Advice on apple variety

[DaveJ]

I'm thinking of purchasing apple tree variety 'Reverend W. Wilks' which apparently is a good cooker and disease resistant. Have any of you grown this variety yourself? Is it a good cropper?

[northepaul]

When my garden plan comes together, or I get an allotment (pigs flying etc) I wanted to try this variety too, as I like the idea that once the apples are cooked they supposedly dont collapse, like Bramleys and I already have a pollination partner (Irish Peach)

Do you have a pollination partner, or are you going to buy more than one?

[sarraceniac]

I think that this variety is semi self-fertile. It's another of those 'grey area' ones where some nurseries have it as completely self-fertile and others have it as pollination group 2. Don't know if FB has any gen on it but if he has he will no doubt tell us.

[chris]

I recently was looking at dual purpose ones too, but a guy who runs a nursery that I was dealing with said he'd recommend getting an eater, and a cooker (dependent on pollination groups, etc) as the dual ones are neither here or there. Not really sweet enough to cook with, and not that sweet when eating - sometimes a bit bitter... but I don't know - just relaying what he said to me

[DaveJ]

From what I have read, 'Wilks' produces large fruit and has very good baking ability. It is an old English variety from 1904 and is a result of crossing Peasgood's Nonsuch and Ribston Pippin. I have yet to decide about cross pollination varieties but have been told by a nursery that Charles Ross, Discovery and James Grieve would be suitable.

[FB.]

A big thumbs-up from me.

Lots of plus points.
Resistant to most problems, but a tendency for earwigs and capsid bugs to cause minor surface damage to the fruit.
As it's a cooker, you can peel-out the damaged bits.
Self-fertile, but slightly biennial.
Quite a slow-growing variety - needs "one size larger" rootstock to keep up with the growth rate of your average apple tree. Or you can exploit it's slow-growth, to aviod the need for much pruning.
Very good for training, since it branches and spurs very easily.
Fruit doesn't keep for long.
The fruit also has an unusual appearance - pale, milky-yellow-green, with numerous small dimples and bumps on the fruit.
Rev Wilks is one the the best of the early cookers.

Also take a look at "Grenadier", which is less biennial and has more "normal" looking apples. But can get bitter pit sometimes.

Both Rev.Wilks and Grenadier are excellent early cookers.
Both will be sufficiently self-fertile to crop without a pollinator.

[DaveJ]

Thanks FB - help much appreciated.