Most productive apple verities

[chummer]

How is Kerr with Cedar apple rust?

I have never seen any signs of it but I have very few cedars. I do know they have survived -40 something and the leaves are spotless every year. I also have bad fire blight that do not touch them

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[PrairieShadow]

I have never seen any signs of it but I have very few cedars. I do know they have survived -40 something and the leaves are spotless every year. I also have bad fire blight that do not touch them

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Good Info, I've got a few thousand cedars so I've got to be conscious of CAR.

 

[b116757]

I have never seen any signs of it but I have very few cedars. I do know they have survived -40 something and the leaves are spotless every year. I also have bad fire blight that do not touch them

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I ordered some Kerr on your recommendation good to know on CAR hope it holds true at my place. I suspect it will I know Haralson is partially CAR resistant and I believe it’s a parent of Kerr.

 

[Chainsaw]

Turning point picture taken today January 25 sixth seventh fifth whatever deer are a single deer eating at all the last few TurningPoint apples of the year

 

[Chainsaw]

Turning point keeps giving out apples normally all winter this year it seems to be dropping out early I guess temperature changes or suction plus we had a couple of real real winds that blow down a lot a lot of apples in January

 

[Mortenson]

Every time someone asks this I have the same answer. Kerr remains my number one option for all things that matter. No spray needed. Good luck finding some.

When do yours typically drop? None of mine have fruited yet. I have a few grafted on M111 from GRIN and 2 years ago got a couple from BlueHill on Dolgo. Might graft a few more on Dolgo this year. Has anyone seen a large Kerr tree? I thought it was said they might be kind of a dwarfing tree.

 

[chummer]

When do yours typically drop? None of mine have fruited yet. I have a few grafted on M111 from GRIN and 2 years ago got a couple from BlueHill on Dolgo. Might graft a few more on Dolgo this year. Has anyone seen a large Kerr tree? I thought it was said they might be kind of a dwarfing tree.

They drop from October into December. This pick is from 9/11. A couple weeks earlier I shook most of them off because I didn’t want branches to break. Planted 2014

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[Mozark]

Of the few varieties that are fruiting, Pristine has been the most productive and absolutely bomb proof. Ripe mid august here in zone 6

 

[Wild Thing]

My best producers are all in my "People" orchard, of course, where they are not subject to CAR and are sprayed usually at least 2-3 times per year. They all produce well:

Honey Gold
Cortland
Red Wealthy
Honey Crisp

I sprayed them with Sevin SL this year (43% Carbaryl) hoping that they would thin themselves out enough where I wouldn't have to do it manually. I was a little too conservative and only mixed it at half rate (1.5 oz/gal) and while it did thin the apples out some, it wasn't enough. Sooooo.....I am out there doing it manually now. Should have done it earlier but I have been to of town a lot lately.





I am in the Honey Crisp row today...


This is what I removed from 1 tree (planted in 2008)...


Here is the next one - not quite as many only about a pail and a half.

 

[bornagain62511]

I started growing apple trees about 22 years ago. Initially I grew my own rootstock from seed I collected from wild apples that were doing well, and then I T-budded to them when they were big enough. After several years of growing my rootstock from wild seed, I started to buy and plant B-118 rootstock each year. That was a huge mistake I wish I had never planted a single B-118. They are very weak in the trunk and poorly rooted. I need to have every B-118 tree supported by driving a steel T-post about 18" from the trunk and tying the tree to the T-post with baler twine, otherwise they would all lean over or lay flat on the ground when they are weighted down with apples. Now I'm growing my rootstock from Antonovka seed.

I have T-budded probably close to 1000 rootstocks over the past 20 years and currently have around 500-600 well established apple trees growing on our farm. I have never sprayed any of my apple trees and we have lots of red cedar around so trees that are suceptible to CAR get it really bad. I have T-budded the rootstocks on our farm with Galarina, Liberty, Enterprise, NW Greening, Snow Sweet, Williams Pride, Red Free, Honeygold, Winecrisp, Honeycrisp, and Gold Rush.

Gold rush, Winecrisp, and Honeygold all get CAR really bad. Honeycrisp did terrible due to the condition explained in the following link. https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/drappletree/leaves/honeycrisp-leaf-mottling

I removed all the trees that I had T-buded with Honeycrisp and Gold Rush because they do so poorly and I am considering removing all the Winecrisp and Honeygold as well because they perform so badly due to CAR.

