Redlove Apple Tree has arrived! See inside for Photo's! :D

[Garden_Chris]

At about 18" I have a clay soil.

Im just after a well known, respected and known-to-be-tasty variety to go alongside my redlove era.


Thanks for the responses. :-)

[FB.]

Be careful with the old popular and widely grown "old favourite" types (e.g. Bramley, Cox, James Grieve, Worcester Pearmain, Blenheim Orange, Laxton's Superb etc) because there are now many old trees around which act as a reservoir for disease to quickly spread to - and infect - younger trees. Diseases can be blown for many miles on the wind and the more trees of the same variety (e.g. James Grieve) in your vicinity, the more easily your tree will become diseased.

The most healthy trees tend to be old types (over 150 years old; pre-chemical spray era) but which have not been widely grown (hence no reservoir of diseased old trees to pass on specially-adapted diseases to young trees of the same type).
All disease resistance will eventually fail, given enough years of evolution for the diseases and enough old trees of a particular type to harbour and spread the disease. Even the modern "scab-immune" VF-resistant varieties (which were widely planted and hailed as defeat for diseases), have, because they were widely planted, soon been over-run by new strains of disease (e.g strains #6 and #7 of apple scab are able to bypass modern VF resistance).

The most disease-resistant way to grow apples is to have a mixture of different and rare old varieties because the diseases simply can't get a hold and can't be spread as easily from one tree to another because each has a different mechanism of resistance.

The problem is that diseases tend to gradually adapt to specialise in attacking the varieties which are well-known because it makes for easy passing-on of the disease.
It is quite normal for a biotype of disease (e.g. scab) to specialise in attacking just one variety because there are so many of that variety that re-infection is easy once the disease has evolved ways through the variety's resistance.

For example: a century ago, Bramley was extremely resistant to disease and a very tough tree which could cope well in most areas. But nowadays, it is so widely grown that the diseases have had to adapt to attack it, otherwise the diseases would die out. Bramley is now becoming rather disease-prone in some areas now, as the diseases have had a long time to find ways round its resistance.

Here's a list of varieties which were once-upon-a-time considered to de well on clay in the East Midlands/East Anglia, which have good keeping quality and which have good disease resistance but are not much grown nowadays:

Brownlees Russet (quite small tree, highly disease-resistant and very tolerant of poor/infertile soil)
Cockle Pippin (quite small tree)
Court Pendu Plat (very small tree, very tolerant of poor/infertile soil)
Golden Noble (medium tree)
Annie Elizabeth (quite large tree when on clay)

In the UK (but not in Europe where it is their equivalent of Bramley), I'd also back Belle de Boskoop to be one of the toughest trees; very disease-resistant and very tolerant of poor conditions.

Given the potential for clay soils to become very heavy and sometimes waterlog (also a high water table), if that's the case with your soil, I would avoid MM106 or M25 and substitute MM111 instead, which is in-between in size and can be adapted to either MM106 or M25's uses. Alternatively; consider planting on a mound to direct water away from the base of the trunk.
MM111 trees are not so easy to find though and may not be as heavy cropping as an equivalent-age MM106 or M25. But in soil prone to waterlogging, MM106 is hopelessly prone to root rot (although it may take a few years before symptoms appear) and M25 will not cope well either. Even MM111 might not cope in some extreme situations, but it has a much better chance of a long and healthy life than any other rootstock when conditions aren't ideal.

In any case; note that not all varieties grow at the same rate nor reach the same size even when on the same rootstock.
For example: in the early years and on average soil, Court Pendu Plat on M25 (very vigorous) will grow at about the same rate as a Bramley on M26 (semi-dwarfing).