I got these descriptions from Adamapple blogs.
On Katharine
and Pink Parfait
Don’t know anything about this blogger but he/she blogged about many apple varieties.
Did you ever have any luck with Katharine, Jerry?
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I am also interested in how it worked out for Jerry.
As the original poster I should also update that five years later I still have not had another good sample. The original graft failed and I re-grafted it in a couple spots but only now is it finally fruiting again. I hope to be able to give an updated report this October or November.
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It’s certainly been slow to bear for me. After recovering from the deer damage, it was further hindered by a couple of bad aphid infestations. It’s now pretty healthy, though you can see that it has a tendency toward dense upright growth:
While it bloomed well for the last couple of seasons, it set sparsely and eventually dropped its fruitlets. This season, it looks as though I’ll finally get to harvest a couple of fruit:
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We should compare ripe apples to see if we have the same thing. I don’t recall the calyx sticking out like that on my apples. Of course environmental conditions can make the same apples look quite different in different locations.
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I’ve posted on my Katharine harvest last year: What's happening today 2020 - #1331 by Stan. It’s a strong grower and fruit setter for me. Flavor is very good.
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I’ll make sure to get some good photographs of them.
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Harvest time has arrived, and I’ve taken a few photos. Of my three Katharine apples, this one had the most sun exposure and developed the most color.
Stem end:
Blossom end:
Weight (oz.):
They might have sweetened a bit more if I’d left them on the tree for another week or two, but the birds had finally found them. Still, they’re excellent. Flesh is crisp and juicy, reminiscent of a Stayman but a bit less coarse/more dense. Flavor is a very pleasing sweet/tart mix with some interesting aromatic notes, including vanilla. I’m not much for describing tastes, but I liked it a lot and it was a big hit with my wife and friends.
The tree was quite slow to bear, but I’m glad that I held onto it now. @Stan’s description of his success with it convinced me to give it one more season - thanks, @Stan!
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I feel bad that I could not grow it as it is very late ripening variety. I grafted it in the past but removed it. Pink Lady is as late as I could muster here.
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Thanks for the report Jerry. The deer got all mine but I am going to get some eventually as the tree gets bigger. The few I got several years ago were awesome. Tippy they were similar ripening time as Pink Lady.
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Really? Oh, no!! I should have kept the graft😖
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Thanks for the report @jerry, I’m glad you liked them! I’m going to pick my Katharine apples in about a week.
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I thought Pink Lady is harvested around Christmas/New Year here in Nor. Cal. That doesn’t necessarily mean thats when the fruit is ready. But given Katherine is ripe in Nov means their harvest periods shouldn’t be too different.
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I harvested Pink Lady when temp is going to be at 25 F or lower. That is usually some time in Nov. They tasted fine to me, though possibly not optimal. Same as Gold Rush.
I probably will try to get Katherine scionwood and try again.
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It’s harvest time for Katharine here at Point Reyes, and I’m stopping by to repeat my praise of it. It’s a very fine fresh-eating apple that ought to be better-known, at least in areas that support a long growing season.
Ram Fishman reported it to be an especially fine pie apple as well, and I’ll find out for myself tomorrow, as my wife is making a Thanksgiving cobbler of Katharine, Vixen, and Christmas Pink apples. It’s the first time I’ve had enough of the former two not to hoard them for fresh eating.
Happily, ToA is now offering Katharine trees along with most of Ram’s other Etter varieties.
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Katherine is on my to do list of Etter Apples. Along with Etter Gold, Crimson Gold and the oddly quixotic Alaska apparently slid off the face of the earth except at Greenmantle. And a place in BC, Canada that at least reported Alaska is Medium-Large, and as one expects from an Etter, a good bearer.
I’m in a space that needs more compact trees. And all Greenmantle has is Mark rootstock, which probably will not like my sandy loam and heat.
I have grafted on G.30 and now G-969 for others and they do great here. Even a few on temperamental scion cultivars.
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Have you fruited Waltana yet? I’m curious to see how these two compare. I grafted the Katharine scion you sent onto my Waltana, so hopefully I’ll get to try the two side by side in a few years. My only complaint about Waltana so far is that I had several go mealy. Otherwise they were very juicy, large, and crisp.
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My Waltana graft fruited for the first time this season, and it’s about time to sample one (if any survived).
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Nice! Very interesting. Mine were all done by late October. But I get more sun and heat than you I’m fairly certain so that could be a factor.
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I have a struggling “Etter tree” with Katherine, Waltana, Vixen and Etter’s Gold attached. The Waltana scaffold especially struggles on this tree. I grafted a 1.5” piece (all I could get out of the ‘22 season’s growth) of Waltana to G890 last spring, where it grew well, and will eventually attach Katherine and maybe Etter’s Gold (my least favorite Etter among the six I grow) and replace the struggling tree. Vixen got its own tree a few years ago (love that variety!).
Anyway, the tree hasn’t been the best producer, for obvious reasons, but I’ve sampled Katherine and Waltana twice now and like Waltana a little better. Both are very good. I’d have an updated report for you from this year, but the handful of Waltana and triple the amount of Katherine apples got tossed into a bin with other varieties as I harvested all my late apples the day before we had a 19 degree low, and I lost track of them. I’m sure they were, or maybe still are, tasty, but unless we avoid late frosts next spring, the last year I’ll keep the struggling tree, it will be a few years before I can assess them again.
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