Thanks. Wow, that’s a lot of fruit from one tree! And M7 at that. It must be bigger than it looks like in the pic, hard to see how 4 bushels came off it. Are those T-posts supporting it any? I was wondering how you got such clean fruit, but noticed you’ve bagged them.
I have five M7 trees, three years old, but they haven’t bore anything yet. I don’t have them supported yet, but may have to when they start producing.
Never heard of Honeygold, is it another UM variety similar to Honeycrisp? Similar flavor?
The honeygold is a cross of golden delicious and haralson. Basically a cold hardy golden delicious. The fruit is pretty good, but nothing to write home about, sweet but kind of bland. It’s a pretty grower friendly tree though, super cold hardy, and produces well.
A couple of years ago the trees were blown over in a storm so I had to stake them. Last year they were staked fully, and this year loosely. Hopefully I won’t need to stake them next year.
Here is how they looked where they blew over. I had to use a come along to get them up.
At most sites I manage it most fruit is huge with big rot spots- really not worth growing. However, on the two trees I have it, the harvest is good this year with only about 20% spoiled fruit. I gave it 4 fungicide sprays in July and Aug and foliar manganese. I’ve long given it the fungicide treatment without getting the results that the added manganese seems to have provided.
They are fun for me to give away, but aren’t my idea of a great apple, just a good one. The people I give them to often think it’s the best they’ve ever tasted. I find it boring and only enjoy eating them off the tree. Never feel like eating them once I’ve harvested them.
When they are well grown, they are the only apple I can smell 10 feet away at the supermarket. Of course, the Golden Delicious apples they put out a few weeks ago look like ripe Granny Smith.
We were just at the apple place the other day (sell direct from orchard in Minnesota). For their nicest honeycrisp (they have different grades) they want $2.99/pound… Some of the apples were just huge. HC really can get huge around here. Woodmans has HC for a little over a buck a pound but i see they come from Washington state and are tiny apples.
I’m waiting for Pazazz…similar but later then typical HC.
You should try FIrst Kiss…my wife really liked that one. Earlier then HC but similar…little more tart.
I’m trying to grow a HC tree, but it isn’t doing well in my climate - not near enough chilling hours. I’ll give it one more year to start producing and then out it goes…
I do have a Pixie Crunch that is just starting to produce nicely. The apples are much smaller than HC, but more dense, but just as sweet. Not a lot of complexity, but my family and I like that.
That surprises me because I don’t think of HC as a distinctly aromatic apple. I think Macintosh, for example has a much more fragrant fragrant aroma- but maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention.
Probably great for making apple perfume, but it doesn’t make MAC a great eating apple, although it’s all relative and completely subjective. A Mac off the tree is certainly distinctive and will soon become a highly prized heirloom, I bet. I think they are certainly a good apple- right up till about 3 weeks after harvest.
I think it’s an apple that likes the cold Midwest. I have a brother in ND and a nephew in MN that grow them without spray and they are big, blemish free, and flavorful.
Same here. I usually can’t smell a HC apple at the supermarket even if I put my nose right up to it. It seems like HC tastes good in some areas and not in others. They all taste fairly insipid whenever I buy them, except for one time that a HC had some melon flavor to it. I still buy one every so often to try and see what all the hype is about but always end up disappointed.
Macs are great. They’re one of my favorite eating apples. I love apples that have lots of flavor and some tartness to them. I do agree that they fall off in quality after a month. For market apples, I prefer them and Empire until winter then I’ll switch to Jonagolds.
i tried some from a u pick orchard near me last sept. they were smaller than the 5 other varieties they were growing and the flavor was the worst out of all of them. about on par with the store bought ones I’ve tried. we are in the ideal growing zones for them but I’ve never tasted a good one here. the cortlands and macs easily out flavored them. even my wife didn’t care for them and she likes a sweet apple. Maine has always been known for great cortlands and macs. maybe its our crappy clay/ rocky soil they don’t like. i wanted to like them as I’ve heard how good a tree ripened one supposed to taste.
About once a year we’ll try a few HC when they start arriving at the fruit stands… My wife says they make a great pear, but only a so-so apple. I’d have to agree, they’re “OK” but that’s about all… IMO
Pest pressure varies within a county or less- often, if you live in a suburban housing development with no encroaching woods and lots of tended turf, pest pressure is low.
I have some sites where Honeycrisp does fine. Lower vigor helps reduce rot. Great big fruit tends to get it more.
I purposely thinned very late, but my fruit still got pretty huge. The fruit would likely be a notch better if it didn’t get so big.
