I don’t buy or sell wood. I trade for it or give it away to folks who make it very easy for me. I have a wide selection of varieties and wood that is much better (thicker and healthier) than a lot of the wood I trade for because growing fruit trees for sale is part of my livelihood. The rest of it is managing scores of non-commercial orchards with lots of very old apple trees and a wide range of younger trees mostly from my nursery.
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I hear ya. I was just replying in response to nurseries selling large numbers of different heirloom varieties like Trees of Antiquity.
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I think you’ll like the ZR once it starts producing some fruit.
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Excited to hear that, grafted it to a wickson tree this year.
Unusual overtones? Lady: almond when grown in E. WA & kept until Christmas. Both years I bought it at Feil Pioneer Fruit Stand in East Wenatchee.
GoldRush in my yard (Spokane): coriander or cardamom, depending on the season.
Bardsey: lemon, even after baking.
Twenty Ounce seems to shift overtones depending on conditions. A batch grown on a NE slope of granitic soil had amplified apple taste. A batch grown in northern Idaho at 3,000 feet had a hint of mint. (Still waiting for a first taste from my tree - maybe this season on basalt sand facing south at 2,040 ft.)
Hunt Russet: tangerine followed by rose.
Claygate: cheese & nuts (Provolone & hazelnut?)
Hubbardston Nonesuch: anise in some years.
Lamb Abbey: if you squint you may detect pineapple some years
Manchurian crab: orange/tangerine
Overripe Hewes Crab: malt & cinnamon
Ripe Smokehouse: caramel & malt
King David: similar to Smokehouse but not as juicy & shorter window of opportunity (eastern WA)
Arkansas Black: apparently it either does weird things in my neighborhood or my taste buddies are wonky: tastes like a bad penny to me every time, even stored two months.
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I like your taste review here of the various apples. I was looking at the King David to get, not now though after reading about it. I agree with your taste review of the Arkansas Black. I had a tree years ago and thought it tasted weird as well. I tried it stored as well over many months and it was still not tasting good to me. Glad I am not the only one that did not like the taste of it.
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I was dashed about King David, since it looked so good on paper & anecdotes across our fair land praised it. However, it didn’t seem to appreciate the low oven temperatures of my area & lost condition much faster than expected. My wife & I were intrigued by the caramel aspect, in particular.
We live near desert, with 13% relative humidity by noon June - September. Some apples shrug off the dry heat and others either gas away all taste &/or moisture or somehow concentrate them.
Living in Ohio, you may find King David meets all hopes.
Smokehouse was a revelation for me last October. It was grown in northern Idaho, with somewhat less stringent conditions. I hope to begin growing it as soon as I can get grafts started, which should be very soon. Some leaves are beginning to poke out of buds on the earliest apple trees.
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