Wondering what type of apple tree this is.
Sorry there’s no scale but the fruits are medium-ish (between 2 and 3 inches across?) My friends said okay to being in the picture, but I put little blocks over them anyways. =)
Tree is completely uncared for - no spraying, no pruning. Fruit is still pretty good! So I was going to graft some to a tree in my yard. Hope someone can recognize what kind of apple it is.
Facts about the tree:
It’s at my friend’s house (she bought the house recently, but the main part of the house was built in 1710). The tree is very, very, big. It’s weepy and you can actually go inside of the tree and have the weepy part surround you.
- Seems somewhat biennial bearing (last year we got tons of fruit, this year not so much).
- We have picked the apples in October mainly - but I’m not sure if really we should be leaving them on longer.
- They taste okay right off the tree; the skin is maybe a bit thick and slightly bitter but I still think they taste okay. Not very tart.
- We haven’t really tried storing them.
- We canned a bunch last Oct and they did well canned.
- There is one other apple tree nearby (the fruit looks like black oxford. That tree is not nearly as big or productive, but it still does decently) There are other apple trees around, but I wouldn’t think they are close enough to be good pollinators.
Here is what it looks like standing inside the tree:
We live in the Shen Valley in Virginia. I looked at a bunch of catalogs to see what was commonly planted in our area historically. These are things I thought could be potential candidates based on pictures:
- Limbertwigs (I have seen “Royal”, “Victoria”, and “Black” referenced in catalogs)
- Mammoth Blacktwig - but this is triploid…
- Winesap
- Kinnaird’s Choice
- Gano (also called Black Ben Davis)
- Johnson’s Fine Winter (also called York) - noted to be upright.
- Black Amish
- Jonathan (but I think these are susceptible to a bunch of things)
- Paradise Winter Sweet (also called Winter Paradise and Winter Sweet Paradise)
- Stayman - but also a triploid…
- Rome Beauty - tip bearing?
- Hall - but this is said to be “small” and I think these are more medium
- Northern Spy (seems unlikely)
I don’t think it’s anything that gets diseased easily. I don’t think it’s triploid (or maybe one of the two is self-fertile?). I think it’s spur bearing (at least partially). Unfortunately, I haven’t had any of those apples so can’t comment on how similar their flavor is.