North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Eddie Earles" <jas39a@earthlink.net>]

Enterprise requires a very long growing season.  It will appear to be ripe
(i.e., color-wise) LONG before it actually is.

I am in zone 7, in an area with an unusual microclimate that gives me a very
long growing season (surrounded by saltwater on 3 sides).  My apples bloom
in mid-to-late April, and I usually don't get a killing frost until about
the second week of December.  My Enterprise apples appear to be ripe about
the second week of September, but picked then, they have just fair-to-good
flavor.  They are now (November 2nd as of this writing) at peak flavor, and
are quite good.  The flavor is similar to a Jonathan at peak ripeness, but
with a crisper texture.  Visitors to my home seem to prefer them to any
other apple I have (although I prefer Stayman Winesap).

Enterprise is easy to grow.  It is not as disease-resistant as the nurseries
and various extension services claim (it is not immune to scab or fire
blight), but it is certainly more resistant to disease than just about any
of the heirloom varieties.  It does have very long, slender, drooping
branches, which do not support the weight of the fruit well (the variety is
a heavy setter, and the fruits tend to be large), so limbs will sometimes
break under the weight of fruit.  Overall, though, it is an excellent choice
for the home grower who has a long enough growing season for it to achieve
full ripeness.  Zone 6 might be marginal in this regard, unless you live
near a large body of water whose thermal mass delays fall frosts.

Eddie Earles

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glenn & Kathy Russell" <GlennAndKathy2@cox.net>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 9:02 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Enterprise Flavor


> Hi All-
> This is my first post here at nafex....  Though I'm a regular at
> GardenWeb's Fruit forum.  Hopefully it gets posted correctly!
>
> Eddie / Anyone -
> What's your opinion of the Enterprise?  I originally put it in along
> with my Liberty's and Williams Pride because it was disease resistant (and
> of course, the nursery description was glowing)  But, I've since learned
to
> take nursery literature with a grain of salt (And really look at what they
> don't emphasize).  Being a sour apple fan, I'm very happy with the flavor
of
> my Liberty trees.  (Currently I have 7 apple trees, but most are young,
and
> only some are producing)  Although my Williams Pride is not producing yet,
> all the posts on the GW Fruit forum were very positive.  I'm also happy
that
> WP is such an early apple because spreading my harvest is also an
important
> quality for me.  But, the enterprise got a lackluster review on GW.  Also,
> my Enterprise was the last piece of stock that Cummins had, and thus it
was
> small, etc.  I don't currently have it in an ideal spot, and thus, it's
> struggled a bit.  So.... What's your opinion of Enterprise flavor?  Is it
a
> keeper?  Or possibly just worthy of a graft onto another one of my trees
> later on?
> Thanks in advance,
> -Glenn   (Zone 6b, RI)
>
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