I know there are other threads like this and I almost always just use existing threads when I can, but this is very important to me, and I am going to ask about another apple or two in the coming weeks, so I wanted a new topic.
It is extremely important to me that I figure this apple out, but I fear that no one can do it because I don’t see much about it that REALLY separates it from others. But please folks, give it a try.
OK, the tree is a 6 year old tree I bought at Lowes. I think that is one of the best clues, because in general it tells us that whatever kind of apple this is, it probably is a fairly common one. Big Box stores, in my experience, rarely sell little known apples. Almost always they are a very popular, well known variety of apple. That being said, don’t get tunnel vision by considering ONLY common apples- there is always a small chance that some odd ball got mixed in somehow. I once got a VERY rare Pluot at Lowes that was supposed to be a plum. But in general, I think its most likely a very common variety of apple. For what it is worth, the tag said it was a yellow delicious. I’ve never grown YD but certainly am 99.9% that this is NOT that.
Let me try to describe the apple beyond what you see in the photo.
First, it is a very large apple. The ones in the photos are not representative of average size. These apples on average are the largest ones I grow- about the size of my very large Honeycrisp Apples, though still not the biggest apples I’ve ever seen in my life…just on average they are among some of the largest apples I see at the store, etc.
It is NOT shaped like a red delicious. The shape is mostly short and fat, not tall and thin like a red delicious and others. It also doesn’t have little “feet” or pronounced “bumps” on the bottom like red delicious do.
The color is fairly unique. The “red” part is really not red. I would best describe the color as being the color of rust- sort of a brownish-red with a little orange mixed in. Those that get a whole lot of sun are more red, but still have a touch of brown mixed into the red. The other color is green, not yellow. So generally it is a rusty-red color over a green base.
3b) It might be worth pointing out that the colors are in no way arranged in any kind of stripes or lines. On most apples the red seems to run down from the top of the apple toward the bottom in vertical lines, creating what looks a little like “stripes” running from top to bottom. These apples have no sign of that.
I’m very new to apple tasting and very poor at comparing or even explaining taste. But these are slightly on the sweet side I guess I would say. Certainly not sour like a Granny Smith or others, but also not as sweet as my Gala or honey crisp or Winesap apples.
When cooked these apples hold their shape but also soften up quite a bit. So they don’t turn into apple sauce, but also don’t remain quite firm like my Rome Apples. These make great fried apples to me.
The flesh is pure white- no trace or red. The flesh also holds its white color fairly well instead of turning very brown when exposed to the air. It gets a little brown, just not much and not as much as many of my apples.
Disregard the big bump at the top of the big apple. That is not on any other apple but that one.
That’s all I know to tell you, but ask questions if you have them. This is a giant tree with a ton of big apples and I desperately want to know what I have here, so help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Please forgive me in advance for the ridiculously large number of photos and I know many are similar. But identifying this apple is important to me and you never know exactly which photo will trigger someone and tip them off to what these are. I’ll be happy to go back and delete most of these once we ID the apple.
I have a very similar apple on an unknown big box tree. My guess is Gravenstein. It is short stemmed, do the apples ripen at different times? Do they suddenly drop off the tree as you wait for them to get a little redder? Do they have a haze/bloom on them? But they polish shiny? I assume they ripened in the last few days? (Gravenstein time).
Its definitely not a Gravenstein apple. Gravenstein has the red strips. I believe its one of the sports of Winesap. It very much resembles my Winesap that I got from Walmart. I will post a picture of my Gravenstein and Winesap apples later. By the way, Winesap is not a sweet apple.
I can see it being a Winesap…as there are more than one type. I picked some Winesaps today from my mother’s tree…which she planted in 1977. When I was in college. (Bigger around than a 5 gallon bucket…and it was supposed to have been a “DWARF”! ) Not quite ripe…but if put in storage, would ripen in a month or so and be quite nice…for trees not sprayed.
One of the many Macintosh offsprings also a possibility.
But, I dont’ have any positive ID to offer.
Local fruit stand had Stayman Winesap for sale a few days ago. Picked fairly early I’m sure. They were from an orchard somewhere in North Carolina they indicated.
The apple shown made me think potentially Winesap as well.
A picture of my apples with Gravenstein on the left and Winesap on the right. Gravenstein is typically a bigger apple with an elongated shape while Winesap has more of a squatty shape.
@BlueBerry
I agree that it could be a Macintosh type.
@hambone
Well, the varmints certainly thought that my Winesaps were ripe. I have been having my supposedly ferocious 95 lb German Sheperd camped out under my trees for the last 2 weeks but somehow it was to no avail. The varmints forced me to go ahead and pick them all today. Guess I will be canning applesauce with them, They have black seeds so they should be ripe enough.
@wdingus
Could you post a picture of one of the Stayman apples?. I have a supposedly Stayman tree that I got from Willis that I have not been able to ID.
Thank-you all so much for trying to help with this! I’m not quite sure why I am so desperate to figure this out but I just am! I really like this apple a lot, especially as what we southerners call “Fried Apples” (ie apples with butter, sugar, and a little water cooked slowly in a shallow pan).
Unfortunately, though, I’m more confused than ever after reading all these great responses!!! First, when I read @Masbustelo 's post I was extremely excited. Almost all the questions you asked were “yes”, which left me with the extremely strong impression that you had correctly Identified my apple and it was a Gravenstein. Then @tennessean (Sam) comes along with very convincing evidence that it is NOT a Gravenstein! (your photos were convincing, if that is a Gravevstein then mine isn’t)
I also feel I haven’t been to helpful. To be painfully honest, I’m not 100% certain these apples are ripe now- but I am pretty sure they are. I say that because they have started to drop from the tree, and have started, slowly, to develop little bad spots of rot on some of them. But they are still getting more red (just like Masbustelo said). But I don’t know if they are at their most sweet point yet since its my first year to get them. And I also don’t know enough about apples to say whether this one should be considered sweet or not. Its not as sweet as some I have but also isn’t a sour apple like a Granny Smith. I’m just not good at describing apples so I was hoping the photos would help.
BTW…if @tennessean Sam is right and Winesap isn’t a very sweet apple, then my winesap isn’t a Winesap! That will be a mystery for another day!
Please keep trying folks…lets figure this out together. Thanks.
I’m voting for Haralson It’s been sold at Lowes in the past. Productive at a young age. They’ve been dropping here over the past 10 days or so. Here is a pic of one that an apple of yours reminded me of.
OK, John. The apple in your photo is perhaps the closest one I’ve seen to my apples, so I was quite excited. However, when I do a google image search for other Haralson they don’t look like yours or mine! But if you have a high degree of confidence that yours is a Haralson and you think Lowes once sold them, then I’m inclined to go with that.
Wonder what @applenut thinks about my apple? Where are you my friend? Get to work here! haha
I can try to get some more pics. I took a pic of the one because it didn’t look so plain. It’s a tree my uncle planted. He got it because he liked cooking apples…assuming he wasn’t sold the wrong thing which never happens!!! The only other apple he had in town was liberty so he didn’t have too many types of apples to remember.
Perhaps an early ‘Fuji’, such as Auvil, an image of which appears at Burnt Ridge and included below:
As I understand it, these ripen a few days before ‘Red Delicious’.
Here are some other pics of one of mine. Some of them shine up like a showroom model , but not all get this color. I think the flavor wouldn’t appeal to most shoppers.
Lowes evidently sold something called a White Haralson, whatever that is. White Haralson?
It’s been sold at Lowes in the past. Productive at a young age. They’ve been dropping here over the past 10 days or so. Here is a pic of one that an apple of yours reminded me of.
