Enterprise is very disease resistant here in middle TN. Also the Joseph apple didn’t have one spot of cedar rust, despite many cedar trees in the area. The Joseph Apple tree originated in Croatia/Bosnia and an immigrant Joseph Propek brought it to the USA in 1910. I obtained my Joseph apple tree from Century Farm Orchards.
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Fuji does good, and this year Redfield had no disease issues.
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In 2003 I planted 2 J Plums, 2 pears, 2 apples, 2 peaches
Today I have 1 apple left (of those originals) and the 2 peaches.
When my pears would get into year 2-3, FB showed up, and after affecting my Pears, one of my apples got it too, and over a couple years… both pears died and 1 apple died…
After they died, I tried other varieties… planted 2 more pear trees and another apple…
Again about year 3, FB hit the pears, and then got the new apple…
Two of the apple varieties that I tried and they died of FB was… 1st Red Delicious, 2… Fuji…
Today I have no pear trees… and if I do ever plant them again, going to try putting them in a different location from my apples… to see if that will help, and of course I hope to plant a very FB resistant pear.
My one apple tree that survived (with really no problems at all) is my Early McIntosh Apple.
It makes beautiful apples, and it has never been sprayed with anything…
It does get a touch of CAR but not bad at all, does not affect the fruit and it keeps its leaves until fall.
Here at my place in Southern Middle TN, my Fuji got wiped out by FB. I hated to lose that one, they taste so good, but I never got one from the tree.
I started 3 new apple trees here in a new food forest bed in Spring 2020… Akane, Hudson Golden Gem, and Gold Rush.
The Hudson Golden Gem is by far the largest, healthiest looking tree, thick trunk, nice branches for a 2 yr old. Akane is somewhat tall and thin… I will correct that some with pruning next spring. My Gold Rush… is badly affected by CAR… and yes I have Cedars nearby, and mixed in the woods near by…
Of the 3, the Gold Rush is not looking so good… Akane looks better, and the HGG is a hoss, very healthy looking. The Akane and HGG have a little CAR, but sort of like my Early McIntosh it is there but not really adversely affecting them. I have yet to see what FB will do to these… the Gold Rush did bloom some this spring… the other two did not.
TNHunter
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I feel for you in your losses…farming in general comes with inherent risks that folks that do their jobs in an office never get to experience.
I have never lost a tree, pear or apple, to fireblight. So, I cannot identify the same loss you describe.
Your
‘early macintosh’ may or may not be macintosh, but I’m glad you have a good apple.
I’m looking for the day I can have an apple or more from “Hudson’s Golden Gem”…and about 100 other varieties! Including a couple dozen more red fleshed varieties.
I suspect you have more going amiss in the fireblight …or maybe I’m just blessed to not have lost any trees to that. My Braeburn has had fireblight, but it’s not destroyed the tree.
Do your research, but there are good apples that are resistant to fireblight, to scab, etc. And CAR is a menace but typically is not a killer of trees.
Liberty, Enterprise, the recent Triumph…there are a good many healthy apples and anyone that loves home produced fruit should not give up just because of a set back.
Best in the next season.
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From David Vernon at CENTURY FARM ORCHARDS:
As for apple trees that are cedar rust resistant, I recommend the following:
Old Fashioned Winesap, Blacktwig, Va. Beauty, Stayman Winesap, Mary Reid, Kinnaird’s Choice, Arkansas Black, Enterprise, Liberty, Roxbury Russet, Williams Favorite, Va. Winesap.
Some of these are not good pollinators, so you might want to get a couple of Va. Golds or Grimes Golden to help them produce apples. I hope this helps.
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Southern west-central KY, on the Zone 6/7 interface…MonArk & Stayman Winesap apples; Centennial, Kerr, and Bastian Orange crabs are the sole survivors…or at least, the only ones we bother picking… of 60+ varieties i planted 25 yrs ago
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Ok… here is the challenge for all of you Southern Apple experts 
Name 3 apple tree varieties that will accomplish this…
Give me fruit for extended timeframe… for example one fruits early, one mid, one late.
And I will make this easier… don’t worry so much about the early, I already have that one covered. But if you want to include that one, it might help someone else out.
That also Blooms (pollination period) Late-Mid or Late… or closer to the end of Early-Mid
Here in my Southern Middle TN location it often warms up late March, early April, then we get a 26-27 degree frost. So I always try to avoid early, or early mid bloomers - hoping that will help.
Is very disease resistant, including apple scab, cedar apple rust, fire blight.
Now this is the extent of my knowledge when it comes to concerns to consider when selecting a Apple Tree variety, for my Southern Location… more specifically Southern Middle TN, hot, humid, location.
If there are other things that someone like me needs to consider, by all means educate me please.
To sum it up again…
- Blooms Late, Late-Mid, or near the end of Early-mid (late frost concern). Must pollinate each other.
2… Very disease resistant, Scab, CAR, Fire Blight (at least)… No Spray Goal for sure.
3… One that ripens early, one mid, one late.
If you all can come up (agree on) such a list, there is no telling how many of us Southern growers you will make very happy.
Don’t be shy now, give it your best shot.
PS… in the next year or two, I will be starting over again in a new location… so I will definitely be putting your recommendations to the test eventually.
Thanks to anyone that gives this a shot.
Note a couple years ago, when I was considering this (on my own) I eliminated Liberty and Williams Pride (the two mentioned in the post title) because they bloom Early, Early Mid. Was that a bad decision considering my late frost concern ?
