This is the last article in a four-part series that is devoted to growing apples. These last cultivars are some of my personal favourites. So read on and enjoy learning more about the apples we grow right here.
‘Patterson’ was released by Dr. Cecil Patterson of the University of Saskatchewan in 1960. Fruit is six centimetres, greenish yellow with orange blush. It matures in late August. Flesh is white, soft, sweet and slightly acidic. It is good for fresh eating, cooking, drying and juice. Will store well for six weeks. It is heavy-yielding and must be thinned to one apple per cluster to avoid biennial bearing. Trees are hardy to zone 2a and resistant to fire blight.
‘September Ruby’ has six to seven cm round and slightly flattened apples. Fruit also looks slightly ribbed. The base colour is light green with a bright red overcolour that may be solid or striped. Flesh is greenish-white and moderately acidic. It is good for fresh eating, cooking, and juice, and will store in good condition for up to four months. Trees are semi-dwarf, upright, spreading with good branch habit. It is hardy to zone 2a and moderately susceptible to fire blight.
‘Sunnybrook’ fruit is 6.5 cm in diameter, round, yellow, striped with red and mature in early September. Flesh has coarse texture, is slightly acid and sweet but susceptible to water core. It is good for cooking and fresh eating and will store for about four weeks.
Late Season Apples – harvested late September to late October
‘Collet’ is six to 7.5 cm in diameter, round to cone-shaped and light green striped with red. Flesh is white, fine-textured, crisp, sweet and slightly acidic. It is good for fresh eating and cooking. It will store for 10 weeks. Trees are medium-sized and round to pyramidal in shape. It requires a protected site in zones 3 and 2b.
‘Edith Smith’ is a seedling of ‘McIntosh’ selected by Leonard Smith of Lucky Lake, Saskatchewan and introduced in 1964. Fruit is six to seven cm in diameter, yellowish green washed with pale orange-red. The skin is somewhat tough and bitter. Flesh is greenish-white, medium texture, slightly tough and pulpy. It is fair for fresh eating and good for cooking. It will store well for up to three months. Plants are hardy to zone 2b but highly susceptible to fire blight.
‘Goodland’ fruit is six to eight cm in diameter, light green washed with red. Flesh is creamy-white, fine-textured and slightly acid. It is good for fresh eating and cooking and will store for up to 20 weeks. It is susceptible to chlorosis where soil pH is much higher than seven and is only reliably hardy to 3a.
‘Haralson’ was released from the University of Minnesota in 1923. ‘Haralson’ has been used in much breeding work of hardy apples. Fruit is six cm in diameter, round to cone-shaped, greenish-yellow, almost completely covered with red. Flesh is slightly tough. It is good for cooking and fair for eating. It stores for up to 25 weeks, with flavour being enhanced during storage and is only reliably hardy in zone 3a if growing in a protected microclimate.
‘Luke’ is an apple of unknown parentage that originated with Mr. John Luke of Rosthern, and was introduced by the Morden Research Station in 1961. At nine cm in diameter, ‘Luke’ is the largest apple that can presently be grown on the prairies. The fruit takes on a barrel shape, has a green undercolour that is mottled and heavily streaked with dark red. It is fair for eating fresh, and good for cooking. It keeps for ten weeks. The tree is large, vigorous and rounded to spreading, but fruit is late to ripen, and may be damaged by frost on all but the longest seasons.
Hanbidge is the Lead Horticulturist with Orchid Horticulture. Find us at www.orchidhort.com; by email at growyourfuture@gmail.com, on Facebook @orchidhort and on Instagram at #orchidhort.
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