Why I grow Honeycrisp

Jeff. Great looking display of the HC apple.

Thanks Bill, like all HC though, they taste better than they look. I broke 14 brix with some of these.

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Makes a good all by itself cider also.

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Jeff,

I’d have hundreds of them, too, had I not removed so many flower clusters in the spring. I was worried that it would go biennial on me like it did in 2014.

I hope my tree will produce well again next year. Your apples and the tree look great.

Sensational. Each apple looks perfect and what a good size they are. I do not have a HC, but feel the same way about my Jonagold’s. Just love apples too!

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love my JonaGolds! They seem to give me a good crop every year without any biennial bearing issues.

My one limb of Jonagolds bore a few fruit this year- it’s one of my favorites too.

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If I were to move to a new place and had room for 5 apple trees none would be HC. May not even make it in a planting of 10. There are so many apples with better and more favor. Suncrisp, Jonagold, Fuji, Shizuka, blushing golden would be my 5. Blushing golden is not that well known, but think somewhere between Golden Delicious and Suncrisp.

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It’s funny how people from different regions rate apple flavors. I raise Honey Crisp, McIntosh, and Cortland in Zone 5A Maine. They are all extremely popular here and taste great.

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@Appleseed70 - that is amazing. I just planted my first honey crisp tree and if I have half of that success after 4 years I will be thrilled. Great job!

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No squirrels? Or Raccoons? That is one amazing harvest. Its really fantastic!

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I wish my honeycrisp would start bearing! I planted two trees on M7 and yet to get fruit. I had 2 apples on one of the trees but they fell off in August. Perhaps next year.

Speaking of bad apples, I have a red delicious tree. I know most will scoff as red delicious from the store are usually not so delicious. I picked my delicious fruits in mid October and put them in cold storage. Just before Thanksgiving they were finally great! Crisp, juicy and the flesh has turned from white to yellow. Very sweet and a pleasure eating. When eaten off the tree in mid-October they tasted like a raw potato. Glad I can grow and store this variety until the flavor develops.

Another good one is that new apple from british Columbia called Ambrosia. My friend has Ambrosia trees for quite a while now. He got them from his father who did a lot of grafting. I am not sure how he got budwood on this tree since it is so new. Lets just say I don’t want to know how he did it. Those apples are fantastic! I get a 1/2 bushel from him every year. All I give one to want more. Now that this variety is available in our grocery stores they rush to buy them but tell me the ones I gave away were far superior in flavor. I presume those in the store were picked too early?

If I was not a Christian I would get some grafting wood off my friend’s tree, but since that is illegal I will refrain. I have searched in vain for anyone selling Ambrosia trees but no such luck.
They sold Ambrosia apples at some of the large orchards in Western WI this year so I presume commercial orchards now have access to getting the trees.

Anyone have experience with some of the new Honeycrisp strains that are supposed to have better skin color?

Speaking of commercial orchards, I am now going commercial! Just got the news that my place of employment wants me to head up installing a U-Pick operation on apples. Not real big but it sounds exciting. I will go with super dwarf trees on a trellis system to make it easier for picking with no ladders. Not sure if M-9, Bud-9, Nick 29 ect just yet. First trees hopefully go in the ground spring 2017. We want to lay out the orchard and get the trellis system up first.

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I was under the understanding (perhaps wrongly) that patents were 20 year issues, but I realize this is Canadian and maybe they have a different set of rules. IF it is indeed 20 years then Ambrosia should have come off patent, shouldn’t it have? I’d look into it, if it is still under patent and not syndicated, I’d get the wood and graft it and send them a check for their deserved royalty. You shouldn’t need be a Christian to act honorably, but I’m guessing you were just kidding.
The Ambrosia I’ve had have been good also, but imo they in no way compare to Honeycrisp. They are a more attractive apple though…at least to me. I’m thinking they were club apples, at least for a while, but I might be remembering that wrong also.

There have been posts here about Snapdragon and Ruby Frost and reportedly they are very good. The sense I got from reading the reviews are that they aren’t as good as HC. That doesn’t surprise me. Susan Brown outlined some of the goals of the program and the idea was to address some of the growing difficulties of HC and to breed in better coloration. The feeling I got was that high color was the primary driver. Sorta like when they improved the Winesap (Improved Winesap) by making it prettier at the expense of flavor.
If I ever get my hands on some of that Cornell wood, I’ll graft it in a NY minute and I won’t send them so much as a shiny penny, but that’s another story.

Good luck with your U-pick…sounds very cool!

I bought some Opals last week at Whole Foods. First two bites were amazing but then the sweetness just overwhelmed me – which I didn’t think was possible! The King of Sweet was defeated by an Apple!

Plenty of both Mrs. G…remember, I’m in the rural Appalachians, so there is plenty of every critter. My losses are primarily to two types of animals (at least that I’m certain of) and that’s Deer (anytime) and birds (when they begin to redden up). I’ve undoubtedly had some raccoon damage and also possum damage as well, but for sure, it’s been very minimal. The birds are really the absolute worst, as they obviously find the highest and most red apples the most appealing. They are also the most appealing to me. Oh well, they need to eat too I guess.

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They vary quite a bit. I’ve had some at 20 brix, which may be too sweet for you, but others at 15. All higher than any Honeycrisp I’ve bought locally in the last 6 or 7 years. But they also have a nice tang to them.

My Honeycrisp thinks it’s June.

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Appleseed70, Im so impressed with your tree and production, especially at only 4years. Amazing.

Thanks, but I should say it was planted 4 years ago, I’d guess it was at least a two year old tree, but was pretty small.

Wow…no kidding…that was taken today?