best tasting apple poll

[genovise]

Hi all, I decided to create a poll on all the available apple trees that i know are available. To aid people when making choices about what apple tree to buy.

[genovise]

How do you make it a sticky so it stays near the top of the forum??

[genovise]

Feel free to put why you recommend your chosen variety and please put if you find that you are having any issues in your particular area growing your chosen variety.

[FB.]

Too many to choose from.
Also: I choose firstly by the ability to give pest-and-disease-free fruits without needing to spray - even when grown in less-than-ideal conditions.

Choice also depends on whether it's early-season, mid-season, late-season, or used for cooking or for eating.

It's not really fair to compare Beauty of Bath with D'Arcy Spice because you won't have both apples side-by-side at the same time; Beauty of Bath being one of the earliest to ripen/pick (July-Aug) and D'Arcy Spice being one of the latest to ripen/pick (Nov-Dec).
I probably enjoy the earliest apples more (Beauty of Bath, Irish Peach, Discovery etc), simply because it's been many months since the last fresh home-grown apples were available. But the earlies aren't usually of the same quality as the later-ripening apples and most of the Beauty of Bath/Discovery/Scrumptious family line can suffer heavy losses to bitter pit and insect damage.

The best-tasting variety will vary from one season to another due to eacdh variety preferring certain climates - and will vary depending on whether it is being grown in its ideal soil and climate. Medium to high-vigour rootstocks give the best quality fruit in less-than-ideal conditions; dwarf rootstocks suffer from bitter pit as the weak dwarf roots just can't supply all the fruit's nutritiona requirements without supplemental feeding and irrigation.

Try growing D'Arcy Spice outside of the hot, dry, sandy soils in low-rainfall East Anglia and you won't get the best results.

I'll vote in the poll in a day or so, but I've only just begun harvesting my Winter Gem apples and although I'll probably vote for that variety, I would like to taste them again after a cold/wet season before comitting my vote, since that will show whether the quality holds-up well in poor years.

Otherwise I reckon I'll vote for Ashmead's Kernel if it's only on flavour - with the comment that in order to enjoy that variety, it is necessary to discard quite a high proportion due to Ashmead's severe tendency to suffer from bitter pit.

[Leif]

I've not eaten most of those, but Cox's Orange Pippen is my favourite, when still firm and sharp.

[genovise]

My recommendation in regards to taste so far would have to be the falstaff apple. The apple is quite sharp but it is also a keeper meaning you can store it for 3 months and the flavour does not diminish.

In regards to growing it i have a 5 year old falstaff apple tree on rootstock m27 which is the most dwarfing rootstock. I grow it in a container however i do find that it is prone to the disease apple scab in the northwest of England as 4 years out of 5 it has had infections of scab .

If only i had been able to find that information prior to buying it as all the online plant nurseries claim it is scab resistant. which was the deciding factor apart from taste which led me to buy it.

[yummersetter]

Kidds Orange Red as a recommendation, based on my experience over the past twenty years. Mine has cropped well every year, hasn't been pruned after the first four years and has grown to a stunning shape. It has pretty scented blossom, is disease free, and the fruit has a hint of roses in the perfume. They taste great straight from the tree in late October but keep in store till the end of January. Whatever I can't eat makes delicious, uniquely flavoured, juice. The apples look good too, textured red skin, slightly heart-shaped with some crinkly golden russet.

[FB.]

i do find that it is prone to the disease apple scab in the northwest of England as 4 years out of 5 it has had infections of scab .

If only i had been able to find that information prior to buying it as all the online plant nurseries claim it is scab resistant.

A neighbour of mine has a Falstaff MM106 and it can sometimes be difficult from a casual glance or from a distance to tell the difference between scab and bitter pit.
Can you show a picture?

The NorthWest is one of the highest-rainfall parts of the UK.
In those conditions, even varieties with scab resistance can be overcome; even the thickest castle walls can be battered down if the attacks are relentless.

There are varying levels of resistance - probably best described as "partial" and "high-level", although it is not quite that simple. Sometimes the soil and the rootstock seem to influence the severity of diseases.
My own studies show some evidence that the M26 rootstock gives a slight boost to the scion's scab resistance, while M25 may increase mildew resistance and bitter pit resistance, but slightly reduces scab resistance.

