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red delicious apples


bikeman564™

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I never buy them.  I bet you got an heirloom variety or something.  The ones here are mealy and super gross.  I am all about the honeycrisp, macintosh and Fuji.  

Been contemplating what kind of apple trees to plant.  I think I am ready to take on the responsibility.  

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1 minute ago, jsharrwick said:

There are much better apples.  I gave up on Red Delicious as they had been bred for size and color with little concern for either taste or texture, so you got a beautiful apple with no taste and a mealy texture.  Has that changed?

mine is tasty, I can't remember how they tasted yesteryear, but I've had a few over the last week that were good.

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7 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

I never buy them.  I bet you got an heirloom variety or something.  The ones here are mealy and super gross.  I am all about the honeycrisp, macintosh and Fuji.  

Been contemplating what kind of apple trees to plant.  I think I am ready to take on the responsibility.  

Ha, you read my mind! 

I'd plant a Melrose tree if available.  Maybe.  Wth do I know about apples, anyway?  I had gotten a few of the Melrose at a farmers market, and they were fantastic!

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/apples/melrose-apple-tree-care.htm

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22 minutes ago, jsharrwick said:

There are much better apples.  I gave up on Red Delicious as they had been bred for size and color with little concern for either taste or texture, so you got a beautiful apple with no taste and a mealy texture.  Has that changed?

...I actually had a "Delicious" apple tree up in the foothills, at the old place.  It was planted right next to a "Golden Delicious" for cross pollination and good fruit set.  Mine produced the older sort of "Delicious" variety apples, that were more striped with red, and some green.  It was a very fine apple when fresh, quite firm and tasty.  I imagine it would also have been a good cider apple.

Those all red branch clones have always seemed suspect to me, but I suppose that the main problem with most "Delicious" is the amount of time they spend in controlled storage, and the fact that they get picked pretty early, before fully ripened.  "Golden Delicious" was also a good apple for me, and one of the low chill varieties I can grow at my current house in the Valley.   But I opted for stuff like Fuji and Cripp's Pink as better keepers.

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9 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

I never buy them.  I bet you got an heirloom variety or something.  The ones here are mealy and super gross.  I am all about the honeycrisp, macintosh and Fuji.  

Been contemplating what kind of apple trees to plant.  I think I am ready to take on the responsibility.  

...contact the county ag agent, and see what does well in your area. You have more chill than I do, so your list of possibilities is longer than mine.  There is a whole world of home apple guys, passing around older varieties that is interesting to explore.  But except for a couple like Newtown Pippin (which I would grow if I could, but  not enough chill), the more modern varieties are much improved in terms of disease resistance and dependability (some of the old varieties tend to bear in alternate years.)

Some people lay out a home orchard with different varieties that bear early, mid season, and late.  I am always pressed for space, can only fit in two or three trees, so I went for late season keepers that I can leave on the tree to fully ripen before they go into 5 gallon buckets for a couple of months.

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15 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

I'm going to pick your apples...I don't care which kind.

You are going to have to be faster than the deer.  :loveshower:

15 minutes ago, jsharrwick said:

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I hope she plants Oz apples just for you

HAHA!  I don't think my trees would be this rude.  I feed them good manure and talk to them.  One of them grew about 2 feet.  Holy smokes!  It is a katsure tree and I think it will be huge.  I feel strange about it now though, cause it is not a native.  I want to try and stick to natives now. 

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1 minute ago, Page Turner said:

...contact the county ag agent, and see what does well in your area. You have more chill than I do, so your list of possibilities is longer than mine.  There is a whole world of home apple guys, passing around older varieties that is interesting to explore.  But except for a couple like Newtown Pippin (which I would grow if I could, but  not enough chill), the more modern varieties are much improved in terms of disease resistance and dependability (some of the old varieties tend to bear in alternate years.)

Some people lay out a home orchard with different varieties that bear early, mid season, and late.  I am always pressed for space, can only fit in two or three trees, so I went for late season keepers that I can leave on the tree to fully ripen before they go into 5 gallon buckets for a couple of months.

Space is the least of my concerns.  

Thanks.  I plan to ask the OSU extension office.  They help with things like this.  I looked at the Oregon Daffodil places and got a bunch of 404 screen shots.  Dang it.  

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15 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Space is the least of my concerns.  

Thanks.  I plan to ask the OSU extension office.  They help with things like this.  I looked at the Oregon Daffodil places and got a bunch of 404 screen shots.  Dang it.  

...I have one tree, that is an older variety, Gravenstein, that is supposed to be low chill.  That fucker has not yet set a single apple for me, and it's been in the ground about 5 years now.  I think this year I'm gonna go out when it blooms, and start up the chainsaw and wave it around a little bit, just to send a message. I should have gone with Granny Smith, but I really like the taste of Gravenstein apples, and they never show up for sale at the local market.  I guess this is why.

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4 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...I have one tree, that is an older variety, Gravenstein, that is supposed to be low chill.  That fucker has not yet set a single apple for me, and it's been in the ground about 5 years now.  I think this year I'm gonna go out when it blooms, and start up the chainsaw and wave it around a little bit, just to send a message. I should have gone with Granny Smith, but I really like the taste of Gravenstein apples, and they never show up for sale at the local market.  I guess this is why.

I like your style.  HAHA

I used to threaten my chickens.  

