Starting a mini orchard
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Hi All, With a new house comes a new yard to play with. I am trying to find varieties that would make a good starting point. I’ve had experience with Yellow Transparent, Parkland, Norland, and wanted to expand my horizons a bit. With the hope of good fresh eating apples, and possible cider making in the future are there any recommendations? Obviously I’d love an apple that ripens fairly consistently up here (but I know all to well this is Alaska).
Location is Eagle River, close to the base of Skyline
Hi, not sure where Skyline is. What is the elevation there? You might be limited to the standards as elevation plays a huge role.
Breaky and Carrol are a couple you should try. 500′ starts to be the borderline of what will work in my opinion. I am at 500′ as well herein Wasilla. You might Contact Dan Elliot he has many varieties.
Do you know about our Grafting Workshop on April 12? For the price of the rootstock (usually under $5) you can graft your own trees with scion wood from our members trees. The variety selection depends on what members bring in, but there are usually varieties that would otherwise be hard to acquire.
The grafting workshop is actually what prompted me to ask the question (it’s got a very special place on my calender :). I’ve got rootstock on order for it, and wanted to start planning the varieties I should be looking out for when it comes time to graft.
Right now my plan is to get a few reliable varieties as a core, and then start branching out into more experimentation with varieties and seedlings. I’m also considering some espalier work along the fence line of my lot to help get take advantage of underutilized space.
Carroll and Breaky have my attention now, and I love the taste of Chinese golden Early (though I’m aware of the water core issues).
I’m also curious about Oriole, Zestar, Simonet, and Prairie Magic. Looking at the research page on the website these are rated highly, but I was wondering if there is any more specific information on ripening times. I think I remember finding a generic chart comparing ripening times to yellow transparent in a past news letter, but I’m having a hard time tracking it down again
While Oriole, Zestar, Simonet, and Prairie Magic are very good apples they do not reliably ripen everywhere. Oriole never set fruit for me let alone ripen. Zestar and Prairie Magic have a lot of die back every year at my location and also have yet to get fruit. Simonet has never set fruit for me either (though I keep hoping) but has no die back here. Oriole I removed. With that said, many of the mid to late ripening varieties one has to try at their locations, maybe they will maybe they won’t. I am of the belief to always have the mainstays and then branch out from there. Each location can be so different. One won’t know until they try. Growing apples in Alaska is an ongoing experiment!
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