Just curious as while Albert Etter is mainly known for apples; he had Strawberries as well. Are you growing any of Etter’s varieties? And if so how would you describe your success with them. It is sort of odd that on many of his types there is still descriptor information still missing. But interest in them seems constant.
Here we have Wickson started. And hope to add Etter’s Gold, Waltana, Little Rosybloom and Vixen soon. Keep looking at Alaska but descriptions do not say much about flavor so we avoid it for now.
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I think we, Hocking Hills Orchard, grow every apple variety that Albert Etter developed and have grown Alaska since the late 80’s. They are delicious apples so no need to worry about the flavor. Nice large fruit that produce reliably and productively every year.
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Thanks. I have read they are large and fairly juicy. But not about the flavor. I’d guess being related to Bedfordshire Foundling they would also keep pretty well.
Alaska apple from Derek grown in central California. It’s a good apple with a nice texture too.
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I am growing Waltana, Katharine, Pink Parfait, and Wickson but have only had fruit from Waltana and Katharine. Between the two I prefer the Katharine, but I’ve only had one apple from Katharine so far.
I am actually grafting over most of my Waltana this year. For whatever reason it does not do well in my location. It drops fruit early, and half of the fruit becomes mealy in texture. The ones that aren’t mealy are tasty and juicy but I’d prefer to grow something else. I also don’t love how thick the skin is. And it seems to sustain the most damage from coddling moths out of all my other apples grown.
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I had high hopes on Waltana because so many say it is an apple that likes the heat.
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I’ll be interested to see how it does for you. I haven’t heard of others having this same problem. So who knows. I have also found it not to be great for storage, and it is supposed to be a decent apple for storing.
It has been consistently productive and fruit size will be fairly large if you thin.
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The main complaint I heard of Waltana was that it has a good taste but it was sort of fleeting. I was hoping the hot summers here would bring out the flavor.
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To me it tastes like apple juice flavor which I like. My wife really didn’t like the thick skin. She is pretty picky about apples though. Since she wasn’t eating them I ended up eating my fair share haha. They were also great in pies.
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