Quote:
Originally Posted by metallicat
I have three apple trees that we are cutting down this spring. They are super annoying. They produce waaay more apples than I can harvest, and it is a PITA to collect all the fallen ones off the ground. There is a charity that can come out and harvest the apples for you, but they are so busy that I haven't been able to get them out yet. Just another thing to think about. If they produce a lot of fruit they can be annoying.
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They're that busy? I seem to recall that that charity tries to sell some of the stuff they harvest at the farmers market to deal with their fuel and transport costs and much of the remainder goes to the food bank or homeless shelters.
Have you also offered the fruit to neighbors? You'd be surprised how often neighbors are jealous of edibles in your yard. Neighbors and friends rush over to pick Saskatoon berries and Dolgo crab apples at my parents place.
I don't know what OP is aiming for a nice crisp apple though. Most of the apples I've seen mentioned are often times at best a Macintosh level apple which means it might be sorta crisp for a few days to a week and most of the time sorta powdery/mushy. I've tried the Alberta gold and red and they're both alright once the tree gets to size, but then you end up with an apple that's like a weird diluted and bland version of a golden delicious with a hint of a pacific rose or fuji flavor. I'd rate the apple as a powdery apple, not really crisp. The hot tub comparison is hilarious and true.
Something I find that's nice and tart is the Dolgo crab apple. The apples end up as an oval shape about half to a third of the size of a ping pong ball.
Pros:
- Flowers are very nice in the spring (closest to cherry blossoms we get in Calgary IMO)
- Actually "crispy" with a tart flavor that's a bit unique to the apples we get at the store
- Great for collecting and freezing to make cider
- Some people can, cook or pickle these things
- Smaller apples that are less prone to hail damage
- Frozen ones on the tree are picked at by birds in the winter. The alcohol in these apples often times means entertainment in regards to drunk birds.
Cons:
- Small apple
- Leaves a mess (as with any tree)
- Grows relatively slowly (I've watched my parents tree go from something like 10- 12 feet to about 16-18 feet now over a decade).
- Low branches which means it's a pain to mow under
Parkland and September ruby were my other favourites with a nice tart and relatively firm apple that might meet OP's desires. However, I recall it took my Parkland tree about 3-5 years to properly start producing and it was a 10 ft tree.
There are some interesting pear and plum options. In the late summer, 15th ave 5th street SW has a lot of these pears on the trees. They're similar to a smaller and more fibrous version of an unripened D'Anjou pear IMO. Plums are great, but I've never seen a good plum tree that wasn't 20-30+ years old.
Also, if you have hares that wander your area, make sure to protect your fruit trees. I've seen hares strip the bark on young fruit trees and can effectively kill them within a few days.
Recommendations for apple tree purchase
