For those that grow both RIG and Granny Smith, how do they compare when it comes to Sooty Blotch susceptibility? Granny Smith is quite the Sooty Blotch magnet.
We haven’t had any frost yet either and have had much earlier springs in the past with very long warm seasons and I’ve never seen a fully yellow RIG, but the literature seems to suggest it’s possible for skin to turn yellow although the sources of the trees seem to all say otherwise.
There are yellow and green strains of Newtown Pippin that are recognized as either yellow or green Newtown from a West Coast nursery I’ve bought them from in the past. It is not too unusual for very old varieties of apples to have both recognized and unrecognized sports.
I’m convinced that the photos are not RI Greening, but if I’m wrong it won’t be the only time today.
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The apple in the pictures above look more like a golden delicious type. It has dark lenticels on a yellow skin. The RIG I remember from around here were always smooth, white lenticels on a light-green skin. The flesh tastes nearly identical to a ripe Granny Smith (light-green skin).
I still am voting for Shizuka. It can get that russeting. It is a Golden Delicious child.
a yellow transparent slightly under ripe and still green is very similar to R.I.G . i wouldnt be suprised if they shared some parentage but y.t doesnt keep long and goes mealy quicker. it too is a great sauce pie/ apple.
Check out this post from @SMC_zone6, I think it is #79 from Oct 12. He posts a picture of his RIG. I’ll try copy and paste that for you.
Doesn’t really look too much like yours.
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It looks nothing at all like my RI Greening apple.
I will look the Shizuka apple up.You may be right. When does your Shizuka ripen?
y.t. ripens by July if not earlier here.
a good home orchard early cooking apple though.
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If you feel like baking or saucing in the middle of summer. The apples almost completely go to waste in the orchards where I manage them. I’ve grafted several over to Ginger Gold in such orchards, which is later but much more popular and likely to be used.
A lot of the old summer apple varieties were bred from old Russian strains brought here for cold resistance. Brix tends to be thin, which combined with high acid, is not to most tastes.
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they ripen in early aug. here and are sought after for that reason. i have about 20lbs of sauce frozen in qt. freezer bags from apples ive scavenged on old farmland. my wife loves them green , hard and sour. the french here must have russian taste buds. it was said that these apples have been brough here by missionaries that came from Quebec in the early 1800’s.
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If you have no refrigeration and go to the grocery maybe a couple times per month…(like my grandparents)…
some fresh apples in SUMMER of any sort got appreciated!
(Yes, I do live on planet earth…such being the situation in Kentucky over half a century ago.)
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Almost every old farmstead around here had/has an early apple (usually Y.T. or Lodi) and a late apple (usually Northwest Greening).
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Sooty blotch is not so bad for me…rots are the thing that keeps me from getting ripe Granny Smith apples…that and it’s stingy fruit set.
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I used to have Geneva Early and I still have Anoka. Both better suited to the 45th parallel better than here.
Lodi and YT both get fireblight pretty bad…and other than apple butter or fried apples or maybe a pie…they’re not for eating IMHO.
Several red fleshed apples are going to ripen in July it seems…
But, yeah, I’m collecting early and late apples myself. Plus red fleshed ones.
Fireblight exists here, but I’d guess it’s much less a concern than down by you. I agree that Lodi and YT aren’t worth much for eating out of hand. Back when they were widely planted on farmsteads there weren’t that many early ripening varieties to choose from. They do both make for decent baked desserts and sauces.
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150 yrs ago it was probably the only apple to be able to grow in z3. the others ive found growing wild here arent much better. i found one though im going to graft it next spring. one of hundreds of wild ones i find can hold a candle to the better varieties nowadays. i may try grafting R.I.G also as my wife likes granny smiths.
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I believe RIG and NW Greening are quite similar. My NW Greening has seen plenty of -20 to -30 temps with the lowest temp being right around -38. It’s a very good pie apple. I’ve got some still hanging. The deer will appreciate them as they fall.
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For what it is worth as far as adding another description to the R.I. Greening apple. The skin is not smooth. It has a sort of very rough texture to the skin. Like a russet type skin. Not really noticeable probably from the photos I have taken. Yet the red blush area is more smooth and shiny.
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I haven’t noticed that with the RIGs we have in this region. In Apples of NY skin is described as moderately thick, tough, smooth, waxy, grass green varying to somewhat yellow (apparently further upstate and west of me it is harvested yellow according to this description).