Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Agree 100%. These 2 varieties are probably the most DR varieties out there, and cover a good amount of time for dropping. My camp has several of each. If I were choosing just 3 apple varieties, Liberty & Enterprise would be 2 of them.Everybody should start by planting a Liberty and an Enterprise.
As for rootstocks, if you have bears, I'd suggest going with rootstocks that grow full-sized trees. Bigger trees/more heavy wood = less likelihood of tree kills by bears. Antonovka, P-18, and Dolgo rootstocks are the main 3 for growing full-sized trees. For heavier, clayish soils, MM-111 is a great rootstock that will grow a tree about 85% of full size.
I went with DR varieties of apples & crabs because our trees won't be babied and pampered for the most part. As Sandbur said above, the region you live in will determine which apples will do the best for you for DR and season/drop times. Goldrush does great for our location, but it gets CAR in many other places with red cedars nearby.
For Teeder - our camp is in NC Pa. mountains. The varieties I chose for our camp (mainly for DR) are:
Liberty
Enterprise
Galarina
Priscilla
Goldrush
Sundance
Crimson Topaz
Wolf River
Prairie Spy
Winecrisp
Dayton
Chestnut crab
Winter Wildlife crab
All Winter Hangover crab
Franklin Cider apple
Kerr
Nova Scotia crab
Turning Point
Buckman crab
Sweet November crab
Road Kill crab
There are a few more varieties that we have, but I probably wouldn't plant them again. Those just haven't done much for us at this point. One thing I HAVE learned is that B-118 rooted trees lean (at least in our soils). If any of the B-118 trees fall over or otherwise poop out on us, replacement trees will be on Antonovka, P-18, Dolgo, or MM-111 roots. All these have rooted really well for us.