Apple Variety Information - Re-posted

What is scab?
Caused by rainfall, especially early in the season.
Brownish spots on leaves and fruit. The apple skin may eventually may split and apples will rot. Severe scab can cause blistering of young stems, which allows canker to enter.
Badly scabbed leaves will be tatty and fall early. Vigour can be affected if leaves badly damaged.
The Western half of the UK will suffer more scab - and scab resistance is desirable in those areas.

What is canker?
Caused by damp.
Sunken, wrinkly, dark red-brown patches on the bark. Cankers eat into the wood and cut off the sap supply, causing death of twigs, branches, or even the tree. Trees can become ugly as a result of canker damage and the need to prune-out large cankers before they cause further damage.
The Western half of the UK will suffer worst from canker - and canker resistance is desirable in those areas.

What is mildew?
White powder-like coating on leaves. Can cause brown surface scarring on the fruit skin.
The fungus hibernates in next years buds when the tree goes dormant for the winter. When the affacted buds open, the shoots are weak and distorted. Mildewed flowers are often deformed and don't turn into fruits. Mildewed leaves will eventually shrivel and die. Tree vigour can suffer badly.
The Eastern half of the UK will suffer worst from mildew - and mildew resistance would be useful in those areas, particularly on some of the shallow, dry, sandy soils in some low-rainfall parts of East Anglia.

What are pests?
A variety of bugs that attack the fruit.
Most annoying are the maggots that tunnel inside the apple and eat the core; codling and sawfly.
Earwigs will sometimes chew into the apple, or may enter through the bottom and feed on the core.
Capsid bugs cause brown cork-like bumps on the skin.
Wasps will often attack the summer and autumn apples just as they're ripening. Wasp-damaged apples are usually badly damaged in a short space of time. I leave a few damaged fruits on the tree for a few days (but not long enough for the fruits to rot), to attract the wasps away from undamaged fruits.
Slugs and snails will sometimes climb into the tree and try to eat the apples. Whether they're able to bite into the surface, or whether they eat from where other pests have been, I don't know.
Capsid-damaged apples often develop normally, but apples dmaged by maggots (with the core eaten away) will usually drop before they're ripe. Apples with major pest damage to the surface will quickly rot.
Pest damage is generally worse with:
Mid-season (September) ripening apples.
Large-fruited varieties.
Sweet/eating varieties.
Crowded fruits.
Crowded/tangled branches.

Resistance notes:
Resistant doesn't mean free from damage - it means usually not enough to be serious.
Slightly resistant is often enough, but can be overwhelmed in very bad years and small but not serious amounts of disease might be found quite often.
Intermediate means the problem is variable; some areas and some years worse than others.
Susceptible means damaging amounts of the problem in many seasons (depending on local climate).
A single apple tree is more likely to suffer pest attack because the pests (capsid bug, earwig, maggot) don't have a choice of what to eat. Growing more than one type of apple tends to result in the pests attacking their favourite, which takes pressure off the others.

Flowering notes:
Ideally, plant two different varieties that flower at the same time, although apple trees (including crab apples) are common enough in most areas that pollinators may be just a few gardens or hedgerows away. Some varieties are self-fertile, but better quantities and better quality fruit is achieved from cross-pollination. Partial pollination will occur between adjacent flowering groups.
Triploids are not good for pollinating other varieties.
Flowering time can be affected by rootstock (see below).
Some varieties have very poor pollination with their parents or relatives.
Long-flowering varieties can make good pollinators and often open only a few flowers at one time, so frost damage is not such a problem.

Flavour notes:
Some people like sharp apples, some like sweet, some like a sweet-sharp and some like fruity flavours.
Note that while many varieties pick in the autumn (Sept-Oct), some varieties taste better if you store them for a few weeks - such as those listed as "winter" or "spring" usage.
Some of the russet family (Brownlees Russet, D'Arcy Spice) often taste at their best in the following spring. They keep very well and the flesh remains healthy, although sometimes slightly rubbery.

