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["baylands" <baylands@cros.net>]

Good luck on your new orchard! Golden russet is a good choice for cider,
cooking and eating. I would strongly recommend Redfree over William's Pride.
I have several trees of both as well as 100 other heirloom and new disease
resistant varieties. Redfree is one of my favorites. Nice size red apples.
Early. Excellent eating. Disease resistant. Very little pest damage without
spraying. Redfree is the best early apple that I have ever eaten. My taste,
of course. They are available at the Adams County Nursery in Pennsylvania.
They are on the web and have many excellent varieties.

For your third apple tree, you might consider a Rambo. My uncle Dale said,
"If you have a Rambo apple tree, you don't need any other apple trees." He
was right. It is a good partially red apple that is good for eating, cooking
and cider. (I press my own cider and value a variety of apples for blending
purposes.) Rambo produces fruit over a long period of time. They start
ripening relatively early and continue to ripen in waves into late
September. They are not disease resistant but I have relatively low insect
and disease problems without doing any spraying. They tend to be large in
size even though the tree usually has a heavy crop. Uncle Dale said that in
the old days every farm had a Rambo. Adams County Nursery also has these.

Suncrisp is one of the new varieties that is one of my favorites. It is a
yellow apple with a considerable red blush. It is a hard, crisp apple with
some tartness when harvested and then sweetens in storage. (My storage is in
a root cellar.) Once again Adams Co has these. 

I love Spitzenberg apples, but I have a hard time harvesting good apples.
Perhaps it is because my orchard is totally organic. I've read that they are
a difficult apple to grow. Maybe make it your choice when you add the fifth
tree in the future. The three that you start with should be dependable
producers. Redfree, Rambo and Golden Russett would be my choice if I was
planting three trees.

Ro Chapman
Port Clinton, Ohio
Zone 5/6 near Lake Erie


-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Allen B. Downey
Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 12:58 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] third apple for backyard orchard?


Hi All,

I have been planning a backyard orchard for years,
and this year I finally bought a house, so it's time
to make it happen.

I have room for 5-6 semi-dwarf trees, but I am thinking
about starting with just three this year. I am ordering
now for planting next spring.

I have been looking at Cummins Nursery, since they have
many of the varieties I want on the rootstocks that will
give me the size I want (M26, G30, that ballpark).

I have decided on two of the varieties I want to grow,
but I am stuck on the third, which is why I am writing to
ask for suggestions.  What I have so far is William's Pride
for early eating apples and Golden Russett for late cider.

For the third tree I was thinking about Mutsu, because it
is midseason, green, and I like them.  But they are getting to
be common, and I would rather grow something I couldn't more
easily buy.

Here are the criteria I am thinking about, in decreasing
order of importance:

1) Good tasting eating apple.

2) Disease resistant would be good, since I plan to do MINIMAL
   spraying.

3) Midseason maturity would be good but not necessary.

4) Something a little off the beaten path would be good.
   A heritage variety would be great as long as it doesn't
   violate criterion #1

5) They don't have to be pretty.

6) They don't have to be super sweet -- I like a tart apple, too.

So, there it is.  What do you think?

Thanks, NAFEXers!

Allen



p.s. I am tempted to plant Esopus Spitzenberg because
I really like to say "Esopus Spitzenberg".  Try it,
you'll see what I mean:

"Hey, what kind of apple tree is that?"

"Why, that's an Esopus Spitzenberg!"

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