Native Hunter 2023 Apples

[Native Hunter]

I'm going to continue this thread into 2024, because I will likely have some new varieties this year that were not covered last year. Today I took note of this Virginia (Hewe's) Crab that is in full bloom. This variety is said to be Thomas Jefferson's favorite cider apple. This tree started out kind of slow, but appears to now be hitting its stride. Stay tuned and I will be reporting back with some new varieties soon.

 

[Native Hunter]

For the first time in several years I'm seeing fireblight on some of my apple trees. The weather has been perfect for it. So far it hasn't been severe, but I thought it would be worth giving information on a few trees:

Brushy Mountain Limbertwig - This is one of the worst, but it is still going to bear a good crop of apples. I can see the FB going into at least 2 year old wood on several limbs. This tree has had FB in the past, but it has been several years.

Milam - About the same as tree above.

Franklin Cider - This one is about equal to the tree above but is a younger tree. I've seen a little FB on this tree the last three years.

Striped June - This one is a surprise, because it has been totally clean in the past. It appears to only be going into this year's growth on a few limbs. The tree is still going to bear a big crop despite the FB.

Summer Champion - Same report as Striped June.

30-06 Crab - Minor to moderate but not enough to stop fruit production.

Freedom - Very minor. Only a few limbs barely affected.

Caney Fork Limbertwig - Very minor. Huge crop of apples this time.

Several trees that flowered and fruited but with no signs of FB - Yates, Myer's Royal Limbertwig, Hewes, Priscilla, Sundance, Arkansas Black, Dolgo Crab, Big Dog Crab, Turning Point, Sweet November, Sonofcal, King David.... The reason I mentioned flowering and fruiting is that I have never seen a tree get FB that didn't flower. I'm not saying it is impossible - just that I have never observed it.

Something Interesting - Not a single pear has even had one limb affected. This includes a Bartlett that was sent to me by mistake once.

I'm sure I'm leaving out some and may update this later on after I make another trip to the farm.

 

[Drycreek]

What can you do about fire blight ? I’m totally ignorant about apples, hardly anybody grows them here.

 

[Native Hunter]

What can you do about fire blight ? I’m totally ignorant about apples, hardly anybody grows them here.

You can spray streptomycin at bloom time and have a good chance of preventing it. However, the timing is critical, because once the infection starts, the spraying is too late. That's what professional growers generally do. I'm a no spray guy, so I just try to plant cultivars that are resistant to it. As you can see, I do have some varieties that are moderately susceptible, but most of my varieties were selected to be very resistant to all of the major apple diseases. In the past I have taken a chance on some varieties that I wasn't sure of, but at this point in time, I won't plant any variety that I've not researched thoroughly for disease resistance.

 

[Native Hunter]

My early apples are ripening about 2 weeks earlier than normal. I think all the rain we’ve had has caused everything to be earlier this year.
PS - for the first time ever I had a small amount of FB on this tree, but not enough to concern me.

 

[Native Hunter]

The fruit on Williams Pride looks better this year than it has in previous years. At least half the apples are real nice. I’m ready to declare it a good early drop deer apple and if it continues improving I will say the same for human consumption. I need more time to evaluate. It is CAR and FB free.

 

[NoviceTreeGuy]

When will William's Pride ripen? Are they tart or more sweet?

 

[Native Hunter]

When will William's Pride ripen? Are they tart or more sweet?

The are described on the Internet as a balanced taste between sweet and tart, but I would say slightly more on the tart side. They will ripen here in about another 2 - 3 weeks or so. This tree was planted around 2018, and has been fruiting for about 3 years. Up until this year most of the fruit has been kind of ugly, but this crop has a good number of premium looking apples.

William's Pride was one of the apples that came out of the PRI breeding program. If you would like to see what they say about it, you can read on the following link: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/coop23.html

PS - Some good no spray apples and some duds (without spraying) have come out of that program. The best one in my opinion is Priscilla - which is close to a perfect apple for me.

