Fao: Fb.

[chris]

Long shot, but do you think you'd be able to identify this apple? I appreciate it's unlikely, but the taste is out of this world.

An allotment site is being bulldozed for new housing, and this tree will be gone shortly.. I NEED to grow it! Hardly any signs of scab, compared to all the others there, stunning apples The flesh is pinkish around the edges, near the skin when fully ripe. Even under ripe the fruit is sweet, with a sharp kick.

Failing the identification, is grafting difficult? I need to act fast as they may start building at any time.

Sorry about the poor quality of pics, I didn't have my phone on me - so had to use someone elses phone.





Someone mentioned to the person I went to pick some of the apples with that his work college did mention the name to him, but he forgot... so am trying to get him to find out the name of them.

TIA!

[chris]

BTW - happy to send some via the post if it'll help identify them, or a scion (branch pruning? ) if you want to give it a trial.

[nannyphizz]

Katie.? or Discovery.?

[FB.]

Discovery looks quite likely, or perhaps a relative or seedling grown from of Beauty of Bath or Discovery.
Beauty of Bath tend to drop from the tree while Discovery tend to hold on quite well.
Could also be a local variety of a name that isn't familiar to most UK growers.

You've just about got time left to take some bud grafts - halfway down the link page:
> Grafting techniques <

[chris]

Thank you both. I'll go and have a look at them..

I didn't see any graft, but the area is very overgrown. Most apples were on the tree, a few rotten / half eaten were on the floor. I'm just so surprised that I've been living in the dark ages of apples for so long

[Loudbarker1]

The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale will identify apples for you: £16 a go. See the link here for details:Brogdale Farm - home of the National Fruit Collection - fruit identification

LB

[chris]

Good to know, thank you LB.. bit of a trip for me though unfortuantely.

Just ate another one today... must say the taste is rapidly going.. yesterday straight from the tree they were the most amazing apples I've ever eaten. I thought my red windsors tasted great, but these just blow the red windsors right out of the water.

Still, either going to give the grafting a go if I can find suitable materials locally, or buy a tree

[RedThorn]

random thought.... if it really is something special and cost dependant, perhaps you can root ball it and move it... I know it'll not be cheap, but the cost of a lift if you ball it yourself with a 1 tonne lift truck or a scoop digger with that kind of lift on the bucket... it just might be workable. Mature tree costs is mostly in the tree, seeing as the tree is there and you're prepared to do labour yourself, it just might be cost workable.

Failing which sorry if it's repeating the obvious, take more than one graft, as you won't have the chance to take a graft later if it fails

[chris]

RT, it did cross my mind, but the tree is not only huge (too large for my garden) I'd have to get some sort of permission to take such large machinery on the new found building site.

Going to give the grafting a go, it'll be a fun thing to try

[RedThorn]

Oh well it was a random thought. Good luck on the grafting process. Who know's, we could be seeing a new dwarf stock variety appearing in the not to distant future

[chris]

No worries, appreciate the reply If I had the space, I've had seriosuly considered doing it... for a year or so of shock it'd be worth the effort!

[FB.]

Chris

If the tree is special, you could take bud grafts and put them onto one of your existing trees (making a family tree), so that you can at least preserve the good genetics until you can get hold of some proper rootstock.

But the appearance of the skin, the time of ripening, the fruit holding on quite well once it is ripe, the rapid loss of flavour once ripe (my Discovery apples are all used up now but they tasted very nice at the time!) and the red hints of colour staining just under the skin all point to Discovery or a seedling from Discovery.
Being a seedling could explain its vigorous nature, or it might just be good soil conditions, or perhaps the graft was buried at the time of planting and it has rooted itself from above the graft (although not all own-root trees are as frighteningly vigorous or slow-to-crop as we are often led to believe).

[chris]

I went back last night, had a real good root (no pun intended) around the tree.. couldnt' find much suitable for bud grafts unfortunately, no visible graft sign, nor around 6 inches when I dug around the tree base, so unsure if the tree has been planted then soil chucked up around the base of it - it's near the edge of the site. It's the only tree on the site that isn't affected by scab (very, very few leaves, the others are plastered in it!).... or if it indeed is a seedling. Eitherway, it's a massive shame - the fruit seemed to get better with each apple I ate, whilst up there looking for suitable wood

I could do with a chinook and some big chains to uproot this tree and cart it off elsewhere!

There's another tree, pretty much exactly the same, althoguh the fruit isn't as flushed red probably 5/6 foot away from it, so perhaps they have been dropped by birds? If they leave them, who ever gets the house nearest those two tree is going to be extremely lucky!

[ginger ninger]

Have you thought of slapping a Preservation Order on the trees Chris? I'm not sure how they work, it might be a long a shot...but ya never know.

[chris]

A huge uproar has already happened about it all, GN - I guess the land owners (council?) were just too greedy at the end of the day. Big shame, local folk will now be looking at new housing, rather than a big field of trees and flowers, etc.