How about your Liberty apples?
tedgrowsit
12 years ago
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alan haigh
12 years agotedgrowsit
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Liberty apple on m27 or M26?
Comments (1)I've honestly never tried M27 because I was afraid the tree would runt out at a small size. Around here trees on M26 only get about 10-12 ft with no pruning. In your mild climate, especially if you have strong soil, the tree will probably get bigger. How much bigger I don't know but you could certainly hold it to that height by summer pruning and by not over watering or over fertilizing. I haven't heard of many growers going with M27. Maybe someone on here has. It can be a very small tree, like never reaching your 6ft height....See MoreLiberty apple's storage limits reached
Comments (8)Haralson is a great apple here, as is one of its parents, Wealthy. Complex flavors, not so firm as Winesap but hard enough. State Fair is one of the Minnesota apples and is suited for a fairly short season. Good, but not my favorite. As for the other apples Gala is a nice early apple and keeps well for being so early. Later apples seem to do better here. Carousel (Cameo) is good, just like in the store, keeps well. Yellow delicious is quite good here and keeps well. I'm optimistic about Rubinette but have only had one and wasn't blown away by it. I'm excited to get Jonagold and Prairie Spy up to speed and plan to graft those higher on the tree when I have enough scion to do it. Sweet Sixteen is a very good and somewhat unusual apple. I have good scions for Karmijn d'Sonneville and am intent on finding a good spot for it. Like the Rubinette it's part of the Cox's Orange Pippin extended family. Part of my logic in starting with Liberty was that I wanted a tree that was fundamentally healthy (read vigorous and disease resistant) to support my compulsive grafting! And except for my ignorance and the Liberty's curious growth habits it has worked out pretty well....See MoreMy unusual apples 2012 - how were yours?
Comments (12)Thank you Scott. I copied your list for future reference after reading it. Your studious and passionate observations are useful and interesting as always. I think it should be mentioned to others, tempted to use this as a guideline, that it takes at least ten years of cropping to really get a handle on the quality of any given variety- it is amazing how much variation there is year to year. And that variation gives you a clue about how much any given variety can vary region to region. Also a tree has to be in full production to accurately asses the fruit. A couple of fruit with lots of leaves may not be a realistic representation. There is also the obvious fact that taste evaluations are extremely subjective Please don't take these comments as a criticism of your evaluations, which I value highly. I only offer them to suggest to others to choose varieties to grow based on a wide range of information. The best information may be available by sampling a wide range of apples at a nearby farmers market to find apples that are bound to be relatively easy to grow. In my experience unusual apples often turn out to be unusual because they do not crop reliably or are otherwise unproductive or difficult to grow. For a beginner I think it's best to start with reliable varieties and then literally branch out. I have found Kidd's to be pretty easy to grow also, although it tends to be biennial for me. This may be due to tardy thinning, however. For me, in southeastern NY, most of the Russets seem very prone to bug and wasp damage with Roxbury being an exception. Roxbury is also extremely and reliably annually productive. Another exception is Ashmeads Kernel (alhtough not so productive but a best of best apple). Neither of these is fully russeted, however. I'd like to get some Pomme Gris wood from you. Have to see if it isn't easier for me than the likes of Golden Russet and Hudson's Golden Gem- two wonderful but difficult to grow apples for me. By the time they are ripe they tend to be either full of bird and wasp holes or bug bumps and dimples. After all the late frost, squirrel, bird and wasp problems I only have Goldrush, Jonathon, and Roxbury in storage this year. Worst season in memory and good riddance to it!...See MoreHow do you speed up your apple canning?
Comments (19)I've also made applesauce with the peels and cores on, just quarter them, cook them and run them through the Squeezo. That makes a lovely light pink and very smooth apple sauce, which can then be used to cook down for apple butter if you prefer. I prefer to use my old style peeler and just toss apple slices into water with a couple of vitamin c capsules broken and stirred in, that prevents oxidation. Dip out the slices and put them into my big Nesco roaster. It'll hold at least a quarter of a bushel. Add some liquid, I use apple cider, put on the lid, and stir a couple of times when you think about it. When the apples are tender, mash them up with a potato masher for nice, chunky applesauce. Sweeten and season to taste, of course. That same roaster is used to make apple butter, turn it on about 250F and just let it cook all day while you're doing other things. When it's as thick as you like, can the apple butter. I've also done apple butter in the oven in a big roasting pan, much easier than doing it stove top as you don't have the constant watching and stirring and little volcanoes of applesauce popping up on your arms. I've also used the peels and cores to make juice, which I then strained for apple jelly, but my old style apple peeler just doesn't leave me a lot of peel and we prefer the Apple Maple Jam, so I don't do that often. The peeler/slicer also makes thin and even slices for the dehydrator, those slices also get put into the Vitamin C treated water. No lemon taste (my mother is allergic to lemons anyway), and far cheaper than Fruit Fresh. Annie...See Moremarknmt
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