Most modern varieties listed as scab resistant have partial resistance - this includes Falstaff. They will suffer from some scab in some seasons. In areas with heavy rainfall they will not be able to resist all the attacks.
Specialist varieties - often old and very rare with adaptations to unique local conditions - would be preferable for difficult locations.

Some varieties have high-level resistance. These tend to be very rare and/or ancient varieties and/or triploids. These varieties are often capable of resisting very heavy attacks of diseases - the extra set of chromosomes in triploids giving them more options for finding a way to resist attacks, and the often-high vigour of triploids helps them fight back and recover from diseases.
Bramley - a vigorous triploid - was originally highly disease resistant, but because it has been so widely grown for over a century, the diseases have had a long time and lots of trees to attack and gradually found better ways to attack it.

[FB.]

.....Kidds Orange Red.........is disease free.......

Yes, many "experts" suggest that KOR and other "Red" types such as Spartan, McIntosh, Empire etc are very prone to canker. While that may be true in the USA or the Southern hemisphere, the UK apple cankers seem to be mostly unable to do them much harm - probably because the "Red" types aren't nearly as widely grown in the UK as in the USA (partly consumer preferences and partly their warm, dry, sunny climate requirements).

I have two Spartan (MM106 small bush and M25 half-standard) and both are very resistant to mildew and pests, and partially resistant to canker and scab.
I also have a trouble-free Jupiter (M25) which is also one of the "Red" family crossed with Cox. I would add, though, that Jupiter may be listed as "T3" vigour in books, but actually seems to be between T2 and T3. Definitely nowhere near as vigorous as Bramley.

[northepaul]

FB we have a mature Spartan tree on our allotment, and its terribly prone to scab and canker! The only tree thats worse on the whole allotment, is a gala nearby.

[Feral007]

Pink Lady and Granny Smith - I'll let you know about the Cox's Orange Pippin hopefully in a season or two.

[FB.]

FB we have a mature Spartan tree on our allotment, and its terribly prone to scab and canker! The only tree thats worse on the whole allotment, is a gala nearby.

It just goes to show the regional variation. I find Spartan to be one of my best performers and would not be without one. Very rare for it to be troubled by any diseases or pests - never found a single fruit with a maggot in it and never had a single woolly aphid on either of my two current Spartans and a M26 Spartan which I subsequently gave to a friend for their allotment.

My supposedly-canker-resistant Egremont Russet gets much more canker than Spartan. In fact I lost one of my ER's to canker this year.
I've also had much more canker than Spartan gets, on other varieties not considered prone to canker - such as Howgate Wonder, Ashmead's Kernel, Discovery, Beauty of Bath to name just a few.

[yummersetter]

Last night I made Tarte Tatin, which is best with russet apples I always think. My usual choice (Somerset Golden Russet) didn't crop this year for the first time in decades, so for the first time I used Orleans Reinettes instead. It was delicious, apples baked with demerara sugar and cinnamon, topped with puff pastry and inverted when done. The apple slices had kept their shape but were creamy with the lovely flavour of Orleans Reinette intensified. It's one of the great classic apples, very Georgian looking, crops well and stores well here. Similar to Blenheim Orange but I think its better.

[FB.]

As promised; I cast my vote.

The best tasting apples I grew this year, were Ashmead's Kernel.

Spartan second.
Winter Gem third.

My Discovery apples were not very good (MM106 rootstock; often causes me problems with bitter pit) but a nearby Discovery tree presumed to be on M25 rootstock were tasty (much less bitter pit on apples grafted to M25 in my experience) - probably third behind the Spartan and ahead of Winter Gem if they had been my own apples.

Last year the Winter Gem were by far the best.

My best cookers this year, were Grenadier and Edward VII a close second.

.

[orangepippin]

It just goes to show the regional variation. I find Spartan to be one of my best performers and would not be without one. Very rare for it to be troubled by any diseases or pests - never found a single fruit with a maggot in it and never had a single woolly aphid on either of my two current Spartans and a M26 Spartan which I subsequently gave to a friend for their allotment.

That's also my experience in East Yorkshire. Spartan is always reliable, crops heavily, and the apples are a real delight.