Look at those Piros!
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Wow they are big and beautifull! Another one to the list⌠
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They really are a great apple and an uncomplicated tree for me. They had a little sunburn this year (visible in one photo above) but overall I am very happy with it.
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Those pictures tell how much summer apples have improved in modern breeding, I think that is one area where the modern breeders have completely out-done the classics. It is similar on peaches, there are no good heirloom early peaches to speak of. I started trying a bunch of heirloom early apples and ended up pulling out all of them.
I donât think Piros is available here in the states yet, hopefully it will show up eventually.
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One more opinion regarding Piros.
No doubt itâs an eye appealing variety. The apples in this bunch were between 200 and 280 grams each. Bears heavily each year. No scab issues. Itâs not the earliest variety, as it ripens 3-4 weeks after my earliest varieties and 1-2 weeks after Carolina Red June. But, at least here, it has some issues:
And what about taste? Mediocre. Low sugar, low acid, no significant aromatics - not bad, but boring. Maybe itâs (much) better at other places, but to me itâs an ornamental variety.
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Only Piros does this at your location, year after year?
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I agree that the taste is nothing exceptional. Obviously it canât keep up with really aromatic later apples like Ananasrenette. I would describe the taste as cidery. To me, it tastes like freshly pressed apple juice.
Concerning the discoloration in the flesh: that is really unattractive and disappointing that your tree would do that. Any idea why?
Edit: Could it be that you pick them too late? This would be my one critique of Piros: the right picking time isnât easy to find out at all. (at least for me)
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No. A few other summer apples are like that, for example Carolina Red June is like that too. Looks like a rot, but is not, itâs more like a bletting and usually starts from the sunny side.
That is true.
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That apple has bad watercore, and watercore can lead to rots. I have a big problem with watercore on summer apples as it is more common in heat. Some varieties donât rot if they watercore but others are prone to it. My Pristines ripening now generally had no watercore but one at the top in constant sun had a lot of watercore. It had truly excellent taste, the sometimes-upside of watercore.
Anyway with that issue I probably wonât be trying Piros when it shows upâŚ
Back on the original thread I am harvesting some Cherryville Black and some Ginger Gold now, both of these are a couple weeks after Pristine. The Cherryville Black tastes very good and is not rotting, but the wasps and birds are making a mess of them. The Ginger Golds are much larger than Pristines but so far are not as good as Pristine in flavor. The general trend on these early apples is the birds and wasps like the green/red ones but not the yellow ones. But they are all over the yellow asian pears so not sure what the difference is.
I have the remaining Pristine harvest sitting on the counter and am impressed how they are holding up, they are staying crisp and tasty.
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This is Pristine and State Fair, I took a picture after I filled the buckets up but I liked this one better.
Remember to click on the pictures twice!!! LOL
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Youâve been busy!
i grafted pink parfait, cherry crush and black strawberry from him this spring. all took. have them on my sargents crab i got as a freebie from arbor day 4 years ago.
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Here is one of my Monark apples I just picked. I agree with Hambone. Monarkâs can be sort of a mystery of when they are exactly ripe. Red color may indicate they indicate they are rip, if left too long they get mealy. They seem to drop earlier than they are ripe , at times. Last year I picked them all and 95% were perfect. This year, they are dropping a little too early. We have had zero rain for the last three weeks. That does not help. They are a beautiful looking apple. Last year they tasted so good. This year they taste very good but some are not quite ripe enough when they come off the tree. Maybe I was just too anxious to taste them. I still have some left on the tree. I will leave them for another week or so. I need to mark them ripening dates in my apple data book to keep an eye out for the perfect ripening period of the Monark apple. This is only the second year I have had any fruit off this young tree.
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They are impressive! Congratulations and enjoy! 
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Had my first Pristine it was amazing. My 3rd year only set 4 but they were a good size. Snappy, tart and an sour apple candy flavor. Enough sweetness to balance it out and I usually prefer sweet apples. Better than anything I can buy for sure! Dare I say one of the best apples I have ever had? Certainly the best summer apple I have had. I notice I prefer them once they turn slightly yellow they get more of the apple candy flavor.
Embarrassingly I had been picking unripe Williamâs Pride as Pristine and wondering why they were still astringent. I ate part of a squirrel bitten one is when I realized my mistake. The only time I think squirrels have been helpful in my garden. (They ate all my peaches/nectarines)
Picture below one of the smaller ones the others were eaten before I could take pictures.
Days like this make me inspired to grow more interesting fruit.
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very nice. i just ordered a williams pride and pristine from orangepippin. pristine looks and sounds similar to yellow transparent. im sure you have them in Ontario as well. what are the differences of the 2? i already have a yellow transparent in 3rd. year.
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I donât have yellow transparent so canât compare directly. From what I gather yt is earlier but lacks the firmness and acid pristine has. I would defer to the others here though.
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Yellow Trans is almost just for cooking (soft and sour). Pristine is a good early eating apple. I think you may end up grafting over the YT. I have pristine and williams pride. WP I just got, so have no experience yet. Pristine I have three trees of and is worth the space. I try not to spray and pristine does good with no spray.
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Thatâs interesting because here YT got very good, aromatic and good sweet/acid balanceâŚ
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