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7 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...I have one tree, that is an older variety, Gravenstein, that is supposed to be low chill.  That fucker has not yet set a single apple for me, and it's been in the ground about 5 years now.  I think this year I'm gonna go out when it blooms, and start up the chainsaw and wave it around a little bit, just to send a message. I should have gone with Granny Smith, but I really like the taste of Gravenstein apples, and they never show up for sale at the local market.  I guess this is why.

Is it self fertile or does it need a pollinator?  

I like to answer my own questions.

https://www.orangepippintrees.com/pollinationchecker.aspx?v=10123

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I like all apples but red delicious are the apples I eat the least.  I like apples that are more tart.

When I went to Seattle to visit my brother his neighbor had several apple trees on his front yard.  There was no fence between properties and my brother said it was cool pick his apples so I did.  Damn they were some outstanding apples but I couldn’t tell you what kind they were. 
 

But any fruit left to ripen on the tree is always better.  I’m eating some delicious yard citrus right now. 

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I can't say I have red or golden delicious much anymore. Mostly other more popular ones - fuji, gala, pink lady, etc..  With a lot more to choose from these days, I rarely choose the apples that I grew up on.  And if we go to an orchard in the fall, I've never seen them on a tree either.

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1 hour ago, jsharrwick said:

Is it self fertile or does it need a pollinator?  

I like to answer my own questions.

https://www.orangepippintrees.com/pollinationchecker.aspx?v=10123

...I knew about the sterile pollen on Gravenstein, but I thought I had it covered with the other two,  Fuji and a Pink Lady.  Pink lady is often listed as a pollinator for almost everything, but is not self fertile. Fuji is not self fertile, but it is such a good apple it's worth growing, even if you have to grow crabapples to pollinate it.  But it is apparently perfectly happy having sex with the Cripp's Pink (Pink Lady).  And who wouild not be enticed by the idea of sex with a beautiful Pink Lady ? And the Cripp's Pink sets fruit pretty well, but is just maturing to the point where it will set a larger crop.

Apparently, this fucking Gravenstein tree is either racist or some kind of America first person. If I can't convince it with threats this year, I might just try to find a place to plant a small crabapple, or I might try to graft it over to Golden Delicious, and just lose the Gravenstein entirely.  It's mostly grown over in Sonoma, where the summers are cooler than here, so it might not like it here.  It's been a very vigorous grower here, and has been slow to develop fruiting spurs.  That might have something to do with it. All the energy is going into growth.

The other two are embarrassed by its lackluster performance, so the Fuji, in particular, crops heavily.

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2 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...I knew about the sterile pollen on Gravenstein, but I thought I had it covered with the other two,  Fuji and a Pink Lady.  Pink lady is often listed as a pollinator for almost everything, but is not self fertile. Fuji is not self fertile, but it is such a good apple it's worth growing, even if you have to grow crabapples to pollinate it.  But it is apparently perfectly happy having sex with the Cripp's Pink (Pink Lady).  And who wouild not be enticed by the idea of sex with a beautiful Pink Lady ? And the Cripp's Pink sets fruit pretty well, but is just maturing to the point where it will set a larger crop.

Apparently, this fucking Gravenstein tree is either racist or some kind of America first person. If I can't convince it with threats this year, I might just try to find a place to plant a small crabapple, or I might try to graft it over to Golden Delicious, and just lose the Gravenstein entirely.  It's mostly grown over in Sonoma, where the summers are cooler than here, so it might not like it here.  It's been a very vigorous grower here, and has been slow to develop fruiting spurs.  That might have something to do with it. All the energy is going into growth.

The other two are embarrassed by its lackluster performance, so the Fuji, in particular, crops heavily.

Have you considered a nice Red Delicious?

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

I can't say I have red or golden delicious much anymore. Mostly other more popular ones - fuji, gala, pink lady, etc..  With a lot more to choose from these days, I rarely choose the apples that I grew up on.  And if we go to an orchard in the fall, I've never seen them on a tree either.

...if you are doing it for money, you grow what you can sell.  Golden delicious, fresh and tree ripened, is a wonderful apple.  It's not a very good keeper for me, and soon loses that crispness that everyone wants in an apple.  Again, the problem is in how they are harvested and stored, with controlled ripening in cold storage.  There are not that many apples that will stay crisp when treated that way. Granny Smith and Fuji, maybe.. Neither is what you might call "red".

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5 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...I knew about the sterile pollen on Gravenstein, but I thought I had it covered with the other two,  Fuji and a Pink Lady.  Pink lady is often listed as a pollinator for almost everything, but is not self fertile. Fuji is not self fertile, but it is such a good apple it's worth growing, even if you have to grow crabapples to pollinate it.  But it is apparently perfectly happy having sex with the Cripp's Pink (Pink Lady).  And who wouild not be enticed by the idea of sex with a beautiful Pink Lady ? And the Cripp's Pink sets fruit pretty well, but is just maturing to the point where it will set a larger crop.

Apparently, this fucking Gravenstein tree is either racist or some kind of America first person. If I can't convince it with threats this year, I might just try to find a place to plant a small crabapple, or I might try to graft it over to Golden Delicious, and just lose the Gravenstein entirely.  It's mostly grown over in Sonoma, where the summers are cooler than here, so it might not like it here.  It's been a very vigorous grower here, and has been slow to develop fruiting spurs.  That might have something to do with it. All the energy is going into growth.

The other two are embarrassed by its lackluster performance, so the Fuji, in particular, crops heavily.

Here are some good sex partners for your Gravenstein to get it's groove on with.

https://minnetonkaorchards.com/gravenstein-apple-tree/

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