Rootstocks:

M27: very small - 4ft
For patio pots or very good soil.
Does not survive in dry soil, drought, or competition from weeds.
Suitable for small to medium bushes of the larger varieties on reasonably good soils (e.g. Bramley, Blenheim, Laxton Superb to name a few).
Susceptible to woolly aphid.

M9: Small - 6ft
Brittle roots - may be uprooted in storms.
More suited to heavy soil. May die in dry soil or drought.
Drops leaves earlier than other rootstocks.
Fruit is often larger, more coloured, and often ripens a week or two earlier than on other rootstocks.
Reduces risk of bitter pit.
Susceptible to woolly aphid.
Quite prone to sprouting "suckers" from the rootstock.
Good for small bushes and cordons, but not for poor soil.
Has good resistance to crown rot (root rot).

M26: slightly small - 8ft
Often causes tree to flower slightly earlier (i.e. "late" becomes "mid-late").
Improves scab resistance.
May cause fruit to be slightly sharper tasting.
Susceptible to woolly aphid.
Can be used for patio pots if the apple variety is small in vigour, or can be used for medium vigour varieties if summer pruned.
Good for medium bushes and cordons. Not vigorous enough and not well-enough anchored to grow as full-size tree.
Has some resistance to crown rot (root rot).

MM106: medium - 10ft
Causes trees to flower earlier (i.e. "late" becomes "mid").
Might improve mildew resistance.
Reasonably resistant to woolly aphid.
Improves canker resistance.
Fruit may ripen slightly later and may be slightly smaller.
Holds it's leaves until quite late in the season - potential for damage by early hard frosts.
Can be used for patio pots if grafted with the small varieties.
Ideal for bushes, or fan/espalier - or cordons on poor soil.
May suffer crown rot (root rot) on soils that waterlog.

MM111 large - 13ft
Probably the hardiest of the common rootstocks - once established, it is extremely resilient.
Drops leaves reasonably early, so ideal for early frosts.
Excellent for shallow, poor and dry soil; capable of growing a wide-spreading, fibrous root system that is useful for shallow or droughty soils.
Has moderate resistance to crown rot (root rot).
Influences the tree to grow in a more slender/upright fashion.
Improves mildew resistance.
Reasonably resistant to woolly aphid.
Improves canker resistance.
Worsens risk of bitter pit.
Fruit quality may be slightly inferior.
Best for growing as a large bush, large fan/espalier or medium-large tree. Can be used to boost vigour of slow-growing varieties.
Good for half standards, or for bushes on poor soils.

M25: very large - 16ft
Slightly susceptible to woolly aphid.
May improve mildew resistance.
May slightly reduce scab resistance.
Produces better quality fruit than MM111.
May produce slightly sweeter fruit than other rootstocks.
Flowers slightly later than other rootstocks.
Holds it's leaves until quite late in the season - potential for damage by early hard frosts in September - therefore probably best suited to the Southern half of the UK.
Can be used for half standards or standards.
May suffer crown rot (root rot) on soils that waterlog.

Seedling: medium to very large (quite variable, depending on seed source).
Mostly used for standards.
Disease resistance, cropping and other performance features can be variable.

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Soil quality and moisture make a big difference. In poor growing conditions, perhaps only MM111 or M25 will be capable of acceptable growth rate.
Northern areas have shorter, less sunny and cooler growing seasons, which can reduce the tree size.

A common misinformation is that rootstock is all that matters for tree size.
In fact, if buying a selection of apple trees of different varieties, consider a variety of rootstocks to equalise their growth rate. For example, you might want Bramley (V large), Spartan (medium) and D'Arcy Spice (V small).
By growing Bramley on M26, Spartan on MM106 and D'Arcy Spice on MM111, the trees should grow at a more equal rate than if they were all on MM106 rootstock.

