Charles ross apple?, any good?

[starloc]

APPLE Charles Ross - Ornamental Tree and Fruit Nurseries

Ive never heard of it, but looking through the lists of trees available, it said scab resistant (i need), suitable for northen areas , i shoud have well enough pollinators for it ( as i have some of each group) and they had it in 5 year old ( i wanted a 5 year old tree )

I had a choice of a few i the 5yr old , so bought charles ross, it looks quite a nice looking apple! , no idea what it tastes like but it says cooking or eating , again something i liked

I got it on mm106 , as it tends to give better results for me on the other trees i have, i grow them all in pots now, this is going in a 200L pot, i also got a 5yr victoria plum from them ( wish theyd had the 5yr old opal though as it tastes better )

They seem to have some nice trees and gardeners world get theres from here so i guessed they would be quite healthy/good quality as well, no idea what they will be like until i get them though (mid nov onwards)

[FB.]

Although I don't grow Charles Ross, it seems popular among organic growers and is occasionally seen in supermarkets.
It has a number of good points - large fruit, attractive fruit, dual purpose fruit, some scab resistance, partially self-fertile.
The drawback is the shorter shelf-life and possibly being slightly more attractive to pests than average.

I'm rather surprised that you bought a five-year tree on MM106 to go into a large container, since MM106 is quite a strong rootstock and I would only recommend it for weak-growing varieties in tubs. Normally, I would have gone for M26 in a large tub. But I think you will be able to control the vigour of MM106, if necessary.

[Flummery]

I have one as a step-over. Not the highest yielding way of growing fruit but I needed an edge to the garden veg plot and got a couple of step-over trees. This is their second year. (The other is an Egremont Russet - good childhood memories of russet apples back home in Lancs). They didn't fruit last year but both little trees have set good fruits this year. The Charles Ross looks fabulous - they must be about 12 oz per fruit. Haven't tried any yet - we were just talking today about sharing one with lunch one day in the week. The fact that it makes a decent cooker too was a plus for me. If you are growing for your own use and just have a few as we do on this type of tree, shelf life doesn't seem a problem.

[starloc]

Shelf life shouldnt be a problem as most of the other ones i have store well, so this can be an eat it now and cook anything else tree , 12oz does sound large to eat though

Ive found that growing in pots more vigorous rootstocks seem to be giving better results for me i have them in pots as its easy to control the conditions in the pot not to restrict size of the tree ,
They just seem to grow better on mm106 , a bit quicker, but not that much quicker than the ones on m26, theres not much difference in hight between m26 and mm106 but the mm106 seem a bit more active sprouting more branches and they seem to hold more fruit for the same size/age trees on m26 in pots