Hello Everyone,
I thought I would post a report form my orchard. Monark is my earliest ripening variety and I have been picking for a few days now. This is my first crop from this tree. I was a little disappointed that this variety didn’t ripen earlier. I thought it might be ready at the same time as the transparents but farmers near me had those ready 2-3 weeks ago. The apple itself has very nice texture and is good to eat. The flavor is on the tart side and is not complex. I will be more likely to use these in pies sauces etc. then for fresh eating. Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad and certainly better than most of whats available at the super market.
Everything I have read is that they are good for an early season apple and that is about just right. Pretty good but nothing really special. I have heard they keep well so I will give that a try too.
Another bonus is that this tree grows very quickly. I planted the tree only 2 years ago (maybe 3) and it grew very fast and has the second best crop in my orchard even compared to some 7 year olds.
Another report about disease resistance and bugs.
These Monarks seem to be relatively disease resistant compared to the rest of the orchard. I sprayed 5 times this season with the Triazicide/Immunox combo. Most of the rest of my trees still had some fungus and bug damaged but the Monarks seem to have come out the best. Really no fungus or bug damage on fruit or leaves this year.
ribs,
MonArk is, hands-down, the best early-season apple I’ve ever grown. Disease resistant, good flavor- great for fresh eating, cooking, drying… and keep under refrigeration for 6-8 weeks without going mealy.
No other ‘early’ apple compares, IMO.
Usually ripe here(just north of KY/TN line, NW of Nashville) in mid- to late July. Ripens over a fairly extended period, so requires repeated pickings.
I just ordered a Monark apple tree for the 2017 season. I wanted an early apple for more eating than anything else. Cooking up in a skillet would be great to for fried apples and I am going to try drying them as well.
I didn’t want an early apple that gets mushy,mealy quickly. My family doesn’t like them so a whole tree of mushy apples would not be great. Even one of my horses will not eat mushy apples. She chomps them and just lets them fall out of mouth. Yeah, pretty much what my family wants to do when they taste a mushy apple as well.
Hopefully it will be a good choice for me. Time will tell. Thank the above posters for their honest review of the Monark apple.
If anyone else has a review of this apple please post it. The more info we share the better we all can choose the right fruit to grow.
Update: wanted to report that this spring/summer, healthy two year grafts of Monark blighted 100% at three different locations I had grafted it around my county. On all three trees the Monark branches were the only ones with fireblight, including one tree that contained blight magnet King David, that was untouched. The mystery continues.
As of now my KD has escaped fireblight.
After 3 years of waiting, had my 1st Monark apple today and thought I’d share my initial thoughts on this fine summer apple. Monark is on the right and Pristine, which is also ripening now for me is on the left.
Taste: Nice overall flavor but not complex as ribs1 has stated, the flavor kinda reminds me of King David. Most online comments rate it a tart apple but my 1st sampling did not have near the zip or tarness of Pristine. That may have to do with me picking a little early, not sure.
MonArk pros and cons so far:
Pros: The fruit has a nice crisp flavor, above average size and a pretty red color. MonArk is grower friendly so far, the 1st crop is very clean in spite of few fungicide sprays, also no sign of fireblight and tree is well behaved and easy to manage.
Cons: Not many, just a step down in taste from its summer competitor - Pristine.
Had a couple dozen apples for the 1st time. No CAR, no FB, no bug damage w no spray. Until it’s ripe it’s a very dense apple, like Arkansas Black. I really like it. Pristine was great but FB has killed 2 trees; Williams Pride has bitter pit problems here in Dallas; so Monark is a nice early apple for me.
In full disclosure, I’ve had other trees do great the 1st fruiting year, and then problems start, we’ll see
2022 Update: Monark is a shy bearer here. It drops far more apples than my other varieties. Have seen this over four years. I’m not in it for big production but others might be.
I had my first Monark’s last year. They were very good apples and were crisp and tasty. They did last longer than I expected for an early apple. I was impressed with this apple. So far I am glad I planted this variety. I had no disease or bug issues last year. We will see what happens this year.
I bought my MonArk from the late Hoyt Adair at Classical Fruits in Moulton AL, back around 1996. In his catalog description, he stated that it required multiple pickings or ‘stop-drop’ application; I’m not a ‘sprayer’, but if you were so inclined, here’s info on the stop-drop chemical, AVG:
In the home orchard the multiple pickings is an asset to me.
I agree. If I have a tree that has to be picked all at one time that is a chore and also a horrible time finding space for them all.
I have that issue with peaches. Once ripe you have to do something with the fruit or the peaches go bad very quickly.