Rick, those apples I see in Downing's book (1850's) but they are not in Apples of New York (1905) which indicates they faded by then; Apples of New York is the most complete book about American apples ever written. They are also not in any of the modern lists I looked at. So they may be extinct.

Scott

Thanks Scott. I'm hoping to find a family that has an old tree "on the back 40". From what I've read in various Hort Society meeting notes the Fulton was the most widely planted so its my best bet. It did make its way into Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri's Hort Society notes and yearbooks. Thanks for checking your lists for me, Rick

Rick, there very well could be one out there and I hope you find them. If you don't have Nick Botner's list you should get that one, it is the most complete list of apples in the US.

Scott

Funny you say that - I ordered 65 apple varieties from him this spring. He's got quite a collection. I checked out your page - you've got a huge list too. What has been your favorite apple so far? Most of my family prefers crisp sweet apples - any suggestions? Like you many of ours haven't had fruit on yet. If most of Nick's scions graft successfully this year we should be in the 250 apple type-range and we have another 100 types of cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, berries etc. If you're interested in trading scions I could get you a full list in excel format for 2010. Thanks, Rick

Rick, my favorite apple seems to change every time someone asks, but from last year I now have particularly fond memories of Margil, Gold Rush, and Freyburg. I think Gold Rush and Freyburg will also go over well with kids, plenty of crisp and sweet there. If you look in the archives of this forum you will find some good discussions on favorite apples.

It sounds like you are going to pass me on varieties in a few years, I am at about 500 now but not much room for more. Feel free to send me an email next winter if you are looking for something you can't find on my list. I have been "done adding things" for the past several years but there always seem to be a few new things I just have to cram in somewhere!

Scott

Have you done a big multi-variety tree yet? I think I may end up going that route if I don't find any more land next to ours for sale.

Thanks for your favorite apple notes - Rick

I didn't start off doing multi-variety trees, but at this point nearly all of my new varieties are additions to existing trees. I should add that some of the trees are as close as 1' apart so its hard to put too many varieties on those guys! Most of my trees are 3' apart and you can easily put 3-4 varieties on those trees. The easiest way to make a 4-way tree is to take an apple tree with four scaffolds that is not your favorite variety, keep one for the trunk variety, and cut the other three low down and graft on a different variety to each limb. If I really don't like a variety much at all I will topwork all the scaffolds.

Scott

What rootstocks are you using - Bud 9?

On the 1' plantings I am using mostly M9 - it was supposed to be Bud 9 but those all died and the free replacements were M9 so thats what it is. For 3' plantings I use M9 Bud9 G16 M7 M26 G11 and MM106. The 1' spacing is a little close for M9 (EMLA 9 to be precise) but the 3' spacings work fine for all the rootstocks I am using there.

Scott