Great review of all the LT varieties.
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@derekamills Well shoot I’ve known Frank Levering for years and taken my family cherry picking many times. I had no idea there was a Levering Limbertwig! I’ll have to get that one for sure. How does it do with disease resistance? In fact, what are your best L’twigs for disease resistance?
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If I remember correctly, Levering Limbertwig is an example of a relatively rare tetraploid apple, and notably large and firm.
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The ones that I know people ask about include some of my favorite limbertwig varieties as well and they are: White, Kentucky, Ruby, Summer and probably Swiss.
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I have two different stories on the origin of the Levering Limbertwig with the other being from Michigan but the Virginia origin seems the most likely. For the most part I think limbertwig do pretty good with my minimal spraying.
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I have the same Brushy Mtn Limbertwig. I can’t remember if I sent you mine or you sent me yours. If I sent, I had to have gotten it from Steve Kelly, my early Limbertwigs came from him as extras.
On a bright note ate my first Ashford’s today and I’m a fan. Nice semi sweet/tart follwed by a distinct bite.
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I got my Brushy Mountains from David at Century Farm. I’ll send you scions if you’d like. I just ate my first perfectly ripe one that I grew, from a young tree on M111 and it’s a truly wonderful apple. First year fruiting so it should only get better from here. Also had an Old Fashioned, White, Red, and Swiss. All were some of the best apples I’ve ever grown. Limbertwigs have consistently proven to be some of the best tasting, easy to grow apples I’ve put in the ground here in Northern Arizona. If my entire orchard was just Limbertwigs, I’d probably be better off. Reliable, hardy and tasty. Can’t beat em.
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Thank you Brian, definitely put Brushy Mtn down for me.
How’d the Arkansas Beauty sid turn out btw?
You got it. The Sid apples ripened quite a bit later than the LAP Arkansas Beauty. I definitely believe they are different, the Sid was firmer and later (right after Labor Day) and had much better texture and flavor. Color was similar but the apple was considerably larger as well. We had a bad storm that knocked most of them off before they were perfectly ripe so I’m hoping to have a better sample next year.
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Still dealing some confusion over the Brushy Vs Old Fashioned.
There are several orchards in the Brushy Mts of NC that still sell Limbertwigs. Parker sells Dula Beauty, Royal Limberwigs, and a simple Limbertwig.
Deals sells a Limbertwig that is unspecified, but appear to be Brushy Mt.
Perry Lowe Orchard sells what they call Brushy Mt. Limbertwigs.
I’ve purchased “Old Timey” Limbertwigs at the local produce stand that were purportedly purchased from Parkers after Thanksgiving when purchasing Christmas Trees. These apples were extreme flavor bombs.
Today, I purchased some LTs from Parkers and Deal.
The ones from Deal appear to be Brushy due to their size. They’re still green and need a month in residential refrigeration. There is a slight acid ping of lemon. Who knows what they’ll taste like later.
Parker calls his Brushy as well but they are larger and taste different. These need time as well. However, the skin is not as abrasive as those purchased from the market in the past. These are sweeter than the ones from Deal, and ones from Deal are crunchier.
Those sound like my Brushies, small green and needing a lot of storage. I am going to leave them on the tree as long as possible, the ones I harvested so far seem too green still. A few bug-eaten ones that ripened earlier were flavor bombs, so I see some real potential here. Its definitely an unusual apple, with unique flavors and much harder flesh.
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Over the last couple years I’ve picked up Kentucky, White, Meyers, Red Royal, and Victoria. Do you have any of those that you can give a ripening time on?
Was trying to pick up all the LT’s that were supposed to be the best fresh off the tree.
Wouldn’t Rev. Henry Morton be thrilled to see how his limbertwigs have got a fan club now.
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Kentucky is early October. Myers I grew a long time ago but I recall it was similar. Black Limbertwig is mid October and BMLT seems to be mid-November. Those are all the ones I have grown.