I have not. I have used them and Honeygolds to make a nice apple crisp.
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Smitty’s are sweeter than tart, juicy, crunchy..pretty much just a nice fresh eating apple. They’re also great in a sweet cider mix.
A buddy I gave scions to a few years ago got fruit on his tree this year. He really liked them. Says they’re for people, not deer.
I’m obviously biased, but IMO Smitty’s is every bit as good as many commercially grown apples.
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well limestones more of a sweet / tart . i like it out of hand. going to be a great apple pie apple or in baking. side by side with your smittys, you couldnt tell the difference. last week we went by the limestone apple and the ones with more red were getting mealy but the near pure white ones that were shaded were perfect. they started to ripen the 1st week in sept. every year im amazed at the amount of fruit that 15ft tree produces. its by far the most productive apple that ive ever seen. perfect fruit and dark green leaves despite no care. i know this as ive talked to the farmer that has his mailbox in front of it. said its been there for many generations before him. was smittys a wild find?
Grabbed a couple Husk Sweets today. They are coloring up nicely. Big Horse Creeks description of zero tartness is accurate. They are crunchy, juicy, and sweet. Not an apple I’d eat a lot of, but probably a good addition to sweet cider. Brix = 14
Also grabbed a couple Smitty’s Seedling that were still hanging. This is about as red as they’ll get. They are both sweeter and more tart today than they were a week or 10 days ago. Still crunchy, but in another week or so theyll start getting soft. Just an excellent fresh eating apple IMO. Brix today = 17
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Picked Tolman Sweet today. These are the unblemished/keepers. The variety hasn’t been an early bearer or productive here. I do have another young tree started in a different orchard.
This is a nostalgic variety for me. My folks loved them and would drive 90+ minutes to get some most years. They are probably better for baking, but I like them for fresh eating. The blemished ones will go into sweet cider. Brix = 15
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Somewhere on here I posted a pic of this tree in bloom. It has beautiful deep pink/red blossoms. Very ornamental. I believe I sent scions to a few people. I simply call it Wild Red Crab #2. I waited too long to pick them as many had fallen. In the past I picked them too early and the flavors didn’t get to develop. Looks like the 3rd week of September may be the sweet spot for picking. Today they are sweet, tart, and winey tasting. Really quite good. You can see a hint of pink/red flesh. They’ll add some color to sweet cider. Brix = 18
Honeygold
My only two Westfield Seek no Further. I’m unimpressed with the tree and fruit so far.
Franklin Cider crab next to Honeygold. F.C. is inedible to me, but it Brix tested at 21
Ben Trio crab next to Honeygold. B.T. is pretty tasty. Sweet, sour, juicy, tannic. Brix was impressive at 20
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I thought the red crab had more color in the flesh… I was thinking it might be nice to use for apple jelly, if it would bring some color into the product. I made some jelly this year using liberty apples and im pretty happy with the result.
I’d guess the longer the red crabs hang, the more red the flesh gets. Leaving them in the crisper for awhile would likely have the same effect.
I get a lot of red color in cider from Northland and Dolgo crabs and they don’t have any red flesh, just dark red skin. Ben Trio will probably do the same thing as well.
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Trying to decide if I should put 1/4” hardware cloth around my trunks in a 50x50’ backyard orchard near Minneapolis. I put 3 mouse bait stations in the orchard. Deer fence and 4’ chickenwire around the perimeter. I’ve never seen and identified a vole trail, but I might not have known what to look for. Are voles a problem in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area?
Voles do get mentioned a page about tree planting by the Minnesota Dept of Natural Resources:
Voles and bunnies both are issues here. I won’t plant a fruit tree without protecting the trunk with hardware cloth or aluminum window screen.
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Ive had pretty good luck spraying the trunks of my trees with diluted white latex paint mixed with some fish fertilizer and powdered sulfur as repellants, the white also helps prevent sunscald.only time ive had vole/rabbit damage is when I forgot to spray them one fall. Not as foolproof as wire probabably tho, but a lot easier.
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I really love Yellow Doll.
Apples long gone, for what they were worth, which was damn little. Now doing after-harvest (as it were) pruning.
Tolman Sweet has a very different taste, in a good way. I have one planted in my orchard. It was mislabeled as a R.I. Greening. When the tree finally produced some apples the apples did not look, taste, or ripen as the R.I. Greening would. I finally figured out it was a Tolman Sweet. I really enjoy the taste and how they do in the kitchen. I am glad it was mislabeled since it is such a great apple.
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I agree. Very unique flavor
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I’ve been buying 3lb bags of Honeycrisp from Michigan. They are small but delicious. I love the smaller apples over the softball size fruit. $3 for a bag so you can’t beat that.
I saw some Aussie apple called Soluna at the grocery store? The things looked like nectarines. I didn’t even know apples like that existed.
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Haven’t heard of Soluna.
I glanced at some apples (don’t know the varieties) while shopping this week. They were huge, like much larger than my fist. They may be great eating, but it’d be a meal not a snack. I much prefer eating a couple small-mid sized apples during the day. I suppose if I aggressively thinned I could get some huge apples too. Just not that important to me I guess.
I bought a few of those Australian Soluna because they just look cool (next to honeycrisp). I’ll save the seed and grow some out and see what I get..maybe a future grafting experiment. I’m horrible at describing these things but its like a red delicious but with flavor.
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Just a follow up on Westfield Seek no Further. Last year was the first year my tree had fruit. I wasn’t impressed with the apples at all. Pretty blah tasting.
Totally different this year. I just ate 1 of the 2 apples the tree bore this year. Really good. Sweet, tart, spicy, texture kind of similar to Golden Russet. I wish I had more of them now.
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