By Nancy Garrison, Former Urban Horticulture and Master Gardener Program Coordinator

Apples, Malus communis D. C., are adaptable to most areas of Santa Clara County; our moderate climate is adequate for coloration in most red varieties and generally adequate to meet winter chilling requirements. There are hundreds of varieties of apples, and some varieties have several strains, each with its own characteristics. There are several available rootstocks for apples, the most profound characteristics of which, are dwarfing and pest resistance. Apples require cross pollination to varying degrees.

VARIETY SELECTION

The greatest selection of varieties will be available from local nurseries during the December - February bareroot season. One's choice should be made based on personal taste preference, tree size and harvest season. Early season varieties start to ripen in mid June. Mid season ones ripen August to September and late season varieties finish ripening in November. By choosing varieties with different ripening dates, one can stretch the harvest season to five months. Additionally, one can choose by predominant use, such as juicing versus pies versus fresh eating. Below are descriptions of some of the "tried and true" performers for our area. There are certainly others, so don't take this as an exhaustive list.

• Akane - Ripens first 3 weeks of August, one of the top taste test winners at multiple tastings.
• Arkansas Black - Ripens late September - October, mostly eaten fresh, tart flavor with firm, dry texture Disease-tolerant. Discovered in Arkansas around 1870,
• Braeburn - October harvest. Very high quality fruit. Susceptible to water core, mildew, bitter pit, and fireblight. Eaten fresh and for juice. Crisp texture and excellent flavor. Commercial variety introduced in New Zealand around 1940.
• Cox's Orange Pippin - Ripens around September 20. English variety with tender, juicy flesh, with rich flavor. It has long been considered the best fresh eating apple. Also used for applesauce and cooking.
• Empire - Ripens mid August to mid September. Flesh is cream colored, crisp, juicy, with a sprightly flavor and produces very well in this area. Medium - small fruit great for children's' school lunch box. Beautiful rich red skin that polishes to a high shine. Excellent quality fruit, best for fresh eating, doesn't store long. Excellent sugar acid balance. My personal favorite for fresh eating! Macintosh and Red Delicious cross introduced in 1966 in USA.
• Esopus Spitzenburg - Late September - October 1 ripening. Grown in USA for over 200 years. Crisp, tasty rich and juicy; eaten fresh and for baking and juicing. Red and green skin color. Thought to be a parent of Jonathan.
• Fuji - Ripens mid-September to mid-October, pinkish red blush, crisp, juicy flesh. Very sweet and mild flavor. Eaten fresh. Stores well. Susceptible to fireblight. Tends to be alternate bearing. Japanese variety introduced in 1939.
• Gala - August ripening. Skin bright scarlet striped over yellow. Dense aromatic flesh with sprightly flavor. Eaten fresh. Fruit tends to be small. Excellent fresh eating and good keeper. Susceptible to fireblight. Developed in New Zealand in 1962.
• Gravenstein - Late July-August ripening, medium large fruit with a short fat stem. Skin greenish yellow overlaid with red stripes. Excellent flavor when fully ripe, crisp, subacid and aromatic; a good sauce and pie apple. Stores and ships poorly and has a high percentage of windfalls. Must have cross pollinizer.
• Golden Delicious - Late August-September ripening, conic-shaped apple with a long stem, yellow to green skin, yellow flesh, russet dots, mildly sweet rich flavor, juicy and fine textured. High quality apple for fresh eating, salads, juicing and baking. It stores well but is susceptible to bitter pit, bruising and russeting.
• Granny Smith - Late October - November ripening, crisp, juicy with sweet-tart green flavor. Uniformly green skin, with medium - large round to slightly conic shaped fruit. Susceptible to powdery mildew, bitter pit and fire blight. Harvest late to increase sweetness. Very long keeper. Excellent pie and fresh eating.
• Jonagold - September-October ripening, large fruit, red stripes over lively yellow green. Round oblong shape, cream-colored flesh, moderately firm, crisp, juicy, full flavored excellent sugar to acid balance, one of the best tasting in numerous taste tests, good for cooking, juicing and fresh eating, stores well. Developed in U.S.A. in 1968.
• Jonathan - Mid August-September ripening. A round red apple with pure white flesh, crisp, juicy and slightly subacid. Excellent for eating fresh, sauce and juice. Highly susceptible to mildew, fireblight and Jonathan spot.
• Mutsu - Mid- September to mid- October ripening. Golden Delicious cross introduced in 1949 in Japan. Crisp with delicately sweet flavor eaten fresh and in baking.
• Newtown Pippin - Early October ripening. North American apple from mid-18th century. Crisp with complex flavors. Multiple uses, long keeper. Best if left onto to tree until starts to get a yellowish cast.
• Red Delicious - Late August-September ripening. A conic-shaped apple with a tapered base and five distinct lobes. Skin color varies from solid red to a mixture of red and green stripes. The flesh is yellow, crisp, sweet and mild flavored. There are many strains, fruit is primarily eaten fresh and stores well. Originated in Iowa in the 1870s. This is too mild for my tastes.

