Help me choose a new apple!

General Fruit Growing
21

I guess here is my real question: if I want a Macintosh apple, should I grow one? Are these older heirloom varieties that are out there a significant challenge to grow without lots of spraying and whatnot?

I would love a more modern variety that is similar to a real Macintosh if it meant it could be grown no spray and still get good fruit, but if the original Macintosh or any other number of even older varieties are still worth growing in the sense that as a hobbyist, it is rewarding and not just an incessant challenge fighting with the health of a tree and in the end get subpar fruit.

Iā€™m quite new to fruit growing, but am an experienced gardener. All my trees are four years or younger and none are quite yet at a bearing stage of maturity, so Iā€™m talking out my rear a bit, but I would really just like a no fuss variety that still provides fruit that I actually want to eat.

I am intrigued by Goldrush that was mentioned here, along with any number of Mac type descendants, but also I am interested in some of the even older heirlooms like Ashmeads Kernel etcā€¦

22

I think the concern is highly over blown. There are many old standbyā€™s that belt out plenty of fruit.

23

So when you only have a couple decades to experiment how do you choose one?

I would love to buy dozens of trees but I donā€™t have the space or time to wait for them. I might get another 5-8 years on this property before itā€™s time to move.

I get so frazzled and fickle trying to pick the right one you know?

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24

I think Disease resistance is over blown. Many of them I find are not high flavored apples. Of course the same can be said of many old ones.

Just pick a flavor type you enjoy aand pick the best available option.

25

If you like Mcintosh, plant a Mcintosh. Ya, they can be scabby in scab prone areas. Spray them a couple times with fungicide, or pick through to find the non scabby ones, or eat around the scab

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26

you could always graft other varieties to it if you dont care for that particular apple. planting the wrong tree isnā€™t a big issue. i have a 8ft. mountain ash completely grafted over to 4 varieties of pear. yes m. ash isnt as long lived but once i start to see decline i can take scions from that tree and graft it to another.

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27

Anybody care to make some suggestions on some tart/sharp flavored Russet apples? Iā€™m thinking Golden Russet, or something similar. Anything easy to grow, good vigor, etcā€¦

I know I said already that I have a graft of Golden Russet, but itā€™s only going on its second leaf. Itā€™s maybe the length of a pencil lol.

The way I see it, I would rather have a whole tree that is pleasing to the eye, a single variety with a nice growth habit, than to have a frankentree with all sorts of different growths gangling out of a mess of twigs.

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28

Personally I want to plant disease-resistant varieties, partly because Iā€™d like to spray as little as possible, partly because I see the disease-prone tree as a threat to other trees that are merely resistant but not immune. So for example, after disastrous attempts with Mac and Cortland, Iā€™ve had good success with Liberty and Enterprise.

Re MacIntosh: Among others, Iā€™m trying Novamac this year. Iā€™ve received the scions; the rootstock are en route. Iā€™m not looking for the best possible fruit, just another dessert selection on a dwarf tree.

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29

I like trying apples people have raved about for hundreds of years. Some are worth it. Some ainā€™t. But you know which.

30

Iā€™ve noticed that the Gravenstein apple has not been mentioned in this thread. I doubt if I would be happy without mine. Does not store well but thatā€™s really the only downside. Nice size apple. Sort of neutral taste. Productive but does not pollinate well. Its been around for like forever. May have came over on the Mayflower. :smiley:

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31

You are after advice, and Iā€™ve had good advice, which I will pass on. By relying on good advice, I suppose I donā€™t have the experience of trying to grow disease and pest-prone trees, so take my advice as having limited applicability. To me, it seems that all apples are disease and prest-prone in my area. I donā€™t believe in organic apples. I spray ā€¦ repeatedly. I rub elbows with others who disagree vehemently, however.

I think a dormant oil is a nice idea about this time of year. This is just a water suspension of light kerosene ā€” not particularly poisonous ā€” that should go on on a day above 40Ā°F and stay on for a couple of hours without being blown or rained off. It suffocates hibernating insects such as scale if itā€™s warm enough without being so warm as to evaporate.

Then at Ā¼" green, any old fungicide like captan will be a good prophylactic against scab, sooty blotch, and other even less cosmetic diseases that appear later on. There will, of course, be other ā€œcoverā€ sprays, and you will want to trade off adding various fungicides during the season to the tank mix.

On a warm evening at petal fall, be sure to nuke the plum curculios with a pyrethrin-type insecticide. This will not persist much through the next day.

After that, all you have to worry about are codling moths, and you will have to spray for those at least twice (once for each flight).

In my experience apple maggots are done for by the codling-moth sprays.

ā€¦ and squirrels. Donā€™t forget squirrels. Iā€™m still developing a strategy for dealing with arboreal varmints (that I can talk about in public cancel culture).

All that being said, I imagine youā€™d find Golden Noble a satisfactory variety.

Donā€™t pay any attention to the picture from the European site.
What I raise in Wisconsin doesnā€™t look like that.

ā€œLarge, round, clear bright yellow fruit, sometimes with a few red spots. Of great culinary value; the creamy white flesh cooks into a rich-flavored frothy puree. Recently discovered to exceed most other edible apples in vitamin C. Upright, spreading tree with moderate vigor. Partial tip bearer. Zones 6-9. Originated in England. Introduced to the US in 1820.ā€

  • Seed Savers Exchange, Inc. Fruit, Berry and Nut Inventory. Ed. Kent Whealy. 3rd ed. Decorah, IA: Seed Savers Exchange, 2001.

Again, I ought to stress that what I grow is orange, not yellow, but I have no reason to doubt that what I grow is in fact Golden Noble or at least a New-World take on it. I do note that my source no longer lists Golden Noble in its offerings.

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32

So I know close to 0 about apples, but my suggestion would be one of the red fleshed ones for the novelty.

33

Pretty much how we spray here. So far we have not spawned deadly mutants or suffered death from eating the fruit. Not even a rash. Just what gets the job done without wasting chemicals.

The next thing we will try is bagging fruit. Seems low cost but good impact.

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34

There is that. I always knocked off a bit of fruit while bagging it, so did it in parallel with thinning. I used footies.

Just consider that you may need several hundred to cover a significant portion of your crop.

Footies are complete protection against apple maggots but only so-so against codling moths. Applying them is a race against plum curculios because, by the time the fruit is big enough to bag, itā€™s already big enough to attract the curculios and almost too big to thin. An early application of carbaryl (old forumulation Sevin) may be indicated to chemically thin the crop before bagging. If you wait a week after application, you can tell which fruit are going to develop and which are going to drop.

ā€¦ so bagging ā€” for me ā€” is not a straight forward proposition. It is a lot of trouble. It doesnā€™t turn squirrels. In fact it wastes effort and bags when they steal the bag along with the fruit inside. Thus, itā€™s not cheap in terms of expense and effort compared with chemical sprays although it is risk free.

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35

Kind of amazed really. The squirrels seemed to realized the angry man with the pellet rifle only guards the fruit trees. So they eat chicken feed.

Wish the rabbits would figure that out.