The best apple - we need your help!

[FB.]

Don't forget that growing apples is as much about choosing a suitable rootstock as choosing a good fruiting variety. Without roots a tree is nothing.

I particularly like the M25 rootstock for its vigour and its ability to both grow well and crop heavily; M25 was selected to replace the old M16 because of M25's unique combination of coming into heavy cropping just as quickly as dwarfs do, combined with the ability of M25 to simultaneously grow into a good-sized and very-long-lived apple tree if left to do its own thing.

For my unique situation of a light sandy-gravelly-chalky soil the MM111 rootstock does well; making a MM106-type tree where MM106 will not tolerate the dryness of the soil.

At the moment, my MM106's are feeling the stress of the low-rainfall in recent weeks: leaves are going yellow/crispy and falling; fruits have stopped growing at the size of small cherries - the crop from the MM106's will be worthless again this year. Only in the wet years - most recently 2012 - do I get a decent crop from the MM106 trees.

edit: my rootstock vote goes to M25 rootstock because it's nowhere near as scary-vigorous and slow-to-fruit as "the books" will have us believe. Of course, if you put a Bramley on any rootstock it's going to make an unusually large tree simply because Bramley is such a monster; I have a Bramley on "semi-dwarf" M26 and it's still a monster - as vigorous as some of my "normal" varieties on MM111 or M25.

[orangepippin]

I don't think M25 counts, the original question was:

"We have decided to try to find the 10 best apple varieties and were hoping that you would all help! So, what is your favourite apple and why?"

However, I am looking forward to when the Editors ask us for our favourite rootstocks. I'll be recommending M9 :-)

[FB.]

I don't think M25 counts, the original question was:

"We have decided to try to find the 10 best apple varieties and were hoping that you would all help!"

Yes, the editors didn't ask for favourite rootstock but a rootstock is an essential "other half" of a tree - the scion-to-soil interface - which will ensure the tree is fit for purpose.
Not only do rootstocks influence the growth rate and mature size of the tree; rootstocks can help overcome specific soil types (light/heavy/acid/alkaline soil), specific pests (woolly aphid, nematodes), specific diseases (crown rot, replant disease) and the rootstock can also influence the quality of the fruit and the supply of nutrients to it.
Make a wrong choice on the rootstock and the tree can be unsatisfactory for literally dozens of reasons.

Varieties grafted onto dwarf rootstocks only produce quality fruit in good growing conditions; in poorer growing conditions varieties grafted onto the heavyweight/vigorous rootstocks will produce better fruit.

Personally I think it's more important to start with a suitable rootstock, then look for a suitable variety to graft onto it.
To show how much it matters to me (and I can't be the only one with a light-textured soil) I'd rather have a lucky dip tree guaranteed to be on MM111 (or M25) rootstock, than a free choice of whatever fruit I'd like but which had to be on MM106 or a more dwarfing rootstock.

[Penellype]

I love my James Greive which is the only apple I have room for and sits in a narrow border next to a fence yet produces around 10 delicious apples a year from a 3ft tree (M27 rootstock). It has been a pleasure from the moment I bought it - I just stuck it in a hole, didn't bother staking it, never bothered pruning it, and underplanted it with alpine strawberries. Brilliant.

[yummersetter]

Just reading through to see if we're limited to one vote/suggestion, I see several people had mentioned Cox before I did. Sorry I missed that before, I must have skipped some replies.

And to redress the balance again on the rootstock question, as I'd hate to see people pulling out their trees on MM106 unnecessarily, my 130ish trees on that stock are still thriving, growing strongly and with a heavy, healthy fruit crop - they were in the middle of puddles all winter and are now in what looks like crazy paving, baked solid clay .

[FB.]

Right on cue, I have just dug out a MM106 apple tree which is dying of crown rot:

Link to my topic here:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ust_73710.html

As I mentioned: choose M116 or MM111 instead, for a tree of roughly similar size to MM106 but without such high susceptibility to root diseases.

One picture below, for completeness, which shows the tatty, brown, rotten upper level of roots and the decaying lower trunk with cracks and purple-rusty coloured, peeling bark:

-

[BUFFS]

i would pick any of the russets for eating,a taste of their own, and i am loooking out at a bramley, heavily laden with fruit, and seemingly pest free,so far, as my favourite cooker..

