Northern Spy Vigor
- Thread starter DLH
- Start date
g squared 23
5 year old buck +
Is it worth the wait?
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
My parents and grandparents swore by the Norther Spy for their apple pies. But the trees I remember were fully grown at the time, so their opinions on the quality of the apple did not include how long it took the trees to produce. No one really knew who planted the original trees, or who to thank for this gift. I am committed to putting in at least one Norther Spy as a "thank you" to that stranger. Maybe someday someone else will wonder who to thank for the tree(s) I plant.
Maybe someday. Mine are only 4th and 5th leaf. They are not the ideal tree to graft for someone as impatient as I am.
aerospacefarmer
5 year old buck +
I got apples after about 4 years on some. I just planted more. They grow tall and upright. Need training to keep them from going upward only
Dan Wombles
5 year old buck +
I planted one Spy on M111 in 2008, and its been producing great for about 6 years. I use them for making apple butter, along with Baldwin and Rome Beauty.
Tickrancher
Yearling... With promise
Northern Spy will get larger than most varieties on similar rootstock. I had one growing on M7 at my last house and it grew much larger than nearby Melrose and Newtown Pippin. It grows large because it doesn't waste any energy on fruit. In my desperation for apples I tied down a lower branch to promote development of fruit buds. That was in year 8. In year 9 that branch had half a dozen apples on it. That may have helped the tree to figure out the fruiting thing. Year 10 the tree had over 4 bushels of apples. It had apples every year after that minus one late frost. In a good season it is the best tasting apple on the planet. This spring I planted a Northern Spy from Cummins up at the farm. It was on B118, so someday my grand kids will know what a real apple tastes like. Northern Spy pies in 2029!
I planted a few Northern Spies on G.16 dwarfing rootstock 17 years ago. The average productive lifespan of G.16 was rated as 10 years according to a report I read. All but one of those trees has died of old age now. I am still waiting to see my first Northern Spy blossom.
I am thinking about using Northern Spy scions (from a different source) for some top working next spring.
Does anybody have an estimate of how late the apples hang on a Northern Spy?
Has anybody had any problems with theirs?
I am thinking about using Northern Spy scions (from a different source) for some top working next spring.
Does anybody have an estimate of how late the apples hang on a Northern Spy?
Has anybody had any problems with theirs?
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
I do not have any Northern Spy because I had read that they are a notoriously late-maturing variety, especially on standard rootstock. My knowledge of them from childhood memories of my grandmother's orchard are that they do not hang long on the tree after ripe, and tend to fall early. Grandma's trees were very old and regular producers in Zone 5 of mid-Michigan (not an apple-friendly zone due to late spring frosts). I could be wrong on the hanging and falling times because Grandma never sprayed her apples so they often fell due to insect damage. I grow Spigold, a cross between Northern Spy and Golden Delicious.
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
During one of my grafting classes at Cummins we got talking about Northern Spy and they told us they were usually very slow to produce and indicated you would be waiting the better part of a decade on any of the larger rootstocks.
R.E. Gould
5 year old buck +
Wicked vigorous, with strong upright growth. Bending them down below horizontal helps quickly to bring branches into fruiting though. Great for grafting onto - the vigor seems to be transferred to the scions.
