Sorry, the title is click bait. No spray apples do not exist. I went looking for this topic on the forum and no one has done one. Scott had a limited list of only 5.
I would like to start a list of just the overall easiest apples to grow. Apples that can stand up to a low or no spray program and still produce some quality apples. Just name it and if no one disagrees with it I will add it to the below list.
APPLES: Overall easiest to grow-(Insect and disease excluding fire blight)
1-Fuji
2-Gala
3-Mutsu
4-Liberty
5-Pristine
6-Williams Pride
7-King David
8-Arkansas Black
9-Redfield
10-Enterprise
11-Yellow Transparent
12-Hauer Pippin
13-Black Limbertwig
14-Roxbury Russet
15-Early McIntosh
16-Akane
17-Hudson Golden
Please come and tell my Gala that itās supposed to be easy to grow without any spray. The apples on that tree are really spotty. My Liberty did decent with no spray this year. Itās in the same area of the property as the Gala.
Liberty has been a worm magnet for me at times, but I guess Iām growing high protein apples I like to think that the liberty are a worm trap to keep the other apples cleanā¦so my experiences with other apples might be skewed because liberty steals all the worms. That and Freedom nearby has been a worm magnet too. I agree with pristine on the list. Enterprise is usually clean for me too. Not so sure about williamās pride.
There is an apple tree on the side of the turnpike Iāve been eyeing up for a few weeks now. Iāll report back if they look as good up close as they do from far away. Itās surrounded by Japanese knotweed so I imagine nobody has sprayed itā¦
Around here, bugs donāt bother yellow transparent or pristine much at all. Your mileage may vary.
ā¦actually enterprise might be somewhat in that category with the thicker skin but I donāt have enough experience on it yetā¦but early results were promising.
Agree on Hauer Pippin-it qualifies here. So does Black Limbertwig although here it has no taste to speak of. Other rarities known for no spray per David Vernon I believe: Little Benny and Mattamuskeet although I donāt grow them. I bet Scott would include Hunge from his experience.
Iām still trialing Belle de Boskoop, a robust Dutch triploid russet, crisp with fabulous intense sweet/tart taste, and itās a strong candidate for no spray list. Also Paducah fall apple and Keener Seedling. I grow both literally surrounded by thousands of red cedars and bradford pear blight carriers at a friendās no-spray organic farm- Keener is super late, full russet, bulletproof no spray.
After you have the list would be fun to vote on best tasting even though tastes vary- some stars might stand out. Although few, if any members here probably have tasted the rarities I mention.
As you say, peopleās experiences are going to vary depending on where they are, but in my part of the country (Western Massachusetts), apple trees definitely will grow and produce without spray. Itās pretty common to find big old apple trees at old farms and farm sites, and I can think of a number of such trees just around our neighborhood. While some of these trees may be in a somewhat sad state, others appear to be pretty healthy and produce pretty heavily in spite of receiving no apparent care and even in some cases being in subpar locations. Now of course, neither the trees nor the fruit are likely to be pristine, and there may be a certain amount of āadded proteinā, but in my experience there are a good number of sound ones, too. With a cider press and appropriately managed expectations, I think you could make out tolerably well.
I have Enterprise and itās attacked by plum curculio. This year it had more damage than my Winecrisp. I think in many cases what people see is āescapeā rather than resistance. If for some reason a tree is not attacked itās assumed that it has resistance when in many cases itās just luck (escape).
There is an old paper that measured fireblight resistance in a large collection of apple cultivars in New York. In many cases there was only one tree of a particular cultivar in the collection. The author warned that when there was only one tree you have to be careful interpreting results. If the one tree had no damage it may have escaped attack rather than having high resistance. The author preferred to see light damage because then you knew the tree was attacked and it had a high level of resistance.
If your apples are all free of a certain disease that doesnāt mean they are resistant. It could be the disease isnāt present or the conditions donāt favor the disease in your area or that particular year. On the other hand if you have many trees covered with scab and one or two trees that are free of scab then the trees free of scab are probably resistant.
A few ppm (parts per million) of mouse droppings are permitted in Government inspected foodā¦so I imgine a little juice from a critter passes inspection too!
My Liberty did decent with no spray this year. Itās in the same area of the property as the Gala.