The following varieties all do well and are disease resistant and produce consistent crops of nice apples. As I said, I have never sprayed my trees and we are in an area with lots of CAR. These are the most productive varieties on our farm beginning with the most productive

Liberty
Northwest Greening
Williams Pride
Galarina
Enterprise
Snowsweet

 

[bornagain62511]

 

[bornagain62511]

The photos above are from a couple years ago. NW Greening, Galarina, Enterprise, and Snowsweet apples hang late in winter and slowly drop throughout the winter. Liberty usually have some hanging in December and sometimes into January.

 

[Tree Spud]

For all you northern guys who are zone 5/4 or higher.

What root stocks have you see as reliable and sturdy in cold weather zones? I know anti and Dolgo are good on the specialty company trees like NWC & Blue Hills, however when looking to purchase apple trees from lets say Cummins, I see M.111, B118, G90, etc. and a whole lot of others.

 

[TenPoint]

I’m in your range spud. South Central wi. I have trees on anty, Dolgo, b118, p18, emla7, and maybe mm111. B118 seems to lean the most. Not all but some definitely do. No winter problems with any.

 

[Diesel5610]

In zone 5 I have had good luck with Dolgo, MM111 and Ant rootstock. I have a couple P18 that aren’t doing much and I will never plant another B118, 90 percent of mine are terrible leaners.

 

[TenPoint]

Freedom has been my most consistent producer but it’s also one of my oldest. Planted 3 in 2011 and I don’t think they’ve taken a year off since they started producing. My youngest are 6 years old on antonovka so we’ll see how they do moving forward.

Kerr was left for dead last year but now looks great.

Golden Hornet has spit apples since it was planted. Kind of runted out and now is bent over almost 90 degrees from all the fruit. I think this is on B118. Edit: Checked my planting log and its MM106. Only one of that type that I have.

Prairie Spy has a nice crop this year.

All-Winter Hangover is just starting to produce. Loaded this year for first time. We’ll see how it does moving forward.

Enterprise

Winter Wildlife been productive for a few years now. Loaded again.

Freedom

Honeycrisp is loaded this year but isn’t an annual producer.

 

[b116757]

Probably one of my most productive zone 3 trees is Fireside/Connell Red

 

[Gray922]

Freedom has been my most consistent producer but it’s also one of my oldest. Planted 3 in 2011 and I don’t think they’ve taken a year off since they started producing. My youngest are 6 years old on antonovka so we’ll see how they do moving forward.

Kerr was left for dead last year but now looks great.

Golden Hornet has spit apples since it was planted. Kind of runted out and now is bent over almost 90 degrees from all the fruit. I think this is on B118. Edit: Checked my planting log and its MM106. Only one of that type that I have.

Prairie Spy has a nice crop this year.

All-Winter Hangover is just starting to produce. Loaded this year for first time. We’ll see how it does moving forward.

Enterprise

Winter Wildlife been productive for a few years now. Loaded again.

Freedom

Honeycrisp is loaded this year but isn’t an annual producer.

Looks like you have some great trees, are those all annual producers, except for the honeycrisp?

 

[TenPoint]

Looks like you have some great trees, are those all annual producers, except for the honeycrisp?

No not all.

Freedom, liberty, enterprise, winter wildlife seem to be reliable. Others have not been as consistent. It maybe be late frosts too. We’ve had issues with those aplenty.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

What root stocks have you see as reliable and sturdy in cold weather zones? I know anti and Dolgo are good on the specialty company trees like NWC & Blue Hills, however when looking to purchase apple trees from lets say Cummins, I see M.111, B118, G90, etc. and a whole lot of others.

From all my reading & research for hardy rootstocks ( tons over about 10 years ) - the most cold-hardy are reported to be Antonovka, Dolgo, and P-18. P-18 originated in Poland in a very cold region with tough winters. It's also supposed to grow a standard-sized tree ..... 20 to 30 ft. tall. FWIW. Antonovka and Dolgo are time-proven cold-hardy rootstocks.

Like others have said here - I also won't plant any more B-118 trees. Some are doing fine ..... others are leaning.