Do you recognise these apples?

[Guest]

I know its difficult to tell but just on the off chance does anyone recognize the apples below?

The first produces large fruit (seems to be mistaken as a cooker due to its size) that is late to sweeten. Last year it sweetened in October but this year it is 3-4 weeks earlier. It is slightly juicy and when I say sweeten it is only slightly it just takes the edge off like a not so vile granny smith flavour. (yes, sorry but I am not a fan of granny smith). It is at this point it gets yellowish colour with red streaking.




The second is along the lines of a gala or cox. It is a small to medium apple. Rosy red in colour. Sweet and quite dry. Ripens around august time.



Failing that does anyone know of any identification services in Norfolk or apples day or similar?

[orangepippin]

You can send the fruit samples to the National Fruit Collection FruitID service.

The first one looks a bit like Ribston Pippin.

[Guest]

Thank you for that.

Just looked at Ribston Pippin but my apple doesn't tend to have russetting, so looked at offspring and I think it is a king acre pippin, It would make sense as Sturmer pippin was an ancestor of a granny apparently. Thank you so much that was the one I wanted to know the most.

Will have a look at the fruit Id next year tho, too.

I am so glad you answered I think you have made my week let alone day

[Knight of Albion]

This is a very comprehensive site.

Directory of apple varieties starting with A

[FB.]

How old are the trees/when were they planted?

Any chance of a full-tree picture to see the growth habit?

Can you cut some apples open from different directions so we can see what the core and pips look like, and the colour of the flesh?

At the moment, I'd also tentatively guess that number 1 might be a Ribston Pippin and number 2 might be a Worcester Pearmain. But as there are thousands of varieties it can be difficult to tell some of them apart.

It's all too easy to accept any name - even if it's not right - for your tree because we all want a name. Except that the real experts appreciate that often it's very difficult to identify fruit varieties, especially as the fruit and tree habit can change with different soils, climates, pruning routines and rootstocks.

[Vince G]

There's an apple day near Thorpe-Le-Soken (Clacton) which would probably only take you an hour or so to get to from Thetford. Park Fruit Farm. I go there every year to get my apples juiced for cider making. Give them a bell, they might be able to help.

Park Fruit Farm orchards and farm shop, English apples, apple juice, cider, damsons, cider vinegar, plums.

[Guest]

More info

I think the previous owner planted the trees, so they are likely to be between 20-30 years old. If a specific age is vital let me know and I shall ask my neighbours to see if they remember, they have lived here since the houses were built.

So first tree pics




not sure how helpful the cross section is, as these apples are past their peak. Once this apple finally reaches its peak it is so quick to detoriate

The second



Just say if more pics or info would be good

[boundtothesoil]

The colouring of the first one reminds me of Ellison's Orange, although these are sometimes more conical and also can taste slightly of aniseed, so probably not.

[FB.]

The colouring of the first one reminds me of Ellison's Orange, although these are sometimes more conical and also can taste slightly of aniseed, so probably not.

Yes, Ellison's Orange was one which I thought was possible. It's a variety that grows really well in East Anglia and has been widely planted here, although usually attracts codling maggots and because it was formerly grown commercially here it can suffer from canker being spread by the old trees which remain.

The age of the trees (20-30 years) and their size makes me suspect they're likely to be fairly common varieties on MM106 rootstock.

[yummersetter]

Of course there were some apple fanatics ( like me) who sought out unusual varieties but 25 years ago the choice of apple varieties was at its lowest, I'd say. Growing your own apple trees just wasn't fashionable. There were a handful of nurseries with a large range but you had to know of them in order to write or phone for a catalogue and then buy bare-rooted trees in winter. I planted Ribston but it had to be sourced from Scotts Nursery. Most were bought from garden centres and they only had, at most, ten types of apple. Cox, Laxtons Superb, Ellisons Orange, James Grieve, Bramley, Blenheim, Worcester, Spartan, Sunset . . maybe a couple more.
There is a website called fruitid.com that you could look at to narrow the possibilities.

[Guest]

Just to let you know I went to Swaffham apple day and I got the first one id'd and he was very sure it was a Charles Ross too big for ellisons orange but understandable if looking at smaller fruits.

Yummersetter - its offspring from peasgood (sorry that made me chuckle when I found out, as I thought of you)

[yummersetter]

Charles Ross was my father's favourite apple ( 40 years before I'd heard of Peasgood Nonsuch!), so its good to know there's a connection. It's delicious for about three weeks then goes horribly woolly, very popular in the 1960s. By the way, I entered the 'Heaviest Apple' class at our local Gardening Club Show a few weeks ago. I weighed one of each of five varieties with similar sized apples and the Peasgood was 25% heavier for the same size. Beaten by a pumped up Bramley entered just before the deadline so it had half a day more rain than my tree. Not that I'm a bad loser of course

[yummersetter]

By the way, my father's Charles Ross tree is biennial. It fits my list of garden centre trees of the 1960s to 1990s though, in the 'couple more' section. Scott's 1961 catalogue has it as a recommended dessert variety for late October and November ( a bit late, I think).

'CHARLES ROSS, outstanding for its large, beautifully regular fruit, finely covered with scarlet stripes and dots. Flavour pleasant enough. It does best in warm, dry, especially chalk soils. It does not store well. Scab free.'

[Guest]

By the way, my father's Charles Ross tree is biennial. It fits my list of garden centre trees of the 1960s to 1990s though, in the 'couple more' section. Scott's 1961 catalogue has it as a recommended dessert variety for late October and November ( a bit late, I think).

'CHARLES ROSS, outstanding for its large, beautifully regular fruit, finely covered with scarlet stripes and dots. Flavour pleasant enough. It does best in warm, dry, especially chalk soils. It does not store well. Scab free.'

Thank you. The last three years it has fruited heavily, this year I thinned as I was worried it might start heading towards biennel. I have read it is meant to be dual but nothing that says how to cook, as so far I am not impressed. Store til December but best eaten before is what I was told. Not that I have that option as I have very few untouched fruit due to beasties. However although the wasps striped my worcester very few have touched this one. Everything about Charles Ross makes sense and it is not a variety I have heard of.

[yummersetter]

In Joan Morgan's 'The Book of Apples' she says 'Lightly aromatic; quite juicy, firm flesh. Cooked, tends keep shape, sweet, slightly pear-like flavour. Best used early for cooking. Handsome, with even conical shape; still prized exhibition variety. Grown for market 1930s remains valued garden apple, especially in Scotland'

I went down and looked at ours today, its an 'off' year so only about fifty apples on the old 20ft. high tree that aren't dropping yet. I wonder if its too early to cook one and see if it has a pear-like flavour?