Spartan apples - Pros? - Cons?

[Bowsnbucks]

I'm thinking of planting a couple Spartan apple trees this spring. Is anyone growing Spartans? What are your thoughts on the good, bad, or ugly for them? All info is welcome.

 

[CrazyEd]

I grafted a few of them this past spring. LM Trapper on the other board is a big fan of them, said they are a good deer apple. He's had great luck with growing them both in central wisconsin and the UP. I believe they've got some decent disease resistance and hang for a while.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I grafted and grew a few this last year as well. Mine grew nicely.

 

[Natureboy]

I planted two Spartan apple trees on B118 rootstock in the spring of 2010. The trees were small whips when planted, they have grown well and are about 8' tall now. Trees are sturdy and well shaped and the leaves have no hint of any apple scab or other problem. They had a few blossoms this past spring but did not set any fruit,
hopefully they will bear a decent crop of apples this fall.

 

[2ndHand]

Here's some information on Spartan's: http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/spartan . The one thing I noticed about Spartan's as it relates to an eating apple vs. deer apple, is the stated storage life is shorter than other varieties - but it looks like an easy apple to grow.

 

[Maya]

I don't grow any, so I don't have any experience with them, but if Orange Pippin is saying "some resistance", that usually means not much if at all. It has Mac in its parentage so chances are it is a handful when it comes to fungus' such as scab and SBFS. Scab can be tuff on growing them for deer as it will slow the growing process due to the leaves getting covered up, but there are more factors to scab too. If you have any wild trees in the area, it will get scab and may require a lot of spraying to get the tree going.

 

[CrazyEd]

Maya, what about Priscilla, do you have any experience with that Apple from the Pri breeding program. That one also has McIntosh listed in its parentage, but it's listed as field immune to scab and generally is listed as very disease resistant.
Thanks
Ed

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Maya - I read the same thing as Ed for Priscilla being field immune to scab. But I've also read that it's a summer apple from one source, and it's a mid-season apple from another source. Can you give some insight to an ACCURATE source for apple info?? I'm sure some of the warm, fuzzy info is just to sell trees - but most of us need nuts & bolts factual info so we're not wasting $$$ and effort.

 

[Maya]

I don't know anything about Priscilla other than what I read here and OP. On the Purdue site they don't list the exact parentage, same w/ OP. I assume they effectively bread out a lot of the scab susceptibility that is always a problem w/ Macs and Mac like apples. Something I noted in NH's picture is that like Macoun, it seemed to have a very small stem, which means they will likely not hang well, dropping at or near maturity. In OP's pics they looked longer and they also noted they hang well, so I take it they are more Delicious like in that regard. Anyways with the related apples in it's lineage I bet it is tasty and from OP's description it should be pretty good DR wise making it easy to grow for deer/ habitat managers.

I always look at Orange Pippen for info Bows....

OP's description... http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/priscilla

 

[CrazyEd]

I don't know anything about Priscilla other than what I read here and OP. On the Purdue site they don't list the exact parentage, same w/ OP. I assume they effectively bread out a lot of the scab susceptibility that is always a problem w/ Macs and Mac like apples. Something I noted in NH's picture is that like Macoun, it seemed to have a very small stem, which means they will likely not hang well, dropping at or near maturity. In OP's pics they looked longer and they also noted they hang well, so I take it they are more Delicious like in that regard. Anyways with the related apples in it's lineage I bet it is tasty and from OP's description it should be pretty good DR wise making it easy to grow for deer/ habitat managers.

I always look at Orange Pippen for info Bows....

OP's description... http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/priscilla

Good Info Maya, I appreciate your insight. I'm going to graft a few and see how it does on my land. Thanks

 

[Maya]

Probably worth a try. That Purdue site says annual cropping, which means you shouldn't have to worry about boom and bust years. They also say that they may size small when over cropped, not a bad thing for deer. Honeygold is like that but they definitely need spraying for scab. Otherwise another good apple for deer.

 

[2ndHand]

Probably worth a try. That Purdue site says annual cropping, which means you shouldn't have to worry about boom and bust years. They also say that they may size small when over cropped, not a bad thing for deer. Honeygold is like that but they definitely need spraying for scab. Otherwise another good apple for deer.

Hey Maya, Do you sell Honeygold? If yes, how would you rank it as compared to other varieties you sell?

Thank you!

 

[Maya]

Yes, we do. They sell ok. We sell a lot more HC, Macoun, Mac and Zestar!. As far as taste? That is subjective.To me they are ok, sweet and pretty juicy, but not enough tart for me, but for people that just like a sweet apple that doesn't have any/ much tart to it they'll like them. Kinda like a Gala but less firm. You can cook w/ them.

I think they would make a good deer apple, although they would require some spraying for a few years to get them a good start. They don't mature till the beginning of October here and will drop starting then but slowly through the month and into November I would think. Mine are always picked before the third week of October, so I really don't know how late they will hang, but I like that they drop slowly. They fruit like crazy annually, so that's a real bonus for a deer apple. I've never planted any for deer, but it makes sense to me that they would be a good deer apple.

 

[2ndHand]

Thanks for the info Maya!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks for the info, guys. I looked in last year's SLN catalog and it says Priscilla is a very productive annual bearer that tends to over-bear if not thinned. Field immune to scab. I'm always interested to get info from guys who have apple growing experience. It's funny how once you start to " dabble " with planting apple / crab trees for deer, it becomes an obsession ( like the camo vendor says ! ). I guess it keeps us out of trouble !!

 

[Maya]

I wonder what they mean by "field" immune?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I don't know the meaning of " field " immune. I assumed it meant under field conditions and not " lab " conditions. Maybe I'm wrong. I know some of the best disease resistant apples - ie. Liberty - are deemed " field " immune, so I figured it's a GOOD thing.

 

[Maya]

I don't know the meaning of " field " immune. I assumed it meant under field conditions and not " lab " conditions. Maybe I'm wrong. I know some of the best disease resistant apples - ie. Liberty - are deemed " field " immune, so I figured it's a GOOD thing.

Probably, but I've never herd the term used before. I go to a lot of talks/seminars by university apple program directors, professors and so forth, and never herd that term used. Probably some young pointy headed pencil necked geek wanting to sound smart!

 

[bwoods11]

Just planted a couple... any updates on Spartan?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I still haven't planted any Spartan trees. I was going to a couple years ago, but opted for more DR tree varieties. No hands-on experience here.