We are planning on planting some apple trees but are perplexed as to what would be the best varieties to choose since we're limiting ourselves to two trees (Yeah, I know.....that's not much but in our little "scheme" of things that's all we're allowing for).

We are in zone 4/5 (south-western Michigan) and would prefer to get semi-dwarf to standard size trees (its not a problem to wait on apple production for several years) that are fairly disease resistant (we'd prefer to do little/no spraying). We're hoping to get one tree for eating apples and one for baking/cider and would prefer apples that store well. Of course these two trees would have to be capable of cross pollination since they will be our only two (I doubt our Black Walnut trees will help us out in that department).

I realize that we "can't have everything" but are certainly willing to try. ;o)

Any suggestions? I've spent three days looking thru apple types etc. but would love to get suggestions from people out there that have actually dealt with growing apple trees to see what their personal opinions/preferences are

-- Lisa - MI (sqrrlbabe@aol.com), March 16, 2002

Answers

I would vote for Mutsu. It is a all round good apple. My favorite and you can use it for everything.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), March 16, 2002.

I love my Granny Smith apples. They store exceptionally well and are great fresh or in applesauce. I haven't ever made cider with them so don't know. They need a late bearing kind to pollinate them because they don't ripen until October or so around here. (Oklahoma zone 6b)

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), March 16, 2002.

I got a 4-in-one apple tree from mellingers....

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), March 16, 2002.

Don't you have favourite apple varieties for eating? I'd get them. For me, I'd have a Jonagold. They keep well and are decent eating out of hand, as well. I still have a half bushel just stored haphazardly in the garage, and they are fine. They almost dry down before they rot!

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), March 16, 2002.

I would go with Yellow Delicious for eating and dehydrating and they can also be used for cooking. For baking,canning and sauce, I would go with Granny Smith or Cortland.

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), March 16, 2002.

I suppose you should start by thinking whether you want a storing apple, a canning apple, desert type, or what your priorities are.

When I started planting back my own orchard, I HAD to have Duchess of Oldenberg, which is an old variety. My grandmother grew one (a standard, but it never got so tall that we couldn't reach the top with a stepladder). We ate them off the tree fresh -- creamy white flesh similar to MacIntosh but maybe a little sweeter, veined with red. She put up quarts for pies all winter, and used to dry them before she got very old. They had fair storage as well in the root cellar. She never sprayed the tree with anything, threw her dish water out on the roots all the time, and I don't ever remember any buggy apples either, altho a nearby Snow Fameuse always had bugs and blight.

Remember, whatever you choose, to also check for bloom period, unless there are other apples in your neighborhood (or a crab apple) that will bloom at the same time. Planting an early bloomer and a late bloomer will give you poor fruit set on either one. Being a little cramped for space myself, I also planted one of the new Ballerina series trees -- sold as Golden Sentinel, Northpole, etc. -- that grow straight up without side branches, to help ensure pollination. It was easy to fit into the pocket of space I had available.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 16, 2002.

julie, the Duchess of Oldenberg sounds like a wonderful apple. Are the trees hard to come by? Are they sold by most nurseries? We have 3 Jonathon trees and hopefully we'll get some apples this year off of them, but I would love to have a couple of old fashioned apple trees. Thanks.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 16, 2002.

Make one of the apple trees an Empire. Wonderful apples, sweet, tangy juicy and crunchy. Grows well in Indiana and Illinois, north and south. Should grown well in southern Michigan. I heartily recommend Miller's for apple trees. No affliation, Miller's stuff actually grows and produces which is something I really can't say for Gurneys. Stark's trees can be iffy. Springhill Nursery in Ohio's trees do all right, but I have gone to the nursery in Tipp City and personally selected the trees I want.

Sara in IN

Sara in IN

-- Sara in IN (urthmomma@aol.com), March 16, 2002.

Hi Annie -- Duchess of Oldenberg isn't sold as widely as the new and popular cultivars, but you can find it for sale from some of the apple specialists. I got mine from Jung's (http://www.jungseed.com/) bare root whip and it has been growing well. They sell Duchess as a standard or a semi-dwarf. All the trees and shrubs that I've gotten from Jungs have been good quality.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 17, 2002.

