THE NEED FOR MULTIPLE APPLE TREES WHEN PLANTING
Most apple trees cannot self-pollinate, and therefore require the presence of one or two other apple varieties nearby in order for bees and other beneficial insects to cross-pollinate them.
In addition to offering you a chance to own and plant the famed Harrison cider apple tree yourself, our nursery includes a selection of many other heritage cider apple trees and dessert apple trees that can be planted together to ensure your trees effectively yield fruit.
Each varietal possesses a different set of traits, making some excellent eating and culinary apples, while others are preferential for fermentation, rather than snacking.
For questions, please call our farm office at 908-940-4115.
CIDER APPLE TREES
A selection of apple trees that bear fruit of exceptional quality for cider-making purposes. This batch of trees has been grafted onto semi-standard M111 rootstock, which is an excellent rootstock that is tolerant of wet, dry or poor soil, and which resists woolly apple aphids and collar rot. This rootstock induces bearing at young age. Unpruned tree height typically reaches 80-90% of standard tree height, or about 15-25 ft, although trees on M11 may be held to any desired height by summer pruning.
Harrison
Our favorite. Also known as Harrison Cider, Long Stem, and Harrisons Newark. It first appeared in Essex County, New Jersey during the early 18th century, and was grown extensively for cider until the early 20th century. Throughout the 1800s, Harrison was a leading variety in cider production, valued for its ability to produce many small apples that made a champagne-like cider. By the 1900s, the rise of beer and prohibition largely exterminated Harrison production. This heirloom variety was thought to be lost until 1976, when it was discovered by Paul Guidez. More recently, Tom Burford brought the Harrison back into cultivation. It is now grown by cider makers throughout North America, and, in honor of Burford, we contribute five dollars of every Harrison sold at Ironbound Farm to a scholarship at Rutgers University promoting the education of young orchardists.
The apple itself is small, round and yellow skinned, with small black dots. Harrison tastes dry and coarse, but yields a large percentage of juice when pressed. Harrison juice is viscous, syrupy, and dark, with complex flavors and exceptional mouth feel.
The Harrison tree is a heavy annual bearer, with a single tree producing large quantities of small apples. Apples ripen in October in upstate New York, are scab and rot-resistant, and keep well in storage. It remains one of the finest apples for cider making, either fresh or fermented.
A cider apple from Somerset, England, that produces a bittersweet, vintage cider and was first discovered in the early 1800's.
The apple is small, golf-ball sized, and conic, with dark burgundy over yellow russet color. Gently astringent and bitter, inedible fresh, only used to produce a full bittersweet cider. Predominently for mixing, will not produce a good single varietal cider. Adds a funky barnyard flavor to cider.
The tree is precocious and productive with a tendency towards biennial cropping. Late flowering and late midseason harvest. Scab and fireblight susceptible.
Harry Master’s Jersey
Ashmead's Kernel
A fresh eating, baking, and cider apple first discovered in Gloucester, England in the early 1700's.
An old English winter russet, medium size, golden-brown skin with a crisp nutty snap, exploding with champagne-sherbet juice infused with a lingering scent of orange blossom. This English antique is dense, sugary and aromatic with intense flavor, characteristic of russets. It is highly acidic and sweet, with lots of flavor. If you like mild, sweet eating apples, this intensely sweet and acidic apple is not for you, but it is a cult favorite. In Apples of Uncommon Pleasure, Steve Wood says that "It's a delicious trip to that fine line between pleasure and pain", and that he uses Ashmead in many Farnum Hill Ciders to "instill that knifelike acidity that makes your mouth water for a second glass, or a second bottle". Winner of taste tests.
Ripens mid-October, and improves in storage, with peak flavor December - February. Has some resistance to scab and cedar apple rust, susceptible to powder mildew and fireblight. Triploid. The tree will bear annually if thinned, and is fairly cold hardy and appears to grow in USDA plant hardiness zone 4.
Hewes Virgina Crab
Also known as Virginia Hewes Crab, Hewe's Crab, Hugh's Crab, Hughes Crab. One of the earliest American cider apples, 100 year old trees were discovered in Virginia in 1817, so the exact date of planting is unknown.
It is absolutely one of the best cider crab apples available today. It produces a clear, dry, full-bodied and biscuity cider reminiscent of champagne, which is excellent by itself or used in a blend. Virginia Crab is at the center of Virginia's cider revival.
Fruit is very small (1 ½ inches diameter) with dark green skin mostly covered with dull, purplish red and numerous large white dots. Flesh is firm, crisp, astringent and quite acid in flavor.
Ripens September to October and is a good keeper. Quite susceptible to cedar apple rust. Hardy to zone 3, possibly even zone 2.
Porter’s Perfection
An heirloom English apple that has been around since the 19th century. It was not widely propogated until 1907, when it experienced a boom in production for cider. Not as popular today as it was in the early 1900’s.
The apple has dark red flushed skin with the peculiar tendency to produce pairs of fused apples. Yields a highly acidic, sharp juice with low astringency. Produces a bittersweet cider and is mostly used for blending.
Ripens in November in upstate New York. The tree is vigorous and a heavy cropper, tends to biennial bearing. Hardy to zone 5.