When mixing rootstock types (e.g. M9 and MM106), consider whether MM106's tendency to flower earlier will spoil your pollination partners.
Also consider whether certain rootstocks can improve or spoil the fruit quality (e.g. MM111 and bitter-pit-prone varieties may cause problems), or whether the rootstock can help a tree deal with a problem (e.g. MM111 helps reduce canker by deterring woolly aphid attack).

For simplicity, it is reasonable to assume that a "small" variety on a "large" rootstock (or a "large variety on a "small" rootstock) would average-out as "medium" and reach about the same size as an average tree on MM106 - probably 10ft in average conditions.

The size of the tree can be considerably affected by the amount and type of pruning and soil quality/water. With proper pruning, it is possible to keep a tree at about half the "mature" size that the above rootstocks would reach.

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Wow FB. If you were connected to my old Uni you would be given an Honorary Ph.D. for this. Great information and a lot of it. I'm sure a lot of grapes will find this very useful (if they find it at all.) Bet you somebody asks a question which is covered here within the month.

Some adjustments, clarifications and expansions.
Back up to page one for the late-comers in the bare-root crowd.
Better get moving - only several weeks remain for the bare-root season and the best varieties may no longer be available.
Also time to start thinking about grafting your own if you fancy the cheaper option. I did a few grafts today - to get some practice for doing my main grafting batch in coming weeks.
A stanley knife and some electricians tape does fine for me.

I read a post a couple of weeks ago that rootstocks for DIY grafting can be bought on their own, where would you get some? I haven't seen them advertised on nursery websites.

Rootstocks can definitely be found here:
> Blackmoor <

Also, you can try a ring-round of various nurseries and see if they have any.
Now is the time of year to think about grafting, so the nurseries will be preparing themselves for grafting the trees that they'll sell in a year or two's time.

If you're on a very tight budget, then plant some apple pips in the garden and in a year or two, graft them with twigs taken from an apple tree in your local area.

I just grafted some of my "reject" seedlings (i.e. the seedlings that were very prone to disease), to get some practice for grafting some onto proper roottstocks in the next few weeks.

More rootstocks for grafting your own shown here:
> Eden Nurseries <

Regarding pest and disease resistance......

You are far more likely to have success if you choose a selection of different and unrelated apple varieties.
Most varieties have at least partial resistance to certain diseases. By growing all of the same variety (e.g. 10 trees of Golden Delicious), the diseases gradually adapt to specialise in attacking Golden Delicious (if the disease didn't adapt, it would become extinct). In fact, the disease may become so specialised that it can't attack anything else, but will devastate your chosen variety. This is what cripples commercial orchards, with hundreds or thousands of trees of the same type; when one gets a disease, it rapidly spreads to al the others of the same type and leaving a large number of spores ready for infection to quickly re-establish the following season.
But if you had several varieties, from different "blood lines" (maybe "sap lines"? ), the variety of genetics will make it much harder for diseases to attack because the disease can't optimise itself to attack all varieties.
If you are aware of a comercial orchard nearby, DON'T grow the same varieties as they're growing because the diseases will drift in the wind.

An additional benefit of different varieties is that the pests (aphids, maggots etc) often prefer certain types over others. You can use this to your advantage because you know where to look for the pests.
For example; I grow a small Scrumptious and Ellison's Orange to draw the maggots away from my other apples - a kind of "companion planting".
It works very well; fruit (maggot) damage to those two is often severe, but my other varieties are almost untouched.

As a generalisation (these are not absolute rules - just a guide!)...

Pests like crowded fruits (perhaps more visible and gives off more scent which attracts pests?) - consider thinning bunches of fruit.

Pests like larger fruits (perhaps more visible and gives off more scent?).

Pests like sweet/aromatic eating apples more than cooking apples.

Pests like early-September-ripening apples, mainly due to high pest numbers late in the summer, as the fruit are ripening.

Pests like thin-skinned apples more than thick-skinned apples (easier for pests to chew into, easier for maggots to get through skin, possibly more scent escapes through thin skin).