Some of these varieties may not be easily found at local nurseries, but may be special ordered. Check with your local chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers for their Annual Scion Exchange in January each year.

GRAFTING

If you'd like to have more than one variety of apple, but don't have the room for several trees you can plant up to 4 trees in one hole about 18" apart from one another and treat as a multi-trunk single tree. You can also multi-graft 3-5 varieties onto one tree. The mix of varieties may include; a long keeper such as Granny Smith; a tasty fresh eating variety such as Empire; a good sauce and pie apple such as Gravenstein; and maybe an heirloom which has flavor to die for such as Braeburn and/or Cox's Orange Pippen.

FRUIT THINNING

Shortly after "June drop" occurs (usually 3/4" size fruit), thin out to no more than three fruit per cluster, preferably to only 1 fruit if fruit set is heavy. Space clusters 4"- 6" apart on branches. Try to find and thin off those fruit with evidence of codling moth damage (very small black hole near blossom end). Rake up those and all early drops and dispose of fruit to prevent codling moth from pupating in soil.

STORAGE

Fruit should be stored as close to 34 degrees as possible in ventilated plastic bags in produce drawers in bottom of refrigerator. There is a wide difference in storage life from one variety to another, such as Granny Smith or Pippen lasting up to 8 months and Empire only 3 weeks.

ROOTSTOCKS

Many trees now come labelled with the type of rootstock onto which they are grafted. The following explains why you may want to select trees on specific stocks.

Seedling: Used for non-irrigated sites, low vigor sites, and for weaker varieties. It is very vigorous, produces large, full-sized trees that come into bearing late (7-10 yrs.). It is susceptible to woolly apple aphid. Trees can fill a 30x30 ft. spacing and grow 20 feet tall.

• M111: Semi-Dwarf rootstock that usually produces a tree 80% the size of a tree on seedling. It tolerates varying soil conditions, is somewhat resistant to Phytophthera root rot, fireblight and woolly apple aphid, imparts earlier bearing than seedling, but not as early as more dwarfing stocks.
• M106: Semi-Dwarf rootstock produces a tree about 65-75% the size of a tree on seedling. It provides good anchorage, imparts early bearing, is easily propagated, and is resistant to woolly apple aphid and somewhat resistant to fireblight. This stock requires irrigation. Tree spacing ranges from 20x18 ft. to 8x14ft..
• M7a: Semi-dwarf rootstock produces a tree about 60% the size of a seedling rooted tree. It performs well in irrigated replant situations, but tends to sucker, is resistant to fireblight and is susceptible to woolly apple aphid. Imparts early bearing.
• M26: Semi-Dwarf to dwarfing rootstock that produces a tree 40 to 50% the size of a tree on seedling. It has performed very poorly in Santa Clara County and may need a support system. It is extremely susceptible to fireblight.
• M9: Dwarfing rootstock which produces a very small tree 25-33% the size of a seedling rooted tree. It is poorly anchored with a brittle root system which requires support. It has become widely planted commercially because of its early bearing and high yields per acre.
• M27: Dwarfing rootstock even more dwarfing than M9.

PEST PROBLEMS

The most common and bothersome problem is wormy apples, which is caused by codling moths. It may suffice to hang two pheromone traps in each apple or pear tree to keep the codling moth damage to a minimum. Additionally hand thin all infested fruit, pick up and throw in garbage the fruit that has fallen early because of infestation, remove boxes and debris under and around trees on which moths have overwintered. If this doesn't reduce the problem sufficiently, an insecticide spray can be applied 10 days after petal fall and again at two week intervals 2-3 times (more for later maturing varieties).

Revised 05/2008