Apples, If you were to pick just 3

[bigboreblr]

68 in the ground and another 29 in pots, i am not qualified to pick only 3.

Frostbite is natures trees. A bad cold spell in 1918 or so in mn killed tons of trees except frostbite, so university of mn propogated the variety . Alot of mn trees are from frostbite.

 

[H20fwler]

How do you rate the Droptine for wildlife ?

I give it a 10 out of 10
It does exactly what I wanted it to do…drops into winter even into March, heavy annual fruit loads, fast growing, can thrive on zero love and feed all kinds of wildlife.
Deer eat what drops and what they can reach, I shake them as I walk by in fall and winter.
Birds eat fruit all winter.
Squirrels eat fruit too. Worse are the coons, they sometimes get after the apples in early fall as family groups and break branches.

If I had to fault it I would say it almost grows too fast, raccoons like them too much and I’ve seen just a little CAR on leaves some years.

I’ve got at least eight out from 7’ to 20’, have grafted quite a few of them and given to buddies and sent scion to a dozen members on here.

 

[weekender21]

I give it a 10 out of 10
It does exactly what I wanted it to do…drops into winter even into March, heavy annual fruit loads, fast growing, can thrive on zero love and feed all kinds of wildlife.
Deer eat what drops and what they can reach, I shake them as I walk by in fall and winter.
Birds eat fruit all winter.
Squirrels eat fruit too. Worse are the coons, they sometimes get after the apples in early fall as family groups and break branches.

If I had to fault it I would say it almost grows too fast, raccoons like them too much and I’ve seen just a little CAR on leaves some years.

I’ve got at least eight out from 7’ to 20’, have grafted quite a few of them and given to buddies and sent scion to a dozen members on here.

What rootstock did you use with your droptine?


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[TonySoprano]

I give it a 10 out of 10
It does exactly what I wanted it to do…drops into winter even into March, heavy annual fruit loads, fast growing, can thrive on zero love and feed all kinds of wildlife.
Deer eat what drops and what they can reach, I shake them as I walk by in fall and winter.
Birds eat fruit all winter.
Squirrels eat fruit too. Worse are the coons, they sometimes get after the apples in early fall as family groups and break branches.

If I had to fault it I would say it almost grows too fast, raccoons like them too much and I’ve seen just a little CAR on leaves some years.

I’ve got at least eight out from 7’ to 20’, have grafted quite a few of them and given to buddies and sent scion to a dozen members on here.

Nice , I have two that are 5 years old and one younger one. I've seen a little car also ,my only complaint would be that the braches droop / sag. I need to prune them back hard next winter like bigboreblr recommended .

I'll have to watch this year to see when they drop and how long they hold. I thought they were all dropped by Dec last year.

​

 

[H20fwler]

What rootstock did you use with your droptine?


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Mostly M111 a few on Antonovka. M111 does really well for me with my loamy clay and zone.

 

[H20fwler]

This is the first Droptine I put in the ground, just starting to blossom I need to prune it yet.
It is planted right along the back of the woods in our first wildlife orchard. Going to work on those trees this afternoon.

A few years ago I had to prune it back really hard due to weepy looking branches that bent from fruit load and raccoons. The tree had bent over like a horseshoe.
It has come out of it very strong.

 

[TonySoprano]

This is the first Droptine I put in the ground, just starting to blossom I need to prune it yet.
It is planted right along the back of the woods in our first wildlife orchard. Going to work on those trees this afternoon.

A few years ago I had to prune it back really hard due to weepy looking branches that bent from fruit load and raccoons. The tree had bent over like a horseshoe.
It has come out of it very strong.

View attachment 76591

View attachment 76592

Nice , I need to prune mine like that next Jan or Feb

 

[bigboreblr]

What rootstock did you use with your droptine?


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What kind of soil do you have? Any common issues you have where you are? Droughts, seasonal flooding, insect issues? M111, B118, antonovka, and dolgo are popular choices for folks on here. M7 and G890 are good choices too, although the tree is a tad smaller than you like them to be.

I've grfted droptine on both m111 and antonovka with no problems. M111 and M7 are my main goto ones at home, I got heavier clay loam soil and seasonal flooding. I have sandy soil at camp. Antonovka has been doing well for me. Dolgo seedlings that arean't graft do good too. Planting some B118 and trying a M111 or two late this summer.

Droptine and 30-06 are supposedly siberian crab baed as per Terry from whitetail crabs. I only grafted 30-06 to siberian crabapple rootstock this year. Droptine suffers winter dieback for me so far. May only be a zone 4 crabapple. 30-06 does just fine down to -38 so far. Didn't notice diesback this year on droptine, but area only went down to -18 this past winter. Respect the zones..... This can be hard on crabapples because there is less knowledge of most of the varieties out there.

 

[b116757]

I ordered a couple Yates and a couple Kerr on M111 from Turkey Creek a couple years ago they have all done well Chris’s trees are of good quality but both the Yates have put on impressive growth compared to nearly all my other apple trees near the same age I’m very happy with those trees they are on different farms so this impressive growth isn’t a single site fluke. I have around 90 fruit trees around that age so this is saying something for Yates.

 

[Teeder]

Here a branch of Arkansas Black that i topworked 2 years ago. Can't wait to try one!

 

[g squared 23]

This is a great thread.

2+ years on, Enterprise and Liberty are still the winners. Goldrush is a delicious, late dropper, but after bearing heavily last year, it is taking this year off, so it can’t be top 3.

I have recently planted yates, sundance and grafted wickson and galarina this year, so I’ll have more data soon.


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I change my mind back. Goldrush is my best tasting apple, so it has to be in top 3. If I did nothing but GR, liberty and enterprise, I’d be very happy.


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[Derek Reese 29]

I’m gonna throw Rubyrush out there..great tasting apple, fast growing, seemingly pretty disease resistant and even nice to look at!

 

[marlin]

Mid Michigan we’ve had a horrible drought this fall. Apples are smaller, but on some varieties the drought has increased the flavor.

My top 3 so far for 2025. Kinder crisp, Pixie crunch, and Triumph. I ate my first Triumph today it is my favorite. 2 1/2 inches in diameter, beautiful color, great taste and crisp. Picture below is triumph.

 

[bigboreblr]

That rubyrush made apples pretty quick......

Impossible to pick 3........... Hard ro leave 30-06 off the list either...... Grows quick, drops when hunting season is on, grafts well too. Good in zone 3 too.

 

[sandbur]

The best three for people would probably be Zestar, Chestnut Crab, and KinderKrisp.

Trailman and St Edmund’s are also good.

For deer would have to be crabs and it would vary with time of the year. I would list Chestnut Crab for the first 2-3 weeks of bow season and then some crabs for late October through winter. Big Dog and Buckman have worked for me. All three have not had significant disease issues.