Thanks for the clarification on success rate on nuts like Pecans. My comment was directed to apples only. I expect Tom Burford grafting tens of thousands of apple trees over his lifetime using whip and tongue grafting. He mentioned the 100% success rate goal during a grafting class at Vintage Virginia Orchard.
Unfortunately Mr Burford is no longer with us. I regret not asking him about Ralls Genet when I had a chance since he was raised in the same area and had a nursery and orchard in the same area where Ralls Genet probably originated.
Sorry for the slow reply. I haven’t been on the forum for several weeks.
The tree I had Ralls on died after a terrible decision to apply some herbicide to invasive shrub willow (can’t kill it by pulling or any other non-herbicides method I’m aware of) creeping into my orchard from the riparian area bordering it went sideways.I haven’t looked for it again. It did set fruit the year I killed it, though. Ah well.
Thank you for the reply. I’m in the high desert in Arizona and I know our climates are very similar. So I follow your info closely. Also thinking of adding Hall. I know you grow/grew it. How was that one? Pure sweet with no tart?
I grow the Hall apple and look forward to eating them. They are a sweet apple with little tartness. My tree is smaller than normal on M7 rootstock and the apples tend to be small also.
As greyphase wrote just below your post, Hall was sweet with low/no acid. The apples were beautiful, heavy, and firm to the touch, but the flesh was not crisp at all. It was weirdly soft for an apple that felt so firm. I was quite disappointed with it. No acid means useless for me, since all apples here develop lots of sugar.
You are clearly interested in southern apples (for obvious reasons). I have several in my collection that haven’t fruited yet. Off the top my head, they are:
Dixie Red Delight
King David (should produce a few fruits next season)
Junaluska
…I know I have a few others, but can’t recall right now. Next time I’m in the mood to update my variety list and orchard map, I’ll come back to this thread and list them.
I have a multi-grafted Limbertwig tree with Smokey Mtn, Brushy Mtn, Black, Red, and Victoria Limbertwigs attached. It’s slow growing and maybe runty, but did give me apples from the first four I listed. Smokey Mtn was easily the tastiest, but it begins to soften—to the point of not being pleasant for me—within a month of refrigerated storage, though the flavor remains good. The other three all resemble each other, small, hard and red. Their flavor is fairly acidic with some sugar, but not al” that interesting. I’m not convinced they aren’t all the same apple, or at least not so different that growing only one covers the bases. Perhaps two or the three were not true to their names. Time will tell.
If I may make a recommendation, grow Macoun if you’re not already doing so. I have it on a 5th leaf espalier in full sun. Though bred in the Northeast, which often means those apples don’t like the intense sun and heat of the high desert, Macoun is not bothered at all. The tree is quite vigorous, somewhat of a chore to keep under control in that form on the semi-dwarf stock it’s grafted to (G 30), the fruit looks great with no sunburn, are among my largest apples, though they range a bit from medium small to quite large, and match their description—tender-crisp texture, very juicy, with a sweet-tart flavor that is a bit hard to ferret out. I like to borrow the British term, “very moreish” to describe them. For me, they are best picked in early-mid October and perfect for eating after at least two weeks storage in the fridge. I don’t know how long they store in good condition, because we finish them by the beginning of December.
Wow that’s a lot of great information thank you for taking the time to explain all that. I have every one of those varieties but Macoun. I’ll have to get one or two for sure. Has Suntan still been disappointing still that first crop that you liked so much?
I got a handful of small but edible Suntan this year, the first fruit that didn’t crack, cork and/or rot since my initial glorious crop of 10 or so apples three, I think—could be four—seasons prior. They were dryish and not nearly as good as that initial crop, but at least I could put them in my mouth. Progress!
Well that gives me hope. I planted 2 on m111 after reading your initial thoughts on it. I had a KDS as well but it died from collar rot. Have you had any luck with that one?
Nope. Topworked it entirely except for one tiny branch deep in the interior of the tree where it won’t see much sun. All of the new stuff, 10-12 varieties, are Cox kids, so I’m not expecting much from them. If two or three end up viable, it’s a victory.
I am glad the Macoun apple does well there, taste wise. Here, in SW Ohio, to me it is a big nothing. Maybe it was a bad year at the orchard fr growing it. I tried them two out of the last three years. Two years ago we had no fruit in the local orchards that was not shipped in because we had a huge cold spell that wiped out most of all the fruit locally.
Perhaps I will give it another try at the local fruit farm next year.
They are a sweet apple with little tartness. My tree is smaller than normal on M7 rootstock and the apples tend to be small also. 