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#1
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Apple tree recommendations?
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Many thanks! Cat(h) |
#2
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Apple tree recommendations?
On 4/9/06 13:53, in article
, "Cat(h)" wrote: I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? This place has very many of the oldest known types of apples, pears, plums etc. and has a good reputation: http://www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/ -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/ |
#3
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Apple tree recommendations?
Sacha wrote: On 4/9/06 13:53, in article , "Cat(h)" wrote: I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? This place has very many of the oldest known types of apples, pears, plums etc. and has a good reputation: http://www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/ -- Wow! 26 pages of apple varieties!!! What more can a girl want? Thanks Sacha! Cat(h) Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/ |
#5
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Apple tree recommendations?
Cat,
I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably mature, so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in the Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some priorities. Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?) varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us choose to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy, either in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get good quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in the 9 months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve. With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar flavour to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another "cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two pollinators (do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord Lambourne (James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its nutty flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in the shops in November. Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again has a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in mid season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for one of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're beautiful at the same time. -- Best Regards, Rick "Cat(h)" wrote in message oups.com... I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Many thanks! Cat(h) |
#6
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Apple tree recommendations?
Rick Eggleston wrote: Cat, I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably mature, so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in the Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some priorities. Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?) varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us choose to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy, either in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get good quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in the 9 months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve. With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar flavour to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another "cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two pollinators (do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord Lambourne (James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its nutty flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in the shops in November. Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again has a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in mid season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for one of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're beautiful at the same time. -- Best Regards, Thank you for all of that, Rick. My priority are similar to yours - good home grown fruit without chemicals that I cannot find in the shops. Keeping quality would be important - size of fruit is not, as I munch my way through vast quantities of apples regardless of size most days. I take note of Hertfordshire Russet, and will ignore Cox Pippin :-) That said, it seems you lot fare better than we do in the varieties available in the shops! What you can find here (Ireland) seems limited to golden delicious, royal gala, braeburn - which I like - pink lady or cripps pink - which I also like -, and the goddawful granny smith (cringe). The odd time you find cox pippin, but that is rare. Cat(h) |
#7
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Apple tree recommendations?
"Cat(h)" wrote in message oups.com... Rick Eggleston wrote: Cat, I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably mature, so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in the Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some priorities. Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?) varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us choose to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy, either in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get good quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in the 9 months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve. With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar flavour to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another "cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two pollinators (do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord Lambourne (James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its nutty flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in the shops in November. Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again has a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in mid season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for one of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're beautiful at the same time. -- Best Regards, Thank you for all of that, Rick. My priority are similar to yours - good home grown fruit without chemicals that I cannot find in the shops. Keeping quality would be important - size of fruit is not, as I munch my way through vast quantities of apples regardless of size most days. I take note of Hertfordshire Russet, and will ignore Cox Pippin :-) That said, it seems you lot fare better than we do in the varieties available in the shops! What you can find here (Ireland) seems limited to golden delicious, royal gala, braeburn - which I like - pink lady or cripps pink - which I also like -, and the goddawful granny smith (cringe). The odd time you find cox pippin, but that is rare. You should also try a Ribstone Pippin, has a delicious taste. Alan Cat(h) |
#8
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Apple tree recommendations?
"Cat(h)" wrote I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden. There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer. -- Regards Bob H 17mls W. of London.UK |
#9
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Apple tree recommendations?
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Cat(h)" wrote I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden. There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer. Bob has the answer when he says to try to find a local supplier, different varieties for different areas. I live in North Staffordshire and found a supplier locally near Nantwich, his advice was sound. I had never heard of the varieties until I went to see him. It is now around the time of Apple festivals, look out for local ones, go along and you should even be able to taste the apples. A Google search turned up a number of possibles in Ireland. |
#10
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Apple tree recommendations?
Apple festivals????? Must be a Southern English thing. I suspect Cat is in
a similar position to those of us in Scotland - despite the fact that Edinburgh is on my doorstep, there is nowhere that stocks more than 5 or varieties of spindly pot grown specimens. I have found up here that if you're at all choosy, mail order from the South is the only answer. -- Best Regards, Rick "Broadback" wrote in message ... Bob Hobden wrote: "Cat(h)" wrote I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden. There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer. Bob has the answer when he says to try to find a local supplier, different varieties for different areas. I live in North Staffordshire and found a supplier locally near Nantwich, his advice was sound. I had never heard of the varieties until I went to see him. It is now around the time of Apple festivals, look out for local ones, go along and you should even be able to taste the apples. A Google search turned up a number of possibles in Ireland. |
#11
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Apple tree recommendations?
Go for something different. Try a Malus domestica Borkh cv Bravo de
Esmolfe. It is a typical Portuguese apple cultivar classified as Protected Designation and Origin. In other words, it corresponds to a traditional product produced under strict conditions and labelled with a specific law protected designation. http://www.idrha.min-agricultura.pt/...ges/II-328.jpg My opinion might be biased but I love this apple. I planted one and hope to get fruits next year... If you are planting several apple trees, try different ones... Let me know if you want me to get you the exact botanical reference from mine. PA |
#12
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Apple tree recommendations?
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message ... "Cat(h)" wrote I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden. There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer. I've had a cox for many years, I've never ever used any chemicals on it, but I do get a variable crop, sometimes fairly large, otehr times rathe small, buyt always very tasty. Alan -- Regards Bob H 17mls W. of London.UK |
#13
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#14
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Apple tree recommendations?
echinosum writes
Cat(h) Wrote: I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well - though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit. I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British Isle varieties? Many thanks! Cat(h) Another place with a huge range of apples (and pears and plums and...) is http://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/ near Maidstone in Kent. They have a couple of open days (1&8 Oct this year) when you can go and taste the fruit and choose like that. Also Scotts nurseries, Merriott, Somerset - but no website. I grow and like Brownlees Russet, King of the Pippins, Cornish Aromatic, all of which keep well. Alos Allingtons Pippin - fresh teasting and heavy cropping, herrings Pippin - enormous with scented flavour, Worcester Permain, which don't keep but which taste fantastic allowed to ripen on the tree. It's important to make sure the varieties you choose will pollinate each other. The flowering period will be quoted in the catalogues - choose two apples which flower at the same time. My 8 trees are all (IIRC) flowering period 3 or 4. -- Kay |
#15
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Apple tree recommendations?
In article , K
writes I grow and like Brownlees Russet, King of the Pippins, Cornish Aromatic, all of which keep well. Alos Allingtons Pippin - fresh teasting and heavy cropping, herrings Pippin - enormous with scented flavour, Worcester Permain, which don't keep but which taste fantastic allowed to ripen on the tree. What size trees did you choose Kay? I know that in poor soil some varieties will do better because they are stronger growers but you might need a slightly more vigorous rootstock than if planting on good soil etc. I would love to plant russets, but have heard that they can be susceptible to disease so was considering a more manageable sized roostock/tree so that I could treat them or prune them properly. We also love Worcester Pearmain and Discovery but again have been put off by other growers. How do you fit so many trees into your garden? janet -- Janet Tweedy Amersham Gardening Association http://www.amersham-gardening.net |
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