Pests tend to congregate around already-damaged apples (this includes maggots - perhaps drawn by the scent coming out of the holed apples).

Mid-season (September) apples get more pest attacks - they ripen (sweeten) early, they are also larger (more attractive to pests).
Maggots and wasps can cause severe damage.

Very late-season (Mid-October onwards) apples tend to get less pest attacks because they remain small, hard and bitter until so late in the season that the pests are dying-off for the winter.

Russet-type apples seem less prone to pest attack.

The growing season is underway and the early disease attacks (scab and mildew) are already showing and some of the pests (codling moths) are lurking for their chance.
My disease ratings are under constant evaluation and often move up or down one level, since every season brings a slightly different set of growing conditions that challenge the trees resistance.

This is great info thanks FB!

Very useful, but the flavour is somewhat subjective. I think James Grieves's flavour is rather better than average!

I agree that flavour is difficult to quantify because people prefer different things. Flavour can also be affected by climate, sunshine, soil quality, water, age of the tree (fruit from young trees is less tasty) and even the rootstock can affect fruit quality.

Many people find James Grieve to be a little too sharp if used as an eater, but they also find it to be rather mild-flavoured for a cooker. A versatile apple, but not the best "mainstream" eater nor cooker.
Of the apples "in season" around the time of James Grieve, I think that most people would prefer a Worcester Pearmain or Discovery as an eater (sweeter), or Grenadier as a cooker (intense flavour).

Do you think that it would be better if I remove the flavour comments?

Out of curiosity, how does your James Grieve stand-up to pests and diseases?
My main problems with JG are some canker on the branches and some capsid bug damage to young fruitlets - about 1/3 of the fruit have 1p-sized bumpy and russeted patches on the skin as a result of capsid bug damage to the skin when the fruits were marble-sized.
But I find the mildew resistance to be extremely good (which is useful on my poor/dry soil). Mine also doesn't suffer too much from scab.

Wow brilliant information FB.

Have you by any chance got simpler info, advice for the Braeburn apple tree FB?? I had one bought 2 years ago, it was full of blossom last year but no fruit set.

It's coming into flower bud now, I only have the one will this effect it's cropping ability...do I need to buy it a partner?? Thank's

The apples that I've listed are those that I grow, or have recently grown, or which belong to friends/family.
All of mine were chosen for a specific characteristic (or a combination of characteristics), such as disease resistance (e.g. Crawley Beauty, Brownlees Russet), pest resistance (e.g. Spartan, Egremont Russet), frost resistance (e.g. James Grieve, Worcester Pearmain), very early ripening (e.g. Beauty of Bath, Discovery) or long keeping qualities (e.g. Norfolk Beefing, D'Arcy Spice).
I should add that while some varieties have some excellent features, they usually have some drawbacks too. No variety is perfect and I have a good spread of varieties to cope with most eventualities that the growing season might throw at them. I expect some to fail to crop in a given season, but where some fail, others thrive.
It is also my belief that by having a mixture of varieties, it makes it more difficult for diseases to spread, since the different varieties have different mechanisms (or genes) that give them pest/disease resistance.

I haven't had much experience of Braeburn, but as it is a commercial variety, I would expect it to be somewhat prone to diseases. I've certainly never heard a mention that it has any level of resistance to the main apple diseases, although because it ripens late, I would expect pest resistance to be better than average.
Braeburn is considered to be quite a good cropper, so I'm surprised that yours isn't cropping. It is also considered to be difficult to ripen properly in the UK, except in warmer/sunnier areas.

Your poor crops could be for a variety of reasons, varying from the age (young trees should be wanting to grow and not fruit), the rootstock (some rootstocks are slow to start fruiting), the soil, the amout of rain, the climate (frost can sterilise the blossom) or even a lack of bees or pollinators.

I have seen it mentioned that Braeburn is self-fertile, but it never hurts to have a pollinator, if there aren't any apples or crab apples within a few gardens distance.