TNHunter
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I still have a 30 year old mislabeled tree that is tops. Unable despite many offers to help, to positively identify. Not too far from resembling Arkansas Black, but it isn’t.
Anyhow, Anoka and Granny Smith are the only 2 that I seldom try to harvest anything from.
I like Redfield and Niedzwetzkyana…so I guess I like more variety than you do.
Finding a good winesap that isn’t cracked is a challenge in the fall here…great apple, but a lot of rot and waste that never gets eaten or utilized in pies and the like.
Niedzwetzkyana makes a great apple cobbler by the way.
Belle de Boskoop for your late apple. But it’s a sterile triploid that won’t pollinate other apples. Or Keepsake, fab taste, late. Possibly Hunge for your mid-season apple but I haven’t tasted it yet.
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The details above are from Univ Tenn Extension online…
Liberty sure looks like what I need… based on their disease resistance statement which I find basically the same found on other nursery sites, starks, gurneys, etc…
Blueberry, you mentioned Liberty and Enterprise above, and they both made the list… but from what I can find one ripen end of Sept, the other Early October… so I would not need both.
Is Liberty a “triploid” or not… I am seeing conflicting statements online about that… some do not indicate it as being “triploid” and some do…
My Early Mcintosh tree blooms a little before my Gold Rush… Gold Rush is a Late- mid… so my Early Mc must be a Mid, or perhaps a somewhat late Early Mid.
Would a two tree combination of my Early Mc and Liberty work ?
Or is something else required to successfully pollinate Liberty ?
Thanks
TNHunter
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Do you have Red Cedars? If not plant as many Goldrush as you can stuff into your space. Plus pollinators, say Monark, others. Don’t forget Belle de Boskoop that puts Liberty to shame. Liberty is a bust here. Same for Enterprise- taste here is meh.
Yes… in Tennessee… eastern red cedars… lots… and my gold rush looks awful…
Akane, Hudson golden gem, and my early McIntosh are only mildly affected.
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If it resembles an Arkansas Black, it might be a King David which is supposed to be very disease resistant or maybe a Red Rebel.
Sure, good guess, and it is a ‘maybe’ that I’ve looked at several times.
In fact, have grafted scions of King David from 2 sources…in hopes once they bloom and bear that I can rule it ‘in’ or ‘out’ as a match. I should have put them on a ‘frankentree’ and might have already gotten results, in fact.
I don’t think Liberty is triploid. But I do think it ripens earlier here in southern Kentucky than “late September-early Octoer”. It bears young, and heavily.
To my tastes, it is a processing apple and not one I’d pick and eat.
To your other questions, I’d have to do some research…(on a rainy day).
Pomiferous.com is one resource on bloom and harvest periods for comparisons…but I’ve found them in error for suggested dates also.
Lots of difference in ripening times, depending on heat, bloom time, etc, etc.
I have red cedars and I could go through and look for cedar apple rust.
But, it is a chore I’d need time to perform.
I do think I’ve lost “Ooten” and it seems that Cedar Apple Rust might have been the reason. First actual death from that if so. But I have lots that are affected a bit on the leaves. (Liberty, Fuji, and ‘not MacInstosh’ are not bothered, for instance.) Many of my young trees,the jury is still out.
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@BlueBerry … the OGW Catalog… says that…
Liberty ripens mid to late Sept.
Enterprise ripens early October
They are so close in ripening time… dont think I would need both. One or the other would do.
And that is per OGW… and I expect they would both ripen quite a bit earlier for me down here in the south.
My Early McIntosh ripens very early…as you saw this year. June 10 - July 22.
It blooms march 30 - April 20.
If my Akane works out… OGW says it ripens mid aug- mid sept. And stores well several months.
Hudson golden gem they say ripeness September… and stores until spring.
My early McIntosh is not affected by fire blight, car, nothing has seriously affected it in near 20 years now. That one I will keep and take some with me what we move.
TNHunter
TNHunter
Red Rebel is an apple you might want to try. Ripens in my area about the first week in September. Sweet tasting but has a little tougher skin. No disease issues observed.
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I kept a few limbs of King David for a few years. Good tasting apple but I always had a few hits of fireblight each year. Eventually I removed it. I moved to another location and I might give it another try.
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OGW is pretty lazy with data in their catalog, it mostly seems like it’s just copied and pasted by some intern and the stuff I have experience with is wrong about half the time. a better way to guess at your ripening time is counting relative days from a chart vs. something you already have. see this chart
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I’ve got several years of experience with Goldrush, Enterprise, and Liberty in 7b central Georgia. In order of taste preference
Goldrush- great tasting off the tree and even better once it’s stored. Cedar apple rust easily controlled by immunox/myclobutinal. Good limb structure naturally. Vigorous. Will consistently set heavy crops. Fireblight a serious issue. Summer rots on the fruit an even more serious issue-they will wipe out the whole crop if not controlled, and they aren’t easy to control. Also gets other leaf diseases including glomerella leaf spot and this year something else that has affected about 2/3rds of the leaves and has caused many of them to drop.
Liberty -has that McIntosh flavor that few do, and seems to handle the heat ok. Vigorous. Sets a decent but not great crop. Seems more susceptible to fireblight than advertised. Insects seem to prefer the fruit.
Enterprise- tastes good but not very complex off the tree, gets significantly better in storage. Most disease resistant of these three. Always sets a good crop. Fireblight will hit, but not too bad. A beautiful apple that you can polish because of it’s natural waxy coating. Skin is thicker than average. Gets some summer rots but not nearly as bad as Goldrush.
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