DESSERT APPLE TREES
Dessert apples are what you think of when you picture apples in a supermarket, except the below list includes many tasty varieties of which you’ve probably never heard. We’ve included the rootstock for each varietal (for all our fellow apple nerds out there). The apples produced by these varietals are ready for eating straight off the tree!
Blue Pearmain is an heirloom American apple first discovered sometime before 1833. A fresh-eating apple.
Blue Pearmain is beautiful and distinctly blue. In Rowan Jacobson's Apple of Uncommon Character he describes Blue Pearmain as "mottled with pink, green, yellow, orange, taupe, auburn, carmine and black, all airbrushed with loveliest powdery blue bloom". Mild, sweet rich and mild acid flavor. Flesh firm, rather coarse, and aromatic.
Ripens in October in upstate New York. It is best to eat between November to February. This keeper dries and shrivels in storage, yet retains good flavor.
Blue Pearmain - G.935
Also known as Lustre Elstar. Parentage/Origin: Golden Delicious x Ingrid Marie; Holland, 1955. Introduced in US in 1972. Harvest: late August. Season: August-October. Description: 80% light red stripe over yellow, large fruit with firm flesh. Very good for fresh eating and cooking. Flavor increases with about four weeks storage. Tree Characteristics: Heavy bearer. Can be a difficult grower in the continental summers of central and eastern US; one of the best for the Pacific Northwest and coastal Northeast.
Elstar - G.935
Kidd’s Orange Red - G.935
A cross between Cox's Orange Pippin and Red Delicious from New Zealand, 1924.
Fruit is medium size, conic, slightly ribbed, pale greenish-yellow fruit well covered by crimson flush and broken stripes of purple-crimson. Patches of russet. Sweet, aromatic flavor and firm, fine-textured flesh.
The tree is small to medium sized, a slow grower, and fruit can be small if not well thinned. Susceptible to canker and somewhat susceptible to apple scab fungus. Ripens early October in New York, can be stored for two months if picked on time. Probably the best bet of all the Cox progeny, but does not keep well.
A cross of Macoun and Purdue 54-12 bred at the New York Agricultural Station in Geneva, first released to the public in 1972. This variety is extremely disease resistant, and perfect for home growers that do not want to spray.
The apple is large and with a red blush covering nearly all of yellow fruit, sweet, crisp and juicy. It is perfect for fresh-eating or for a sweet cider apple.
The tree is vigorous, easy to grow, and naturally takes a good shape. Resistant to fireblight and powdery mildew, highly resistant to scab and cedar apple rust. Heavy fruit sets require thinning. Liberty is the backbone of any organic orchard. Ready to harvest around September 20 in upstate New York. Flavor develops over one month of storage.
Liberty - G.11
An apple first discovered in Ontario, Canada 1798, named in 1870. A classic New England heirloom apple.
Fruit beautiful deep red color, size variable. Flesh white, firm, tender, very juicy, flavor characteristically aromatic, perfumed, subacid. Have a distinctive, spicy, sweet "Mac" flavor.
Tree is moderate to large, tends to be bienniel unless it is thinned. Hardy to zone 4. Susceptible to apple scab. Ready to harvest September; Season: September - December.
McIntosh - G.935
An antique apple of unknown origins. Some believe that it was first discovered in Indiana in the 1800's, but others believe it is the oldest known English apple, from ~1200 AD.
The fruit is light green that turns pale yellow with waxy dots. It is a late dessert apple and excellent keeper with crisp, tender, juicy, aromatic flesh. Mainly used for fresh eating.
The tree is vigorous, spreading, and heavy bearing. Fairly hardy, can be grown in zones 5-10.
White Winter Pearmain - G.935
A cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious developed in Geneva, New York 1966.
The apple is dark red to purple with heavy, waxy, shiny bloom. The flesh is creamy, white and juicy, moderately subacid and sweet, mellow. A high quality dessert apple, but can also be good for cider.
The tree is vigorous, upright, early-bearing, with a strong, wide, crotch angle. Tendency toward spur type habit. Very consistent annual producer. Ready to harvest in September in upstate New York, keeps till January.
Empire - G.935
Wolf River - B.118
Probable seedling of Alexander; Wisconsin, 1875. Harvest: late September-mid-October, Season: October-December. Spectacularly large, up to 1 lb. Outstanding culinary apple; good blended in cider as well. Pale yellow skin covered in dull red. Flesh is tender, subacid-tart, and juicy. Tree is long-lived, hardy and productive. High resistance to scab and mildew.
The oldest named American apple variety, from Roxbury, Massachusetts, in the early 1600's. It is likely one of the first propagated apples in the United States, and was popularized by Thomas Jefferson, who planted them in Monticello's south orchard in the 1770's.
This heirloom is a greenish-bronze, russeted fruit that is hard, crunchy, sweet and aggressively acidic. Roxbury Russet improves in storage, Apples of Uncommon Character says "by early winter, the acid gives way to a delicious, rich persimmon with nutty undertones.” The antique apple is a superb keeper, great for fresh eating, cider, and baking. It is the classic russet, similar to Golden Russet but even higher in sugar (12.87%), and a bigger producer.
In upstate New York, Roxbury Russet ripens late September-early October, with peak flavor October-April.
The tree is vigorous and open-spreading, and shows some resistance to scab, powdery mildew and cedar apple rust. It is partially self-fertile and mid-to-late bloom. Will bear annualy. Widely hardy to zone 4.