Haralson seems like it does better every year. Any other fans out there? These are far to green to eat this year since our warm weather came so late. It will likely be a fall apple this year. We have been ripening most fruits in recent years 2 months early but this year we will be on the same schedule as everyone else. I picked out the reddest one and tried it which confirmed they are very green with a taste right now about like a Granny Smith. This apple is in the bottoms close to water so it’s carrying a normal crop. Haralson is not a heavy producer for me but it’s not shy either. I think it’s worth growing.
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Clark, I think Haralason is truly excellent. I only have a shy graft of it on my tree, but when I finally harvested a couple from it I was super impressed. It is known to be FB susceptible, but if you can dodge that bullet it’s just great.
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I have one that I’m not wild about the flavor out of hand, but makes a really good pie. I’ve never had a firmer/harder apple! You really have to have some decent choppers to eat one of mine. I usually don’t harvest until mid-late September, but in '15 I left them until October and they got really dark red all over.
Fairly easy apple for me to grow, not a lot of issues and nice looking fruit generally.
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I have Haralson on some unknown dwarfing rootstock. The tree grew 5’ tall and about 7’ wide. I get about a bushel off it every year. It ripens for me late September.
It makes a nice pie. I prefer a sweeter apple to eat fresh but it does keep well and is fine for those who savor hard, tart apples to eat. The sliced flesh keeps its shape when cooked so NOT a good apple for making applesauce (too chunky).
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As an aside, I should have qualified my comment, or at least included that A LOT of people who eat my Haralson apples like them just fine out of hand (and I regularly hand deliver some to a former teacher here in town who loves them) so it’s just a preference thing with my not caring for them as much out of hand.
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I prefer Honeycrisp, but last year I let some of the Haralson hang extra long into October and they really sweetened up for out of hand eating. Also, compared to Zestar, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious it seems to be very resistant to Cedar Apple Rust, at least at my location
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My Haralson’s had a full crop this year. Much appreciated because all my other trees had light harvests. There was some corking, and bluejays convinced me to harvest a bit earlier than I would have liked (mid-Sept) but overall it was a good harvest. The ones that had corking or other damage are getting rubbery now (my root cellar doesn’t cool down until end of Oct) but the best ones are still good (Nov. 11). They are a tart apple but do sweeten up in storage. I use them for sauce and they do that well. I hope next time the jays let me leave some on the tree longer to see if mine will sweeten more. Sue
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Haralson is a great apple here in Montana. I hope it continues to work out for you. I have just one small branch on my frankentree but they are good. A friend has more that I get to sample sometimes!
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