in the fridge are getting pretty darn good. Sweet-tart, just enough sugar to keep me interested. I think I’ll refrain from grafting it all over and just be sure to pick them early and store them next year.

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Any one in some northern states that grow GG trees? I’m in SW Ohio and I was thinking of adding the tree to my orchard. Yet, with the replies I see here it may not be a good choice. I do not like apples that get soft and mealy fast after you pick them.

It’s originally a west Virginia apple so I’d guess it would be at its best in your area. It’s just blazing hot all summer and fall down here with nighttime lows only down in the mid 70s. It got into the 60s the last couple nights for the first time since spring and felt kind of chilly.

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I’m not north of you, but just SW. I had 2 GG trees, one of them got snapped off at the rootstock during a windstorm last year. This year my remaining tree has a few fruit, but am still waiting to pick them. I like the flavor very much, but the texture isn’t very crisp. They seem to have a good structure with good scaffold angles despite my horrible pruning techniques.

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We get such hot and humid conditions here that is why I wondere3d if it would be worthwhile to even attempt to grow. The days can get into the 100’s at times and even weeks of high 90’s. The night temps are in the 70’s during that high day temps. Then it dips down after we get rain, which is rare at times.

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I had a grimes for several years, but it was taken out by a lightning strike. @barry I’m in 7b west central Georgia and I usually got very good apples off of it. Had the usual, for me, fireblight issues, plus cedar apple rust. It got some afternoon shade, which may have helped it handle the heat but of course did no good for the fireblight or CAR.

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Does grimes golden blossom earlier than most apples?
I’m in 6b and it is in bloom now.
My other apples are not. I lost track of where is put it’s scions so this may be a good indicator for me.