Mark,
Just found a “Black Limbertwig in a fridge. It was in a plastic bag but not close tight.
It still had some crunch. Tasted like apple 
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I have eaten my arkansas black apples from last year just as I was picking the monarks the following year.
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Pitched my last two Liberties today and I’m out of Wealthies as well, but there are four Gold Rush left. I ate one yesterday and was couldn’t believe how good it was. This is one fine apple, even after storing since October. It’s as good or better than my beloved Karmijns, although it doesn’t have the Cox qualities (almost comparing apples and oranges -so to speak!- since Cox derived apples are so distinctive).
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Mark,
You picked Gold Rush in Oct? Most years, mime have not even fully ripened by mid Nov which is late for my area. If I picked GR too early, they did not “develop” in storage, either.
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I mispoke! The October date is what I recalled, but when I checked the tag on the label I see that those apples were actually picked on November 11. Thank you for the catch.
When I grafted them from scions given to me by Auburn I really didn’t expect much, because we’re cursed with such a short season, but the scions took nicely and two years later bore a few fruit (in fact, one broke from the weight.) I ate one right away and I was surprised at how good it was. Stored the rest until now. I might not get a crop every year, but they’re worth waiting for.
My dream has been to be able to eat my own apples year around. Not likely to happen, but if I could even get to 10 months out of 12 I’d be doing pretty well, and I’m close. After this I’ll be keeping any Prairie Spy, Jonagold, Cameo, Wealthy, and Gold Rush apples for last, not necessarily in that order but close.
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I don’t get Gold Rush every year due to its biennial tendency. I have tried to thin heavily but have not been very successful. Last year I have 2 GR. This year is loaded as expected. I thinned off a lot.
Since it does not ripen in time most years, I converts most branches to other varieties I like and ripen earlier. So far, I have about 12 varieties grafted to the tree. Variety is a spice of life
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I would say most people here dream of being able to be self sufficient on fruit and vegetables. It just takes a lot of time and space. You also need to learn how to save fruit and have the materials to save fruit. If you plant things that will grow across the season and save I suppose it is just a matter of time and space until it happens. Asparagus will be super early in the season, then it will be your things like strawberries and some raspberries, then expect your cherries (cherries can be frozen so I suppose this is your first bumper crop for the yearly harvest), around this time I suppose there are apricots too, then in August you get your peaches which can be canned or frozen, around this time is your Japanese plums too, then there is English plums and apples, in the later months you will have your pears and persimmons. Pears would ripen same time as apples but pears need to be refrigerated and persimmons will stay on the tree until January.
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I have some Rising Sun Fuji apples from last year’s picking that are still good. I tried them yesterday and they are still good enough to eat without being mealy. The Idareds I have left are okay , still edible, but not as crisp as my Rising Sun Fuji’s.
My friend has a Liberty apple but has been disappointed in the quality of fruit it is producing. They talk about taking it out entirely.
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Liberty seems to be a mixed bag. Some years the fruit here is excellent and some years it is just OK. But with very rare exceptions, this year being one, it is super productive. And it’s a healthy tree. Just about the only problem I have with mine, aside from codling moth, is a little powdery mildew, easily dealt with by throwing in a handful of sulfur with my insecticide spray.
Your friend might consider grafting over part of his Liberty. Part of my logic in making a Lib the basis of my frankenapple was that even if a variety I stuck on it got fireblight the rest of the tree would be OK. And at the rate I’m going I’ll have less than 50% Liberty in another couple of years.
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She doesn’t have time to do any grafting, nor does she want to try. I have talked to her about doing that. She works 6 days a week from 6 a.m. to about 4 p.m. outdoors all year long. So she has no energy to do a lot of anything.
That is why she wanted the most " disease free" and the least hands on apple trees she can put in her area around her house. So she is getting really frustrated with the Liberty apple. She is also disappointed in another apple that was supposed to be disease free. She says it gets everything coming down the pike.
Will William’s Pride do well for your friend? When I have the trees, they were the easy care trees.
I will suggest that one to her. She is looking forward to having some apples without a lot of spraying. TY.
Is William’s pride that much better than Liberty? It doesn’t keep very long I saw but I haven’t tried… just ate directly. Pristine is a much better early apple I think and keeps fairly well for an early apple.
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Pristine is a pretty apple! How do you find its disease resistance? Cummings Nursery said it is prone to fireblight in their fields.
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PRI reported it moderately resistant to FB. I’ve had no disease issues at my location but I’m usually fairly dry so maybe that helps. Cummins says that it doesn’t keep which has not been my experience as it can keep in the fridge into Dec which I think is great for a summer apple.
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Thanks for sharing your experience!
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I forgot to mention that the one downside to pristine is that it is so overly productive that it goes biennial. Of course I could have hail storms or late freezes that wipe out a crop anyway, so I don’t worry about it (and have other apples I can eat too), but it might be a concern for some.
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I don’t have Liberty but have seen mixed reviews of it. William’s Pride is very good early apple for my zone. There are reports of water core in warmer zone7 or warmer. My WP hardly had water core. I personally do not mind water core.
The tree is precocious, bearing young. It is disease resistant at least to CAR and fire blight. The fruit is good size (medium). It tastes good and texture is firm.
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Have your Prairie Spy become more consistent?
I don’t have enough to say! Last year was awfully sketchy and this year was nil. We’ll see in '23.
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