What type of apple trees should I plant?

[cburke]

Hello,

I was looking to plant a few apple trees for both eating and cider making - sweet and hard. I live in Southeastern New Hampshire in growing zone 5

I have a good spot, but limited in space to only about four trees which still should yield more than enough for my needs. One of the trees I am going to plant was a 5-1 tree that includes yellow transparent, golden delicious, mcintosh, gravenstein and winesap - a pretty good mix of eating and cider wines.

That said I should have room for 3 more trees. I would like to plant at least one one cortland, I like the taste of them and from the research I have done they can be used for hard cider.

So that leaves room for two more. Any suggestions? Another gravenstein maybe - I have heard they are good for cider and are pollinated by cortland, but open to any suggestions.

Thank you!

 

[AbstractBrewer]

I went with Honey-crisp, and Granny Smith. Mostly for eating though. I have read they also pollinate each other, though I have a crab-apple tree for that..

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Contact Cummins nursery, they sell cider apple trees and would be very happy to tell you what would grow well in your area, they are in NY. They have a list of varieties avaible on their website. There are also lots of different sized rootstocks, so when you say you have room for 3 trees, what sized? Great big trees or little 6 footers? If you get a good crabapple then you can add that to many of the other apples and help make a good cider. WVMJ

 

[cburke]

The area for the three trees is a strip about 50-60 feet long, maybe 20 feet wide. The 5-1 tree was going to be placed on a separate spot because it is self pollinating. Probably could fit something bigger than the 6 footers.

Looked at the cummins website - will give them a call soon, they seem to have quite the selection. Thank you for the resource, I had not come across their website yet.

 

[drumlinridgewinery]

honey crisp cider by itself makes a real good cider ale.

 

[jswordy]

I would seriously consider planting dwarf varieties if you can. The typical apple tree lives as a healthy specimen 15-25 years. The dwarves are said to live longer. They are easier to prune, maintain and harvest, and available in familiar fruit names. Just my .02.

 

[Snafflebit]

I like crabapples. I did not realize there were different types. I will look into that for cider.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Its kind of the opposite, the old old trees are on seedling stocks, the ones that were planted in the early 1900s and are still alive today. Crabs people make wine out include Dolgos, Wickson and Chestnut among many others. We just planted these this year so havent made any cider from these cultivars yet but have high hopes for them. WVMJ

I would seriously consider planting dwarf varieties if you can. The typical apple tree lives as a healthy specimen 15-25 years. The dwarves are said to live longer. They are easier to prune, maintain and harvest, and available in familiar fruit names. Just my .02.

 

[grapeman]

Around here where millions of bushels of apples are grown they are removing full sized trees at 40 trees to the acre and semi-dwarfs at 100 or so. They are replacing them with dwarf trees and planting them on a trellis like grapes, down to a one meter spacing in row giving about 1000 trees per acre. The old full sized trees took 15 years to get into full production. The semi-dwarfs cut that to about 8-10 years. The dwarfs can get acreage into full production in 3-4 years and yields are higher. The down side is that it costs more per acre to plant them but the overhead of unproductive years is reduced. Also as varieties fall out of favor in the marketplace this means they can be replaced with newer more marketable varieties.

 

[Deezil]

Around here where millions of bushels of apples are grown they are removing full sized trees at 40 trees to the acre and semi-dwarfs at 100 or so. They are replacing them with dwarf trees and planting them on a trellis like grapes, down to a one meter spacing in row giving about 1000 trees per acre. The old full sized trees took 15 years to get into full production. The semi-dwarfs cut that to about 8-10 years. The dwarfs can get acreage into full production in 3-4 years and yields are higher. The down side is that it costs more per acre to plant them but the overhead of unproductive years is reduced. Also as varieties fall out of favor in the marketplace this means they can be replaced with newer more marketable varieties.

They've done some of this in Washington too - especially on 'test plots' or breeding/grafting orchards.. They'll split the canopy in a V.. I think its more mechanized as far as pruning and harvesting go as well, meaning less hands needed for picking but not 100% sure on that.

Cant say I'm a fan personally.. But it's 'a money thing'

 

[Zog]

Just today I ordered 4 apple trees and two pear trees for cider wine making. I bought mostly heirloom cider apples. Two Esopus Spitzenburg (Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple tree) one Golden Russet and one Northern Spy.I live in the Berkshires, not too far from you... also Zone 5. I did a lot of reading on this and I talked things over from a friend in VT that has an orchard and he recommended semi-dwarf - M111 rootstock. Much sturdier tree and a lot more fruit he tells me. I made a batch of wine from his Northern Spy cider this fall... came out great.

 

[calvin]

Beware of the 5 in one tree. I did some research on them before I planted my fruit trees. Very bad reviews. Typically 1 variety will take over unless you vigorously prune them. Even then production is low. Stick with the "normal trees". As others have stated dwarf trees can produce some apples in the first or second year. It can take over five years for the standard varieties to bear fruit.