3 Apple Trees

[E_308]

Thinking about planting some apple trees. If you could plant 3 apple trees what varieties would they be? Planting in northeast Missouri. Full sun old field with well drained soil. Minimal maintenance, only make it to the farm about once a month. I have pears dropping from late August - early October, so later would be good. Mostly for the deer but would be nice if they where good for humans to eat too! Second part: best source to order from?

 

[Native Hunter]

Where I live it is hard to get apple trees to drop into November. The other problem is crabapples that hang on too long, turn into dried up mummies and don't drop until the next spring. People up north in places like PA and WI don't have those problems.

1. Yates will go into early November here some years and is highly DR. Good for humans too but small.

2. Arkansas Black - same as Yates on drop and DR. Good for humans too but better after keeping a while.

3. Kenner Seedling - I'm getting my first big crop, and it looks like they could be my latest apple. They are highly DR, slowly dropping right now but still lots of apples hanging. Good for humans too.

I would add a crabapple like Dolgo to ensure good pollination. It produces lots of pollen and will pollinate all three above. The Dolgo that Wildlife Group sold was a good one, because it was late and did better with the mummy problem than lots of others. However, I think they are out of business. One reason I would add a crabapple or two is because Arkansas Black produces sterile pollen.

I would look at Blue Hill's and/or Turkey Creek first. I know Blue Hill has the ones above, and I think Turkey Creek does too. Best Wishes,

PS - Whatever you do don't get anything on M7 or B118 rootstock. Dolgo, MM111 or Antonovka are generally the best rootstocks. You can research them and see how the description fits your soils.

 

[Flatiron75]

Good advice here ^ ^ ^ ^. Take a pic of that post to store on your phone!!

Liberty is widely known to be a very disease-resistant (DR) apple, and it seems to grow well in zones 5, 6, and 7. Without looking at a zone map, I'd bet NE Mo falls into one of those zones.

 

[gurgalunas]

Good advice here ^ ^ ^ ^. Take a pic of that post to store on your phone!!

Liberty is widely known to be a very disease-resistant (DR) apple, and it seems to grow well in zones 5, 6, and 7. Without looking at a zone map, I'd bet NE Mo falls into one of those zones.

I'm in west central MO and liberty is earlier to drop here. Late September to early/mid October. It's finishing up now. Great apple for our area, but not a November drop.

Remember AR Black is a triploid hybrid, and needs 2 pollinators with the appropriate bloom season to produce. I planted Goldrush as a late apple 10 years ago, honestly haven't paid attention to them to know if they really are good and as advertised. If I ever decided to plant apples again, I like the sounds of that Kenner Seedling... I'll probably stick with my chestnuts, persimmons, and grafting volunteer callery pears, though.

Eric, let me know if you want to try Chestnuts, I can help.

Craig

 

[Turkey Creek]

Actually you don't need 2 varieties to pollinate a triploid like Arkansas Black. Just a single variety with overlapping bloom time is enough to pollinate the Ark Black. Its that the pollen produced by Arkansas Black is unable to pollinate other varieties. If you planted only 2 apple trees that need cross pollination and Arkansas Black is one of them then you wont get fruit. 3 trees works because the two that aren't Arkansas Black can pollinate each other and one or both can pollinate the Arkansas Black.

For late season apples Arkansas Black, Enterprise (most years) and Yates are good choices. I love Goldrush as a late season apple (one of my favorite eating apples) but it is not resistant to CAR so does require spraying to keep that in check yearly. While not a late season apple technically Hawkeye is reallty starting to open my eyes to possibilities. My is still holding apples and they do not rot in the tree. They eventually drop, human eating quality goes down as they are getting softer, but I am sure the deer won't mind. Heavy bearing tree and with the thicker skin that it has the insect damage to the fruit seems to be reduced as well.

 

[KSQ2]

Where I live it is hard to get apple trees to drop into November. The other problem is crabapples that hang on too long, turn into dried up mummies and don't drop until the next spring. People up north in places like PA and WI don't have those problems.

1. Yates will go into early November here some years and is highly DR. Good for humans too but small.

2. Arkansas Black - same as Yates on drop and DR. Good for humans too but better after keeping a while.

3. Kenner Seedling - I'm getting my first big crop, and it looks like they could be my latest apple. They are highly DR, slowly dropping right now but still lots of apples hanging. Good for humans too.

I would add a crabapple like Dolgo to ensure good pollination. It produces lots of pollen and will pollinate all three above. The Dolgo that Wildlife Group sold was a good one, because it was late and did better with the mummy problem than lots of others. However, I think they are out of business. One reason I would add a crabapple or two is because Arkansas Black produces sterile pollen.

I would look at Blue Hill's and/or Turkey Creek first. I know Blue Hill has the ones above, and I think Turkey Creek does too. Best Wishes,

PS - Whatever you do don't get anything on M7 or B118 rootstock. Dolgo, MM111 or Antonovka are generally the best rootstocks. You can research them and see how the description fits your soils.

Wildlife group went out of business??

 

[Native Hunter]

Wildlife group went out of business??

The following notice is on their website today. Sounds like pick up only, but I didn't check with them since I'm not buying any trees now.

Final Season begins 11/01/2025​

Pick Up Only. Buy One; Get One​

 

[KSQ2]

The following notice is on their website today. Sounds like pick up only, but I didn't check with them since I'm not buying any trees now.

Final Season begins 11/01/2025​

Pick Up Only. Buy One; Get One​

Well bummer, I always liked them. We ordered most of our oak trees from them.

 

[Flatiron75]

I'm in west central MO and liberty is earlier to drop here. Late September to early/mid October. It's finishing up now. Great apple for our area, but not a November drop.

Remember AR Black is a triploid hybrid, and needs 2 pollinators with the appropriate bloom season to produce. I planted Goldrush as a late apple 10 years ago, honestly haven't paid attention to them to know if they really are good and as advertised. If I ever decided to plant apples again, I like the sounds of that Kenner Seedling... I'll probably stick with my chestnuts, persimmons, and grafting volunteer callery pears, though.

Eric, let me know if you want to try Chestnuts, I can help.

Craig

I guess I didn't realize you were looking for late season apples only. Our drop time for Liberty is about the same as yours. I wouldn't call it late season either. Our better late season apples are Enterprise, Goldrush, Kerr, Arkansas Black, and several crabs. The crabs are All-Winter-Hangover, Winter Wildlife, Centurion, and 4 un-named seedling crabs of about 3/8" dia. we got from a state seedling sale years ago. If you can somehow work around the CAR susceptibility of Goldrush, it's a November apple in the NC Pa. mountains - zone 5/6 border. Superior eater too!

Still don't have a Yates - but will as soon as any tree we already have poops out for any reason. I've been advised by Native Hunter and a couple others to plant a Yates. It too, is a dandy late apple.

 

[Mennoniteman]

My favorite 3 apple trees are Enterprise, Goldrush, and Liberty, mostly due to disease resistance and availability. Enterprise probably the favorite. Goldrush and Enterprise are pollinators.