TY for the good apple info.
The Ruby Rush apples I have eaten in the last two years have come from a produce stand. I did plant a tree of it last spring from ACN. Being a two year tree at planting, it took off and is taller than me now. In fact, it outgrew all the other 2 year old trees I planted, and branch angles are good without spreaders needed so far.
The fruit I ate both years did not have thick skin. I have used them for drying with skins on and applesauce with skins on to get pink applesauce. So I think I would have noticed if the skins didn’t cook away making applesauce. Slower browning than most apples I have. I have two remaining from the batch I pulled out fridge 10 days ago. Still holding up well and plenty firm when I checked this morning. I will compare tonight the skin thickness to Blacktwig, Stayman and Winesap which I have on the kitchen counter currently.
Once my tree fruits, I will plant more of that variety if it does well in my southeast VA location as I intend to sell apples from my orchard as my retirement hobby.
2 Likes
Some of my EverCrisp and Beni Shogun apples are turning brown from the inside. With some, the taste is not significantly affected, but those with extensive browning developed off taste. Anyone can help with diagnosis and prevention?
Thank you! Its hard to find anyone of apple knowledge that has had direct experience with the Ruby Rush. I cant find any for sale around me or I would try it myself.
Its good to know you dont find the skin undesirable. I looked up the Rutgers variety release report (2022) and it mentions twice the apples thick skin. This didnt inspire me but after your report I may try it anyway.
Just guessing here, without more information, but maybe were the apples exposed to freezing temps?
Or were the apples maybe harvested too early?
1 Like
@MikeC I agree with all of this and would add it is also quite a bit more disease prone. I may top work my tree this winter, it is too similar to Hawaii and SunCrisp both of which are more reliable producers.
1 Like
Hmm, I may have to try Hawaii and Suncrisp. Looks like there is some funny business on my Freyberg’s trunk, if I remember correctly.
2 Likes
I ate an absolutely flawless (and delicious, crisp, juicy) Hooples Antique Gold apple yesterday. It’s been in the fridge in a loosely fitting ziplock bag. Goldrush is holding up beautifully too.
4 Likes
If you want something more like Freyberg of the two I mentioned it is Hawaii. It is larger, crisper, and more aromatic than Freyberg. But it doesn’t have the degree of anise Freyberg can get to. Suncrisp is much crisper, much bigger, and has no anise but it has lots of spice.
3 Likes
Here’s some pics I took this morning. The first one shows Winesap skin on the left with RR on the right. Slicing and eating the skin I don’t detect a noticeable difference in thickness for these apples in storage since November. The next pic is RR sliced open for 70 minutes and still not browned. My wife likes them for salads since very crunchy and stays fresh looking.
A description by Stark Bros mentions that the skin is not too thick. So I guess there are varying opinions and maybe conditions affecting skin thickness.
11 Likes
Thanks for the recommendation. At some point I obtained and grafted scion wood that was meant to be Hawaii, and grafted high on a multi-grafted tree. But I don’t ever recall getting a mature fruit that seemed to match the description. I’ll need to try again.
A friend of mine gets boxes of apples from a local food pantry… (even they cant give them all away). He brought in some boxes of Fuji apples that were small early January. The taste was pretty boring and nothing like other Fujis i have had from the local farmers markets.
So i put them in my cold storage room and have been enjoying them every day the past week or so. Flavor is much better and they still have a crunch. Skin has shriveled quite a bit… but i think that has led to a more complex flavor.
2 months was worth the wait… otherwise i would have just composted them. I did make a small skillet of fried apples with them in the beginning and they fried up nicely but not well enough to dedicate them to that. Alot of work peeling them with them being so small.
So if i get any more free ones like this again…storing them for a couple of months is the way to go.
4 Likes
Sorry, just saw your response now… I figured it out. I stored them in a closed plastic bag with no wholes!
Oh, I like that idea. I don’t have time or money yet to convert 1/4 of my gym/storage/mud room into a refrigerated storage powered by Coolbot, which is my eventual plan. A freezer conversion would buy me another year or two.
Why did Stark stop selling Ruby Rush? I’d like to know before going crazy with grafting here. It looks on paper to be home growers’ dream apple.
I don’t know about Stark but if you look at Adams County Nursery’s Commerial Availability List for 2026, they show a total of approximately 1,900 trees of RR for sale with 4 choices of rootstocks. Compare that to Pink Lady which is approximately 11,000 left for sale with 6 choices. Comparing those to an even less popular variety like Snap Stayman, it has 790 for sale with 4 rootstocks.
If it wasn’t for PYO orchards planting varieties like Ruby Rush, there wouldn’t be many sales of it. Unfortunately, the Club varieties are making headway in the local PYO’s in my area which limits the market for older favorites and public releases like Ruby Rush.
As for Stark, their availability of varieties changes all the time. Many return by late winter probably from buying left over stock from other wholesalers.
2 Likes
The problem for Pink Lady is the copious amounts of popular sports/mutations of itself. I am very tempted to add Rosy Glow myself. Royal Empire is another eclipsing it’s parent.
1 Like
The York Imperial and Evercrisp are the tied for 1st place. Ark Black has edged out Goldrush, but not by much. I’ve eaten all the Brushy Mt. Limbertwigs but they were doing better than the GR and AB. The Old Fashioned Limbertwig was on par with the Gold Rush.
The Evercrisp apple is an extraordinary apple. This imo is the best all around eating apple. Zero wrinkles or shrinkage. While it did lose the acidity by Jan, it maintained great texture and the flavor is still desirable. The York Imperial and Evercrisp look as good now as they did in October.
8 Likes
I still have Muscat de Venus, but only because my family would rather eat store-bought apples. They are a very grapey-honey apple when fresh, but not juicy. So they’ve been pretty dry. Starting to shrivel. Grape taste is long gone, but they still have that honey taste.
How is Evercrisp for taste, rust, blight?