[grahamR]

Red Falstaff did very well for me, here in South Yorkshire, last season, with its first crop. Planted very late the previous Autumn as a 2-year-old tree, the crop was light - only 18 apples, but of very good size and sweet and juicy - superb texture and flavour. This year, there are many, many more apples but they are smaller.
I also have a 'Scrumptious' planted at the same time. Tons of blossom but no fruit. This year,plenty of moderate-sized fruits - so many that one branch has snapped, despite some thinning early on and a bit of support. On both trees, the branches are slim and springy, rather pendulous, in fact.
Both seem to thrive on our south-facing slope. Sadly, a few apples on 'Scrumptious' have dark spots.

[FB.]

Broken branches, very small fruit, over-cropping, biennial bearing and bitter pit are very common on the unsprayed/non-irrigated MM106 trees I grow and on others I've seen in this area.
The cause usually being that non-irrigated MM106 trees (or MM106 trees trying to compete with grass) roots simply aren't strong enough to find adequate water and nutrients unless they are plentiful.

Trees on M25 rootstock seems to be much less prone to all of the above and compete well with grass and other plant roots.

Among the dwarf rootstocks, M9 rootstock is surprisingly good at coping with less-than-ideal conditions.

[Pineberry]

Not an expert on apples or how it would perform on particular rootstock, but would like to place my vote for Mcintosh variety. Very nice flavour, crisp and juicy apple. Good balance of sweetness and sharpness in it for me. Did buy it in supermarket long time ago but never seen it again since then. Would love to grow it, wonder if it would grow in UK climate and where to get one

[orangepippin]

McIntosh is rarely available in the UK, so perhaps is not that well suited to our climate. However consider its close relative, Spartan, which is one of the best Mac-style apples, with the same characteristic bright white sweet flesh and crimson skin. Spartan has been grown in the UK for decades and does well in the drier regions such as Cambridgeshire. Indeed many people assume it is an English variety.

[FB.]

Yes; Spartan does very well in my area. Tydeman's Early Worcester (another Mac) seems to do well here too.
I don't shout too loudly about them because some other growers in other parts of the UK find them to be unhealthy.
Probably a variety that doesn't like wet climates but is very good on dry soils.
Bear in mind that Spartan produces small fruits at the best of times, so growing it on dry soil makes the fruit even smaller.
Rootstock M9, MM111 or M25 recommended for drier soils but all will all be much dwarfed by the relative lack of water. MM106 is a poor combination with Spartan if grown on dry soil without irrigation because of the inability of MM106 roots to function in drier soils.

[TrialAndError]

For me it has to be the very well known Fiesta.

The taste is superb, it keeps well, it is a reliable and trouble free cropper and stands neglect very well. It also looks the part.

[beetle88888]

hi i am new to this my name is kev & i live in hull
i have grown an apple tree from seed & i have waited 14 years for fruit and may i say i am so lucky to have grown a beautiful sweetest apple tree i am so exited about it i want to tell someone
i very nearly gave up on this tree
but on the 13th year in spring one branch blossomed
so producing about eight apples so in the autumn me & my partner andrea cut back the tree
and this year we had a tree in full bloom
the apples were superb very sweet some were pale green early on and later a lovely red and green
i was told that you could not get a good apple from seed but my patience and of course luck has paid off
now how do i get to sharing this exiting new apple with other enthusiasts
and can i name the tree and produce cuttings from this new tree
i want other people to experience this sweet apple i have grown
its as good as any if not better than any i have ever tasted
please help me as i do not know what to do to help generate a new orchard variety that will be eaten by lots of people
i would like to produce root stock and sell them for a local hospice charity
please help me

[binley100]

Ok now I've found out what variety it is I think my apple is the best 'tis a miller's seedling...It crops no matter how badly I prune or don't prune it ...it has fantastic smelling blossom...it crops ery heavily ....the fruit is the best tasting apple I've ever had ....it's juicy, crisp and sweet and everyone i know who's had one has said how nice they are....I cook with it, have dried it, frozen it, juiced it, use it to make my spiced cider and apple jelly and have also made wine from it .....