CLICK HERE to check current availability and preorder fruit trees on our webstore.
‘Braeburn’ apples were discovered in 1952 as a chance seedling growing in a New Zealand orchard. The parentage is unclear, but both ‘Lady Hamilton’ and ‘Granny Smith’ apples were growing on nearby trees. Produces medium-sized yellow fruit. Self-fertile but production is improved when planted with a pollinator partner.
‘Cortland’ produces large red apples that are extra juicy, with a tangy sweet-tart flavor. Excellent in fresh salads, as flesh does not brown after cutting. Good eating, canning, and pie apple. Ripens in mid to late September.
‘Fuji’ was developed in Japan, but is an all-American cross of ‘Red Delicious’ and ‘Ralls Janet’. A very attractive modern apple, crisp, sweet-flavored, and keeps well, which is why they are often available in the grocery store.
‘Gala’ apples were discovered in 1934 in New Zealand and made their way into the U.S. market in the 1970s. Fruit is pale golden yellow with red stripes, with a firm, crisp interior that is mildly sweet and vanilla-like. Has thinner skin than most. Self-fertile but production is improved when planted with a pollinator partner.
‘Granny Smith’ apples originated in Australia in 1868 when Maria Ann (Granny) Smith found a seedling growing by a creek on her property and found the light green fruit to be great for both cooking and snacking. Self-fertile but production is improved when planted with a pollinator partner.
‘Gravenstein’ dates back to the 17th century and is still one of the best apple varieties for cooking, sauce, and cider. Large, bright green apples with red striping are crisp and juicy with a nice tart flavor with just a hint of honey. They make very flavorful sauces and ciders. These apples keep well and hold up well for shipping. Ripens in July.
‘Honeycrisp’ has flavor, crispness, and a storage life of up to 7 months. Mid to late season apple ripens in late September. Considered one of the best.
‘Liberty’ is a late harvest apple with red skin — juicy and crisp with tart flavor. Great for fresh eating and resistant to scab, fireblight and cedar apple rust. This variety was actually named for freeing growers from endless spraying!
One of the most favored grown or eaten anywhere, ‘McIntosh’ apples are soft, sweet, and juicy. Ripens early to mid-September. Self-fertile but production is improved when planted with a pollinator partner.
‘Northern Spy’ is an antique from the 1840s. Great for fresh eating and baking, it has an excellent reputation for making the best apple pies! Juicy and tart.
‘Prairie Spy’ was one of the first apples to come out of the University of Minnesota breeding program, selected in 1923 and released in 1940. This apple was bred specifically for cold hardiness and produces fruit great for fresh eating or baking, holding its form well in pies and storing well through winter. It is a large, attractive apple with yellow skin streaked red and speckled with pretty white lenticels. The creamy white flesh is firm and dense with an excellent, well-balanced flavor. Very cold hardy, this tree is vigorous and fruits reliably. Resistant to cedar-apple rust.
‘Red Delicious’ produces medium-sized, striped to solid red fruit. Light yellow, crisp and sweet flesh. Fresh eating and salad variety. Semi-dwarf (12-15’ tall, 14’ wide). Late blooming.
‘Snow Famuse’ apple is one of the oldest and most sought-after dessert apples. A parent of the aromatic McIntosh, Snow apple trees were found in almost every French settlement in the late 1700s and made their way around the world. The flesh is tender, spicy, and distinctive in flavor, and snow white in color with occasional crimson stains near the skin. Snow apple is a very hardy, heavy-bearing heritage fruit tree excellent for home orchards. Delicious fresh off the tree, in cider, or cooked. One of the very few apples that often reproduce true to variety when established from seed.
‘Yellow Delicious’ produces medium-sized, bright golden-yellow fruit. Firm, crisp and juicy flesh. Good for fresh eating and cooking. Semi-dwarf (12-15’ tall, 14’ wide).
‘Winesap’ is an old apple cultivar of unknown origin.[1] The apples are sweet with a tangy finish. It can be used for eating, cooking, or making juice. It is very resistant to mildew. dark red, round, medium-sized; the skin of this apple is firm, and the flesh is crisp and exceptionally juicy with a creamy yellow hue. ‘Winesap’ apples are highly aromatic with a balanced sweet-tart taste and get their name due to their distinctive spicy wine-like flavor.
Grow a two-tiered 4 way or three-tiered six-way apple and get multiple, cross-pollinating varieties on one small fruiting espalier!
Semi-dwarf trees grow 15’ high x 15’ wide.
To ensure pollination, trees requiring pollinators should be planted within 50′ for semi-dwarf and 20′ for dwarf varieties.
PLANTING: Amend soil by mixing up to 50% compost with the existing soil. Plant the tree so the soil level in the container is level or slightly higher than the surrounding soil. Water in to remove air pockets around roots and mulch with wood chips. Water regularly to establish the tree in the first season.
FERTILIZING: Adequate nutrition is essential for quality fruit production. The best thing you can do is top-dress with compost every year. A general rule of thumb for adding additional fertilizer is to apply a combined 2/3 pound of bone meal and 1/3 Texas greensand to each tree the first year, double that the second year, and triple the third and subsequent years. Fertilizer should be broadcast on the soil surface around the tree’s drip line. The “drip line” is the circular line at the outer ends of the branches.
SCAFFOLD TRAINING: Improperly trained fruit trees have very upright branch angles which can result in excessive vigor and serious limb breakage under a heavy fruit load. Larger branches can be spread out using short wooden boards with a notch cut in each end to catch the branch. Hanging weights on branches or tying it down with string wrapped loosely around the limb are other useful methods for spreading branches. All upright growth from scaffold branches should be pulled down to a horizontal position or removed.
PRUNING: Pruning fruit trees during winter dormancy will invigorate the tree and cause it to grow and branch more the following season. It’s best to do dormant pruning in late winter or early spring after the risk of severe freeze is over. Be sure to remove any dead or diseased wood also. After the tree resumes growth in the spring, continue to train the scaffold branches of the tree as you did the previous growing season. Prop lateral branches out to a 50 to 60-degree angle. Summer pruning will devigorate the tree and cause it to grow less in that growing season.
FRUIT THINNING: To ensure good fruit size, return bloom for the following year, and to prevent tree breakage, it is necessary to thin the fruit. Every apple blossom results in a bloom cluster of 5 to 6 blossoms. Apples should be thinned when they are about the size of a dime. Cut off enough fruit so that the remaining apples are spaced 4-6” apart, and leave only one fruit per cluster. It may seem like very few fruits remain, but you will harvest higher-quality fruit, potentially reduce insect and disease problems, and increase the chances for a full crop the next season.