Clark, my 4 year Pink Lady has had fireblight strikes the last few years inspite of my copper and step sprays and finally bit the dust due to fireblight this year. Myself and family really like PL, but for now I am crossing it off my list of varieties to grow.
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There have already been enough plugs for GoldRush but I thought I would include a picture of my tree I took yesterday. These I will probably start picking next weekend. If you notice lots of barren low shoots thats where the deer munched the leaves and then the apples.
I recently noticed my top-5 apples these days are all Golden Delicious relatives: Rubinette, Freyberg, Hoople’s, Suncrisp, and GR.
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Thanks fruitnut, that’s good to know. I grafted GR onto a 1 year seedling rootstock this spring along with a few other varieties. I’ll try to make a note of the relative vigor of each but I believe they all put on at least 36" of vertical growth. These are in containers though.
Hi,
Great thread, learned a lot! Thank you
A related question: Can Goldrush pollenate Honeycrisp? In SE New York, New york metro / Long Island area (7b)?
Infinite,
If their bloom time overlaps, they should be no issue cross-pollinating.
@scottfsmith - those apples look really good. Wish I had an apple on my tree this year. Wishful thinking.
I have had the same experience.
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I here is a picture of my 4 year old GR tree on G-11 taken today. Looks like I am a week or 2 behind Scott on ripening, maybe the hot, dry summer and fall have slowed down the maturity . I wish all my varieties were this productive. The lower vigor of GR really helps me with my goal of keeping tree height at 8-9 feet, I have had to do very little pruning, mainly just tying down some branches.
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GR looks great Scott. It looks pretty consistent. Thanks
@scottfsmith, @Chris_in_GA.
It is great seeing the GR hanging on the trees this late in the season. An excellent tasting apple that ripens late will take me through the winter. Bill
Chris,
I like the idea of using g-11 and getting a smaller tree that produces fairly quickly like that!
One point of caution for those reading this thread who want to grow goldrush and that is it’s a veeery late apple. I’m trying to find studies where it was tested further north and I did find this one Recommended Apple Varieties for Ontario. I think I will be ok in Kansas to grow it but I would not try it in zone 4. Zone 5a seems like it could get a little close some years.
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Even zone 6 where I am, I am a bit nervous. If @scottfsmith and @Chris_in_GA’ s GR still not quite ready to be picked, that would push back two more weeks for me. That could be the end of Nov.
We had hard frost/killer frost last night. Sometimes, it snows in Nov where I live. I was hesitant to plant GR for this reason for a few years but finally planted it in 2015. We’ll see.
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Late apples tend to ripen a little early in our hot climate so I think it will be excellent timing for me. Hoping I have a small sample in 2017.
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Full sun is also quite important as you go further north, not just to ripen it, I believe, but to get annual cropping, which is true of many late fruiting types.
For those worried about hard frost- don’t be- not unless you are talking below 21F or so. The higher the brix and firmness of fruit the less likely it is to freeze and become mush. We’ve gotten down to maybe 26 so far this season and I’ve only picked fruit that has turned from green to yellow- at which point it is delicious.
Some seasons Goldrush trees on shadier parts of my property in Z6 have at least some unripe fruit (is B the colder one, I always forget, but I’m in a cold Z6). On the sunniest (in early fall) part of my property they always seem to ripen adequately. They still are not adequately annual as they are at sites with dawn to dusk sun when properly thinned.
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Alan,
Thanks for that information. I’ve noticed as my new orchard matures more I’m losing Sun in places I once had it. GR will likely ripen everywhere here because we have a blazing hot sunny summer that tends to ripen fruit faster. I suspect it will be close in zone 6a.
A is the colder one, Alan. Zone 6a is colder than zone 6b.
Looks good, @Chris_in_GA. Is that a metal conduit holding it up? How many apples do you think you’ll get from that tree? Is this like the second year you’ve got fruit from it?
Glad to hear all the positive reviews on Goldrush. We have a GR on G210 planted this year. We have about a dozen from the orchard and have liked them a lot so far. I think they’re still a bit too tart, but my wife likes them that way. Hopefully we can let some set for awhile to sweeten up some more.
Add me in to GR camp, though my nostalgic side will alway prefer Blue Pearmain…
Goldrush has proven itself here in Maine, z5a. I have started to pick them in the last week.
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Jesse,
That sounds very positive that you were able to ripen GR in zone 5. How many years have you grown them?
This is a tough question to answer.
Although I’d like to say Goldrush but it’s not available till end of October for me. I’ll be very sad if I can only grow one.
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