I'm going to take this somewhere else by suggesting that most modern apple varieties are neither predominantly tip or spur bearers, at least in the common definition of spurs (short piecs of wood less than 4 inches). Most of the apples I grow, including many older varieties, bear their best apples on the 2-year wood of pencils, which start as 6 to 12 inch upright shoots and are removed after the second year to make room for a rotating annual "crop" of new pencils. I really don't understand why most of the literature on apple production ignores this. This oversight set back my development as a manager of apple trees quite a bit. Apple varieties that commonly set fruit on 1 year wood, like Jonathon and Jonagold are quite interesting, but they don't just bear the apple on the tips of these new shoots but all along them. Jonagold (and maybe Jonathon) seems to bear on one year wood bienally, which can really screw up grafting. You don't want your grafts sprouting flower buds at first growth! JG also produces and bears on spurs which tend here to be bienniel as well. Many varieties can be managed to annual production by favoring production on 2-year wood leaving equal room while pruning to 1 year and 2 year shoots. Your post encourages me to make more careful notes of the fruiting habits of different varieties. I'm often told that Fuji is a tip-bearer, which it is, but it still produces the majority of its apples for me on older wood.

Murky, I will briefly respond to some of your questions, "If Colt is so terrible, why is it still being propagated? Is the toleration of wet/heavy soils really its only redeeming quality? " I don't why certain commercial producers still use it. One of my commercial suppliers stopped growing Colt rootstock altogether due to the suceptibilty of crown gall. In my area, that is about the only redeeming quality. It does produce sooner than Mazzard, but then the fruit isn't as good. " I didn't quite follow what you were saying about its supposedly being "semi-dwarf" but even then showing unreliable. Are you saying that it doesn't dwarf reliably? Or that it doesn't provide some other characteristic associated with dwarfing like precocity or regularity in producing a crop or something? " Yes, Colt has been tested extensively in Calfornia and tests have shown Colt sometimes does not dwarf at all and can grow as large as a Mazzard tree. I apologize if my questions come accross as dense. I'm pretty inexperienced and often don't fully grasp the terminology used in describing fruit raising. "For instance, when you say "poor quality fruit" is that a general term that takes into account all desirable characteristics of fruit such as flavor, sugar content, size, coloration, texture, firmness, flesh/pit ratio, insect/disease damage, etc? Or is that term "fruit quality" specific to certain attributes? " What I have found in Colt trees I have is that Colt can produce light crops. I also see undersized fruit. In commercial farming undersized fruit fetches a much lower price. I have acquaintances who grow large acreages of cherries in Central California who use both Colt and Mahaleb. The Mahaleb trees produce good fruit and perform well and the Colt trees have underperformed. My cherry orchard is planted in Mazzard. I have experimented with a few rootstocks. I planted Bings on Mahaleb, Colt, Gisela 5, & Gisela 6. Out of those, Colt has been the worst performer.

If you like Cortland from stores you will like them more when they're homegrown. Funny you would say Cortland is your favorite but you don't like McIntosh. Cortland is a cross between Ben Davis and McIntosh. It's flavor is a lot like McIntosh with more of a nose, but it holds up to cooking better and doesn't brown as bad when exposed to air. My tree is a spur type that is no longer offered. Bug damage causes the apples to deform greatly and crack. Even the perfect apples don't look like what I've seen pictured for Cortland, but the fruit tastes like McIntosh, it doesn't brown and it colors like a Ben Davis so it must be the correct tree. I don't know if the deformation was particular to the spur type and that is the reason it's not offered any more, but there must be a reason because spur type mutants are desirable. I don't think any apple suitable for your zone would be off limits for a novice. I dived right in to espaliering apples. Although I've had some horticulture classes I had very little hands on experience growing fruit when I started.

Alright I had to get in on this. I live in North Houston, Kingwood area with a 9a climate, grow mangos, tamarinds, kumquats, N33E oranges, purple and banana passionfruits, key limes, calomandins, jackfruit, dragon fruit, and various others but those are my most proud plants. Let me start with this, in this area I can go and take pictures tomorrow of lemon trees growing wild in Kingwood and New Caney, then in Crosby I know of a blood orange growing wild in the woods. If you update your information you'll quickly find out that meyers lemons, Persian and Mexican limes, kumquats,calmansi/calomandin, and sour oranges are the most cold hardy. Don't water any tropical fruit plant during winter if you're in a 9a and above, even 9b is kinda skeptical. Wait until temperatures don't dip below 60 to water them. The hotter it gets, the more you water, BUT DON'T FLOOD. I do not even use fertilizers, i simply prepare a good humus, compost, sandy, and peat moss soil... All natural for my babies, haha. After 2 years take the top 6 inches off and replace it. As you water, these nutrients will reach the bottom. My key lime fruited in its' first year. During winter take them in if you're in a 9b and above. Now for the burn comment, no. We're talking about tropicals here, as long as you keep the soil moist, not soggy, you'll keep a "tropical" climate for the roots and not a desert one. Trust me, I know all too well about our "sonic cup melting" summers haha. Another thing, as long as your plant has thick leaves usually, not always, the general rule of thumb is it can handle a sun burn. Good luck to y'all and good planting.