Ate one today from a graft that took unusually long to bear fruit. Big branch and only about 20 apples.
When I started growing apples here in S. NY a quarter century ago I used to read very positive reviews of this apple and though I grow it at another site, I don’t think I ever ate one before that was truly ripe.
Lots like Honeycrisp when HC actually reaches the quality that made it famous- not the huge cell crunchy but very crunchy with deeper sugar than HC although topped off with enough acid from spy to make it a connoisseur’s type apple- one that doesn’t only like tart apples.
Jonagold can also resemble HC a great deal on good years with lots of sun and not too much rain from mid-summer on. But the Jonagold on my tree, and I have 3 strains of it on that tree, isn’t as good as the Spy Gold I ate today.
At the other site SG has been susceptible to rots the way Honeycrisp is and at my site Jonagold is also. This year I used some foliar manganese which may have helped. Both Jonagold and HC had mostly sound fruit that stuck to the tree.
Spigold has become a surprise favorite here. Our graft of it on a mature tree was also slow to bear, but now fruits heavily and produces huge apples. It’s really good for fresh eating, especially for such a big fruit. I haven’t tried cooking any yet, but will shortly as we have plenty.
Glad I planted one but it’s on m111 so since it’s slow I’m not expecting anything for 6-7 years. Hate the wait, but I’m sure I will appreciate it on m111 eventually.
Spigold was a tough apple for me to take out, I absolutely love the flavor of it. But it is more prone to rot than your average apple and I was getting too much rot on it. I think Oliver will have to be as close as I can get to Spy flavor in my climate - it is bulletproof.
Round rot spots? They have always been susceptible here at mine and the other site I grow it. N. Spy has the same vulnerability so I blame its genes. At the right sites N. Spy does just fine, so I wonder if Spy Gold may also be variable to site.
Of course I usually get the same round rots on Honey Crisp and Jonagold and on Jonagold, also corking.
This year along with my usual fungicide protocol I included foliar manganese based on a fairly convincing article I posted here that claimed it would stop excess K from blocking calcium absorption.
It may have worked, because it’s the first year since my two HC trees first started bearing when most fruit ripened properly without rot- as did Jonagold and the few Spigold the grafted branch set.
At another site I even used a control and a Fortune that got the manganese set a much higher proportion of sound fruit than one that didn’t.
Right, round rot spots. I used to know the name of that rot but don’t recall now. Many apples have big problems with that, I took out several dozen with that problem. Akane was the absolute worst, almost all got it.