Bramley’s Seedling! Farmer’s market find. I know a lot of people find them inedible fresh but I think they’re amazing for us sour fanatics.
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Some Gravensteins, in green and red. Not sure how common these are outside my region - they’re kind of an obsession here in Sebastopol, CA, but I’ve heard they travel poorly. TBH not my fav flavor wise, but they’re fine.
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These little cuties were labeled “Pink Surprise.” Maybe an Etter apple mislabeled? Delightful candy Sweet Tart note, with less sourness than most pink apples and a great texture.
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And these were confusingly labeled “Pink Sunrise,” and found in the same shop as “Pink Surprise.” Also very Etter-y, but seem to be distinct from Pink Pearl, which is big here. Very heavy on the berry flavor, leaning towards cranberry - nice and tart with excellent texture.
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And here was my haul from a local grocery service. Winesap, White Winter Pearmain, Kidd’s Orange Red, Freyberg, Rubinette, and (mystery) Pippin in the mix for apples. Don’t ask me to say which is which! Seckel, Hosui, Ya Li and Starkrimson for the pears. So much variety!
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That “Pink Sunrise” looks rather like Mott’s Pink to me.
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Oh interesting! I plan to graft that one someday but most of the pics of it on the internet aren’t too helpful. It was quite good.
Mer, when did you get those? I figured you must be in the Southern Hemisphere, but maybe those are from last winter?
I’m a big fan of Rubinette and of Freyberg.
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I like it too. It does well for me down here at Point Reyes, ripening a bit earlier than Pink Pearl.
I’m wondering if the “Pink Surprise” might be Discovery, just based on appearance and season. I have a healthy graft of it now, but it won’t bear until next season. Perhaps @derekamills can provide a more informed appraisal.
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Oh yeah, these are from various points over the last year! All the apples were grown local to me in California.
I feel like the Cox’s Orange relatives don’t do well here once they make it to the shops as most I’ve tried have been underwhelming but the Freyberg was delicious. I’m looking forward to growing some of those varieties myself to see if I can get better results.
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Point Reyes a bit cooler than Cotati, but COP itself, Rubinette, Freyberg, Suntan, and Karmijn de Sonneville grow well and produce excellent fruit here. (COP and Suntan are more scab-prone than the others). Hauer Pippin, which some claim to be a COP descendent, also does very well. I hope to sample my first home-grown Kidd’s Orange Red and Saint Cecelia this season.
I planted a Mendocino Cox this spring, but it’ll be a few seasons before I can sample that one.
Jerry,
I don’t hear many people talk about Suntan apple in the forum. What is your opinion about it, please?
Discovery is another one I don’t see around much, interesting! I’d like to hear your thoughts as well, Derek.
I’ve grafted Cherry Cox and Suntan, both of which I’ve heard very good things about. My Mendocino Cox graft failed but I really want to try it as well.
It has a reputation of being disease-prone (perhaps even more so than Cox itself). Here, it’s scab-prone but otherwise not problematic. The apples are really quite good. They’re small, crunchy, sweet-tart, and pack quite a high-flavored punch. Though our grafts don’t bear heavily and do require spraying for scab, Suntan is among our favorites for fresh eating.
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I think that @SkillCult has some experience growing Cherry Cox up near Ukiah, so he may be able to say more about how well it performs in Northern California.
Thanks.
My 3rd year Suntan graft sets a few fruit this year. I sprayed fungicide for scab twice before I bagged them with sandwich ziplock bags. I’ll find out how much scab and trouble they will give me later this year.
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Cherry cox is great here. Better than regluar cox. Suntan has never performed that well. It got a lot of watercore at first. It’s pretty remarkably flavored when it’s good, but I just don’t get a lot of good specimens. But the weather varies so much from inland to coast and increments in between, I’d say all bets are off til we just try stuff. I’m in between, but more inland than coast.
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Weirdly I think my climate is much more similar to yours, despite being so close to @jerry if you measure as the crow flies. Lots of odd microclimates even within my county and it’s a lot warmer here than the coast. Very much looking forward to Cherry Cox! Seemed very popular at our scion exchange.
Do you tend to have to spray much for scab where you are or is that variety unusual in that regard?