Picked this Keener Seedling off the tree several days ago. It surprised me with it’s good flavor and still juicy. Zone 6A.
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Regina, Have you considered walling off an outside section of the basement for a root cellar? Insulate the walls from the heated area. My parents did that in the house I grew up in and it worked fine (I wasn’t aware back then so don’t know temperatures - just that it was dark and had spiders!). Or maybe a very large insulated bin or box in the coolest area?
I’ve read often about wrapping each apple or keeping them separate or such, but when it came time to store the apples that always seemed too fussy and too much work, especially to get at them to sort during winter. But with special, very clean (bug and damage free) it might be worth it. Someday I may try it! Sue
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I did what you mention, Sue — I walled off a 8x8 corner of the coldest part of my basement and heavily insulated the house-facing walls and ceiling. I was going to use it for fruit but so far have not had more fruit than would fit in my basement fridge. Also this closet doesn’t get as cold as I had hoped, it gets down to about 55F in the winter. One thing I looked into was venting some air in, there is a well-known setup which you can rig a thermostat to a fan and blow in air when it is colder outside than inside. I still may do that one of these years.
Re: the original topic of the thread, some apples that have kept well into spring for me include Limbertwigs, GoldRush, and Yates (which needs a long growing season). You need to watch ripening times for the long keepers, nearly all ripen very late. It is OK if they are a bit iffy on making it fully ripe as slightly underripe apples will store longer.
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The Johnson Keeper looks like a great apple. I may just get one of those from David. He has some very nice nursery stock. Everything I get from him is A++ quality.
Great idea Sue. I may give that a try. I have a crawl space area under on part of my house with a door going to it from my basement area. I may have to put a thermometer in that area to see what temps it gets this winter. If not I have a wall that goes the outdoor wall that is unprotected by dirt at one end of my basement, like a walkout. That would be a good area. It is always colder at that end of the basement.
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@scottfsmith, the setup you are referring to is very easy to rig, i used to use them for indoor weed grows. When i get home from work i will take a pick of one i have laying around. Worked like a charm and relatively cheap to build.
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Y’all are giving me ideas for MY basement now! (1810 Colonial) Three sides are underground and the back wall is open to the back yard (with a short man door, lol). There are a couple of windows that former owners covered up that could easily be opened up again to allow cold air in an insulated room/box. Hmm…root cellar! I remember my parents having one in both the houses we lived in - very dark and creepy, and yes, spiders, but my Mom kept her homegrown winter squashes in there as well as potatoes all winter long. I am looking forward to doing the same!
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I actually have a section under the house which is walled off from the main heated part. Its bare floor and about tall enough to step into if I’m bent over. I could put something to hold the fruit. I think it might work!! I dont know why I hadnt considered it. Its a pretty undesirable place, but that might just make it what the doctor ordered. Thanks
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The best I have is Cortland, developed in upper any state, keeps very long into winter and is absolutely best baking apple, also tasty as it ripens
@MikeC, I have a Johnson keeper I got from Dave, and it looks great. Too young for apples, but I have high hopes for a good crop eventually. The trees that I have ordered from him and had shipped as well as those I picked up in person were top notch. The ones that I picked up on the fly one November (last minute decision) were much smaller, though.
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Thank you for this information. I was hoping to go to one the tastings he does in the fall. Each last three years around that time something seems to happen that I cannot go. This last year was Covid and I am sure he did not even try to have the open house events.
I will look at his stock and probably end up buying one. I am running out of space yet still keep buying more trees. 
The Winter Banana is both a good keeper
and an excellent pollenator. Commercial Orchards have largely abandoned it for Crab apple pollen trees.
The fruit is good, but apparently not good enough.
Somewhat susceptible to Scab.
Resistant to Powdery Mildew.
Long bloom period.
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From what I’ve read, Newton Pippin is the best keeper and very flavorful once stored a month or two. Other apples that keep fairly well are supposed to be Ashmead’s Kernel and Enterprise. Enterprise seems to do well here in Iowa. The tree is very disease resistant and the dense fruit seems to attract fewer insects as well. The other two I’m grafting to antanovka and m111 this spring along with Chestnut crab and Dolgo crab.
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I have a Winter Banana, mostly for the pollination aspect. The Winter Banana gets very soft in storage, so far. I have had only one year of apples from it so far. It is a younger tree. Probably 6-8 apples off of it. Beautiful apple though.
Could be the climate.
Here in the Puget Sound lowlands
They keep very good in the garage.
I will know more in the new years years when they produce more apples. You are right, it could be the climate here. It is supposed to have originated in Indiana. Close enough to me to figure it would be a good choice for me here in SW Ohio. It is such a beautiful apple hanging from the tree. Great yellow color with a nice reddish blush.
Comments on winter banana: I grew it for about 10 years in Central Missouri. Very productive, early to fruit, reasonably disease resistant in my experience under high disease pressure, but not very tasty. Summers were quite hot, usually expect many days in the 90’s and often several above 100. So many apples are great when planted in the right climate and not so great elsewhere, that could be the case with winter banana.
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I noticed that with my Winter Banana as well, as far as the taste. It is a beautiful apple on the tree though. Sounds like we get the same weather as you do MacApples. We get such hot and humid summer days, 90’s and into the 100’s at times. I use my WB as mainly a pollinator for the apple trees around it.
In my climate (coastal Northern California), Winter Banana ripens over a long period and is a good cooker, though not especially interesting for fresh eating. It’s also a very good dried apple. It was often planted in this area as a pollen source (along with Golden Delicious) fifty years ago.
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