I tried many varieties both old and new during the 70s and 80s in Amarillo. My bias is toward the new. I'm sure there are good antiques but I didn't find any I'm still growing. I think the antiques are sold not bought, if you get my drift. The sellers have lots of flowery descriptions and not much to back it up.

My favorites in Amarillo were Gala, Goldrush, Jonalicious, and Pink Lady. The best by far was Pink Lady. They matured about Nov 1 so may be too late for you.

I bought Newtown Pippin based on eating it.
I think it depends on your taste in apples.

fruit nut, that was what I was asking, whether it is nostalga and hype or the old apples are that good. thanks

Theres no easy answer to that question. As mykl says it partly depends on your tastes. Modern apples are like sweet white wine - at first it tastes a lot better than those dry white wines, and maybe thats all you want. But most wine addicts prefer dry white wines. And, to add to the confusion there are some excellent sweet white wines as well so the aficianados often miss excellent wines in their search for dryness. I think Gold Rush, Pink Lady, and Sweet 16 (in a cool clime) are all top-quality apples that should not be missed. The main advantage of the older apples in my mind is the unusual flavors and textures, the modern apples are generally similar in flavor: sweet/tart and apple-y. No anise, no fennel, no musk, no nutty, no rose petals, usually low-perfume in general, etc.

Scott

I do like the wine analogy.
I have mostly antique varieties with a few modern varieties mixed in. I finally have apples this year so I will be able to come to my own conclusion.

A lot of us have trouble getting 'Goldrush' to ripen in Z5.

Thanks for the imput. I had an apple when I was in New Zealand 20 years ago and thought "this is the best apple I've ever had" It was a Cox orange pippin, I had never heard of it. I guess I will plant a little old and a little new. When I narrow the field I will post for comments. I already had goldrush down as a ? as I had read about the long rippening time. Thanks folks.

McIntosh... Got to have some tart, good crunch, juice, sweetness... perfect apple.

You need some input from growers in your climate. Cox is a great apple but too difficult to bother with in much of the country where the climate doesn't match England.

Newer varieties tend to be selected for being productive in a wide range of climates in addition to being less complex in flavor (if everyone likes something, it's probably not real interesting). A variety that performs well in a wide range of climates will also be more reliable in the different kinds of weather most of us experience season to season.

I'm a strong believer in growing a lot of good reliable apples and throwing in some fussier unusual ones. Something old, something new. That's seems to be what you're doing so far, but I think you should stick with ones known to perform in the Midwest.

Honeycrisp is a wonderful apple in the right climate. You need warm days and cool nights while it is ripening for best flavor. I found most apples too sour for me, but Honeycrisp has a very nice blend of sour and sweet. Honeycrisp also has a very crisp texture and keeps well.

The problem with fruit trees is that you have a lot of time and effort in them before you finally get to taste what you've grown.

Unlike peaches and pears (never meet a peach or pear that I didn't like) there are plenty of apple varieties that simply are not good.

The good news is that if you plant an apple and discover you don't like the fruit, you can top work the tree and turn it into a different variety of apple. All that time to grow out the tree does not go to waste.

Bruce, I think you will like your Jonagold. It is flavorable

Gruce: I'm in N-C KS south of Hastings and have planted some oldies in the past few years including Wagener, Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Roxbury Russet and Yarlington Mill as well as Jonagold, Liberty, Freedom and Jonafree. The idea was to research them for desirable characteristics and suitability for the climate and then plant but I got the cart in front of the horse so it is entirely possible that some will be bombs for me. Of the oldies listed, all but N. Spy have fruit for the first time this year and should give a hint of what is to come in the future assuming I can figure out when to pick each one at the proper time. Like yours, my trees are in the grain belt but in very nice bottom land soil, the trees are all growing very well and have endured the winters with zero problems. The 2 biggest threats to date (besides my pruning and training skills) have been hail and Cedar Apple Rust (CAR). The CAR can be dealt with but the hail, well, you know.

In case I failed to noticed you posting before or just plain forgot, greetings from your neighbor to the South.

Which region of NE are you located in?

michael I would be about 40 miles north of Hastings and 15 miles west. Nice to find someone with a fairly similar climates. I would be very interested in your assessment of the varieties yyou planted when get a chance to sample. What insect problems do you have?

Hi Bruce: from the radar I watch I'd say you get many more rains than we do in the Spring, lucky for you I guess. You are right about finding others in similar climates. The principal diseases are Cedar Apple Rust (CAR) and Scab on the apples, I suppose if it was wet enough long enough we'd see Powdery Mildew (PM) but we don't. As of yet, I haven't seen Fire Blight (FB) on the apples and to be honest, I'm surprised. None of my 10 varieties were selected for FB resistance so I may be living on borrowed time.

The main insect problems in the last 6 years have been White Apple Leafhopper, Tent Catepillars and Spider Mites; None of these have ever posed a serious threat and have been easily dealt with. I am not adequately up to speed on any borers that may pose a threat and need to get educated more.

The most vexing problem so far has been dealing with iron chlorosis brought on by the calcareous soil @ pH 7.2. One of these days I'll treat it with chelated iron (Iron EDDHA) via a soil drench and possibly a foliar application but the stuff is rather expensive.

For now I can say that my 6th leaf Freedom tree has done great considering it was my first and it's form looks like it as my training skills are just now getting adequate. Until this year, Freedom did not need to be sprayed for any diseases, this year it was whacked by CAR but will grow out of it. The tree is a prolific grower here and demands Summer pruning to keep it in bounds. I also have a 4th leaf Jonafree. Don't believe what the catalogs say, it is NOT very resistant to CAR! To be fair, my trees are surrounded by many 100s of cedar trees within 1/2 mile, full of galls and the gall season lasts many weeks every year from start to finish. On the other hand, the active ingredient in a number of fungicides, Myclobutanil, works wonders on CAR as does Mancozeb.

The oldie trees were selected for making sweet cider mostly and hard cider if I find that there isn't enough freezer space for the sweet cider in the future.

Whatever varieties you go with, I'll be interested in seeing how they perform, if nothing else, we might do some scion trading in the future.

Oh, and one last thing for now, don't do like me and select most of your trees without much thought about flowering periods.

I'll be happy to help you in any way I can, feel free to E-mail me by looking at the "my page" section for my post.

Michael