Daily Mail 250 varieties on one tree.

[orangepippin]

250 varieties of apple on one tree... thanks to a bit of hard grafting over the years | Mail Online

I will leave FB to identify the rootstock ...

[veggiechicken]

Wow !!!! That's an extended family tree

[alldigging]

A metro link for those allergic to the daily wail
Apple tree has 250 different varieties of fruit after 20-year project | Metro News

[Paulieb]

Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket!!

[chris]

Pretty cool seeing how some grafts don't suffer with what looks like to be scab on the leaves?

[FB.]

Unfortunately, all the "modern" varieties will now be infected with viruses, phytoplasmas and other nasties which could make them weaker, sicker and less productive.
Not a tree that I'd want to take grafts from because almost every variety on it will be infested with virtually every apple virus in existence!

It would have been much better to have 250 M9 cordons to try to limit the spread of the "invisible" diseases.

[StephenH]

Not what I'd want to do, because I prefer one variety per tree, being a traditionalist, but each to their own. Glad to see he's got 'Brownlees' Russet' in there, but only the 'Daily Vile' could regard 'Golden Delicious' as one of the most tempting. I hope he's got a few cider apples.

[orangepippin]

I agree with FB on this.

@StephenH ... Golden Delicious is actually a very good apple and does merit its name when home grown. It does best in a warm dry climate though.

[FB.]

I agree with FB on this.

@StephenH ... Golden Delicious is actually a very good apple and does merit its name when home grown. It does best in a warm dry climate though.

GD is quite good most years in this area (where we benefit from usually mild sunny autumns which are ideal for ripening "foreign" or very-late-season apples), although GD can be a bit of a scabby and unsightly tree in wetter years. It seems to have useful partial resistance to woolly aphids too; colonies which establish on GD always seem to just fizzle out and disappear after a few months without intervention and with no noticeable bark-splitting effects on the tree.

[Mikey]

I was about to say how does he remember which one is which, then I saw the hanging labels.

His props could do with a bit of prettying up if you ask me, maybe turn them into some trellis work or makeshift seats.

You've got to hand it to him though, there's a fair bit of love and attention gone into that tree.

[StephenH]

I've had shop-bought French GD: it was ok, but nothing special. I dare say it's better home-grown, but not one I'd pick out as one of the best from 250 varieties.

[FB.]

I've had shop-bought French GD: it was ok, but nothing special. I dare say it's better home-grown, but not one I'd pick out as one of the best from 250 varieties.

Anything from the shop seems to be only slightly less acid than a cooking gooseberry, only slightly less hard than a cannonball and only slightly less flavourless than water.
Market stalls and farm shops can be a bit better, but still a long way from the treat of home grown fruit.

Even the premium types such as Pink Lady apples from shops are very poor compared to home-grown. Even the best Pink Lady I've ever tasted was only fair quality compared to what I'm used to.

[BUFFS]

I agree with FB on this.

@StephenH ... Golden Delicious is actually a very good apple and does merit its name when home grown. It does best in a warm dry climate though.

not good for the west of Scotland then?

[BUFFS]

I was about to say how does he remember which one is which, then I saw the hanging labels.

His props could do with a bit of prettying up if you ask me, maybe turn them into some trellis work or makeshift seats.

You've got to hand it to him though, there's a fair bit of love and attention gone into that tree.

I used to have a mate that when he was working there always seemed to be props everywhere, holding everything up as he went onto doing another chore, leaving all the junk in place, before having to be dragged back to finish. how do you store 250 types of apple, which to use first, but by 100+ it would be a bit confusing....I know.....cider...problem solved.