Why don't you give Miller Nurseries a call. There products are excellent. We've used them for years. There phone number is 1-800-836- 9630. We just ordered more fruit trees. Good Luck. Mountain Ashe Acres FARM,Upstate,NY

-- Gary and Pris (MTASHEACRES@AOL.COM), March 17, 2002.

Thanks Julie for the info!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 17, 2002.

I second Miller Nurseries - they have excellent, Northern stock that transplants well, IMHO. My grandfather runs a commercial orchard, and he orders a lot of his stock (when he doesn't self-graft) from Miller. If I could only have two trees, I'd probably pick try and cover the major categories in those two apples. The categories are storage, cooking, dessert. Also, your preference for sweet or tart is involved. Also you want northern hardy, disease resistant trees, so you don't invest years in them and lose them. Granny Smith is a southern apple, so that wouldn't work well for you. Northern Spy or Stayman winesap are both good, solid, healthy trees with good apples. If you like your apples tart (we do), they are great out of hand eating apples, perfect cooking apples and they store forever. Rhode Island Greening would also be a possibility. All of them are older varieties that do well in home gardens. I would pick one of the above, and then a second apple, perhaps an earlier (all of the above are October apples) that was good for sauce and eating out of hand. My favorite in the those categories is Chenango Strawberry. If not, or if you want a really sweet, drippy apple, a Pound or Tolman's sweet is good, and both of those trees are nearly indestructable. I'm not a Golden apple person, but if you are, Jonagold isn't bad. Gingergold is dreadful, though, and Golden delicious not worth your time. The problem is that they tend to be less versatile and poor storers. They are good pollinators though. If you don't like sweeter apples at all, or mostly want to store and cook them, try a Roxbury Russet, which is a good eating apple and stores well. Mutsu might work for you also, but is a bit more delicate as a tree. All of the tarter apples will make decent cider, but a mix is better - a Russet and a Greening will make much better cider than either alone. The sweet apples usually don't make good cider at all. As for storage qualities - another possibility, if you don't care about an early apple, is a Lady Apple -it is a great dessert apple, stores well, you wouldn't really want to cook it or press it, but it tastes great all winter. Really, three apples would probably be best of all - Lady, Winesap and Chenango Strawberry would give you apples from September to April and cover all of the major needs.

-- Sharon in NY (astyk@brandeis.edu), March 18, 2002.

Only two? I started setting out apple trees six years ago and now have 24, or 25 (the goats killed one) While I like red and golden delicious as well as anyone, I planted varieties you can't find in the store -- old varieties with up to 300 or so years of history behind them, with names like Black Oxford and Winthrop Greening, and newer cold hardy varieties like Wolf River. A good source for both old and new is Fedco Trees in Waterville, Maine.

-- Joe Rankin (cntryfolk@ime.net), March 18, 2002.

I'm a fan of Stayman Winesap and McIntosh. Just bought a standard McIntosh and standard Cortland for this year's apple tree addition. If you have room for standard OR dwarf, consider three dwarfs in that space-depending on the layout. Easy to pick for years to come and easy to prune, etc. without special ladders or safety equipment as you age. These two I just bought are the only standard apple trees I will get because of the size-I just wanted something to put a swing under!

Please consider your local discount store like Big Lots. I have bought from Stark and Miller's and my best 'luck' has been with the $12 trees I get from Big Lots. They are large and rooted in dirt and thrive.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), March 19, 2002.

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SW Michigan? --Opt for a Paw Paw tree.

How do you like them apples?

¥

-- Chris in Mich (chackbardt@industrialvac.com), March 19, 2002.

I live in Wisc. and like Jonafree, and Macintosh. Just make sure you get two trees that bloom close to the same time, for cross pollination. and that they are disease resistant to scab, fire blight, and that they are hardy to your area. I also prefer standards to dwarf trees.

-- Joany Hoffman (mjjch@uniontel.net), March 27, 2002.