Dorsett golden usually turn yellow when ripe, and can be a bit larger than a golf ball. This is our 3rd year for them, and they are great tasting, very much like a golden delicious.

Another apple that is now beginning to ripen - is Anna. They are still pale green with reddish stripes. I may pick them today and try to make a pie - as I think they can become a bit soft if left to ripen all the way. They make good tasting apple sauce tho.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Probably Ein Shemer. They're small, greenish, and very good. Often get a bad rap, but I think they're very good, and the other of the top 3 apples you'll see grown here in San Diego county (actually, 4 if you include Beverly Hills apple). Often touted as a cross-pollinator for Anna, but their bloom time is too late in actuality, and you're better off with a Golden Dorsett as a cross-pollinator if you're wanting one (Anna is self-fertile). It will give you fatter apples, and perhaps more. Plus, of course, an additional variety. Ein Shemer, an underrated and delicious little green apple, imho.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Willis Orchards: Ein Shemer Apple

Patty,

Are Ein Shemer apples more on the tart side compared to Anna apples? We have an Ein Shemer and an Anna. My family didn't like the tart taste of the Ein Shemer last year and I am wondering whether I picked them too early. (I removed all Ein Shemer's branches and grafted Fuji apple onto the Ein Shemer this Spring.) Thanks!

Yes and no :-) More tart than Anna, but the Ein Shemer's at my sister's house in Oceanside are really not that tart. Not like, say a Granny Smith. I don't particularly like tart apples, and I was really surprised to hear all the Ein Shemer bashing out on the Internet after having had quite a few from her tree that were very delicious. They do essentially nothing for their trees, just water them. And if they can get the apples before their dog does :-), they are all very delicious. They have an Anna, which is crazy prolific, a Golden Dorsett and an Ein Shemer. All 3 are quite good. I just didn't have room for an Ein Shemer, so I stuck with an Anna and a Golden Dorsett for my early apples, and then a Pink Lady and a Fuji and Red Fuji for my late apples. All are first year plantings, so I didn't get any apples except for my Anna of course, which are ridiculously prolific.

Patty S.

Thank you all or the tree suggestions. The pictures I saw of your ideas look to be too big. These look exactly like a golden delicious only much smaller. They are tasty though. Is it possible somebody planted a golden delicious seed and this is what it became?

No. Even a seedling Golden Delicious would be bigger than a golf ball. And not green. Golden Delicious are yellow and more elongated. Are these little apples green or yellow? Ein Shemer are smaller, rounder and greener than Golden Delicious. They are pretty popular in San Diego county. But, it could be a Golden Delicious that was not thinned, I suppose, which will cause the tree to bear more, but smaller fruit.

Patty S.

Patty, I thought Granny Smith, as grown in S. CA, would make a much less tart apple from what I've read. Washington doesn't have a long enough season to ripen them the way they are managed in Australia and New Zealand where they are essentially a different, richer, sweeter much more full bodied apple than what you can buy in the states. I suspect their picking time would be in Oct or even Dec in S. CA.