 

[Native Hunter]

Pink Flesh on Striped June - kind of unusual looking for an apple:

 

[Native Hunter]

I may be jumping the gun on recommending this next one, but I don’t think so. It only has 2 apples but was just planted in 2022. Two things are impressing me so far. First, this is a bad year for various diseases here, but this apple is growing as clean as the best I have.

Second, the fruit is bigger than Yates so far, and it is advertised as having about the same drop time as Yates. It is also advertised as having a good, sweet taste.

The apple (or Applecrab) is Sweet November.

 

[weekender21]

I may be jumping the gun on recommending this next one, but I don’t think so. It only has 2 apples but was just planted in 2022. Two things are impressing me so far. First, this is a bad year for various diseases here, but this apple is growing as clean as the best I have.

Second, the fruit is bigger than Yates so far, and it is advertised as having about the same drop time as Yates. It is also advertised as having a good, sweet taste.

The apple (or Applecrab) is Sweet November.

View attachment 28155

I may need to pick up a few of those. I’m seeing some blight on the November dropping apples I grafted with scion wood from a neighbors tree.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Native Hunter]

I may need to pick up a few of those. I’m seeing some blight on the November dropping apples I grafted with scion wood from a neighbors tree.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Another incredibly clean apple I planted about the same time is Big 10, but it hasn't fruited yet.

 

[Native Hunter]

Here is a new to me apple I’m getting my first crop from. It only had 12 apples on the first crop, but they are very nice. The tree is Early Harvest.

I’m going to rate this tree above my other 2 very early apples. All 3 have great DR, but I prefer the taste of this one above the other two.

I bought this tree for my mother a few years ago. She had been given some EH and fell in love with them as a cooking apple. She talked about how tender the skin was and how they held together when cooking them. Mom has since passed, but my brother lives there and alerted me to the apples.

Yes, even though I’m running out of space, I need one for my yard.

 

[KSQ2]

I may be jumping the gun on recommending this next one, but I don’t think so. It only has 2 apples but was just planted in 2022. Two things are impressing me so far. First, this is a bad year for various diseases here, but this apple is growing as clean as the best I have.

Second, the fruit is bigger than Yates so far, and it is advertised as having about the same drop time as Yates. It is also advertised as having a good, sweet taste.

The apple (or Applecrab) is Sweet November.

View attachment 28155

Come on Native, my blue hill wish list is already getting too long!!

 

[Native Hunter]

Come on Native, my blue hill wish list is already getting too long!!

Jump on the bandwagon my friend!

PS - Forgot to mention that Sweet November came from Chainsaw's (Dave's) place in New York.

 

[KSQ2]

I’m a little nervous about getting an order in after reading the thread last fall. Hopefully there’s plenty of the varieties I’m after.

 

[RGrizzzz]

I’m a little nervous about getting an order in after reading the thread last fall. Hopefully there’s plenty of the varieties I’m after.

Don't be. Ryan has really grown his operation. There were plenty of trees after the first day. He's not an IT guy, so his website isn't 100% bullet proof.

 

[Native Hunter]

This is an apple I have never posted before. It was my wife’s grandmother’s favorite apple, but oddly they didn’t have a name for it. I have given it the name of Summer Granny because of the granny link and also because it reminds me of a Granny Smith - although ripening early season.

We saved this tree when the road came through the home place by digging a root sprout. The tree is now 10 years old and loaded this year.

The fruit is large to medium, and the taste is really good. You may see some occasional leaf spotting but it seems to be highly DR. It is beginning to ripen now and some apples will take on a slight yellow cast - but they remain mostly green.

The parent tree was large and produced nearly every year. This 10 year old root sprout must have 200 big apples this year.

 

[Native Hunter]

This will be my first significant crop of Olympic Giant pears. I planted this tree about 5 years ago and it has put most of its energy into growing wood until this year.

 

[Native Hunter]

This is what’s left of what was my tallest pear tree. A storm took the top out this spring but I still have an enormous crop. This is Ayers, and it’s ripening now.