Le Bret on P.18 ended up having its first fruit this year, even after the 5/18/2023 temp of 24.1F. I found the birds were starting to peck at some, so I grabbed one pecked and one bug damaged fruit. Seeds show it’s still early, little flavor, no tannin, some sweetness. I think my scion came from Geneva and was grafted in 2018. I haven’t heard much about this variety, and some info wasn’t very complimentary, but if anyone else has experience with it I’d like to hear about it.
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It certainly is a pretty apple. Those darn birds! In years past they have destroyed the nicest apples in the top of my trees, but this year my husband put two owl statues on top of his bee hives to keep the summer tanagers from eating his bees and the protection seems to have carried over to the apple trees. Much less bird damage this year. Didn’t stop the deer, though.
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Pretty looking fruit. But, from pomiferous.com it is mediocre for cider most years, and very late season to ripen.
I don’t know that variety but it needs another month or so it looks like. Not sure what kind of idiot bird was pecking on that ball of starch.
I got a few Gilpin’s that were really good, there is definitely some tannic bite to that one. My trees have not been very productive but hopefully they will pick up. That and Yates are my two favorite cider fruits now. Harrison tastes great but is prone to rots.
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I have 8 Harrison, 5 on B.118 and 3 on M.111. Very upright trees, not yet producing. I thin them heavily in winter and they fill right back in. On the other hand, I have one 5 year Campfield and a few young grafts of it that are low vigor and not happy here. I even have a difficult time getting the grafts to take. I have most cider apples on standard, semi-standard or semi-dwarf, I’ll have to try grafting a few Campfield to a dwarfing stock. Gilpin surprises me with a hardiness rating of 3, I’ll have to look for it. I had Yates in the past but need to replace it. I agree with you on the ripening of Le Bret, been watching to see who’s pecking apples but haven’t seen the culprit. I had 3 ravens hanging out down there, but they haven’t been around lately.
I wonder how much sugars Gilpin has? Adams apple blog says it was not sweet tasting, but he also stated that is tasted potato like. So I figure it was not ripe. Also wonder how it compares to Yates in your mind. I have a Yates (planted this year), like it as a traditional bulletproof southern cider and desert apple that stores very well under suboptimal conditions. Wonder if it is worth adding a Gilpin?
It has plenty of sugars. It has more flavor than Yates so may be better overall… we’ll see. Deer cleaned my Gilpins out this year but my Yates is a big tree and I will get a big crop on them I hope.
Thanks Scott, I may plan to add a Gilpin then. When does it ripen for you? I read September but hangs on the tree till first hard frost?
My memory was October… not September.
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Calhoun in old southern apples says September, but Burford says late fall, which is closer to your experience then.