Newbie:

Beautiful apples and great pictures!! Only in CA can you grow apples this nice with no inputs. But that's not what you asked.

My guess is that you have a spur strain of Red Delicious. I say spur because in the 2nd pic from top you can see how closely spaced the leaves are. This gives a fairly small compact tree, which is good. Your tree also looks nicely productive and has a good crop load, not too many apples as is often the case.

The apple looks like a Red Delicious a variety which would have rippened about a month ago. Also Red D is a sweet apple like Fuji. RD can also be crisp. So that is my best guess but could be wrong.

The Fruitnut

Thanks fruitnut! One of my friends also suggested red delicious... but we still have about half of the apples on the tree now, even though it has been dropping a lot lately, so I guess it is ripening now?

I think of Red Delicious as being more conical shaped than those, but perhaps strains vary.

Looks like a Macoun Apple. The Macoun is a 1950 cross between Macintosh x Jersey Black. Your apple has the green and red Macintosh look and the Jersey Black size. The leaves in this Macoun Apple photo(link below) have the distinctive saw edge like in the pictures you posted.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:125118}}

Newbie:

Your apples look exactly like the Red Delicious (Redchief, Campbell Cultivar) that I have been picking from my only RD tree. That may not be the best news, but it's not really a bad apple for fresh use, although it should be picked a little before fully red or it will become mealy quickly.

Ace:
The Macoun apples in your photo look quite different from those I grow here, which are flattened and more of a pink over green than dark red. However, they do seem to replicate one characteristic of my Macouns, which is almost no stems, making them very difficult to bag. They grow plastered right up against the branch or twig. Maybe this is how Macouns look when grown in their natural habitat, which is considerably north of here. I am at about the southern limit for this apple. Unlikely to be found in southern California.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks everyone! I am in northern CA just south of San Francisco, dunno if that makes a difference. I googled redchief red delicious, and they do look similar to mine, except mine is more round and not conical at all. I love the apples by the way, they are tasty! But then I am not a very picky person :)

The growing conditions significantly affect the shape of that particular apple: it is conical in cooler areas, and more round in warmer areas. So, I think the differences you are seeing are all due to growing conditions. It also shows you that ID-ing apples is no easy business!

Scott

Yeah Scott, I am learning so much in the board! OK I am going to believe that these are red delicious, and like jellyman suggested, I'll go harvest all of them this weekend. One thing I noticed is that they tend to grow in clusters of 6; is it a general behavior of all apples, or just red D?

We grew apples commercially7 for many years, and I would be very surprised if yours if a Red Del. These have a typical shape, narrower at the blossom end, with four or five sort of "nubs".... it is a hardish apple, does not keep well and is rather "outdated" for flavour. Yours looks much better! Could it be a Spartan, which is round and very crisp and tasty and keeps fairly well.?

My apples keep very well - I left them on the counter for a week or 2, and they are still good for eating. Very crisp! This is interesting, you know, I wonder how people ID apples in general? Look at the seed?

I went and googled Spartan apples, they all say it is medium sized, but mine is very large, definitely one of the largest apples I've seen.

Westgate, as I stated above the apples look very different in a cool climate. You are in a cool climate. So you cannot go by how the apples look for you. See the link below for some pictures to see what I mean. Its pretty amazing how big the difference is.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Red del in different climates (scroll to bottom)

Scott, that last picture is nice - now I know how to take pictures of apples for investigative purpose :) Since my apples are late apples (well it's october now and there are still a quarter to a half on the tree), I am planning to plant an earlier variety so I have apples for more than 2 months! Any suggestions suitable for the Mediterranean climate here south of san francisco?

confused:

I fully agree with Scott's comments, illustrated by the photo he supplied, and I have seen this phenomenon of Red Delicious replicated in my own orchard, depending on the relative heat of the summer for a particular year.

I have had this RD tree for 25 years, which has given me ample time to observe it. In years when the summer was cool, the apples took on an elongated shape, and a very dark red, almost mahogany overall color. In hot summers, such as the one just past, the apples are more squat, fatter, and coloring was much lighter and less uniform. The apples produced this year look exactly like the confused newbie version in his/her photos.

Although many RD apples will hang on the tree past their ripening time, they are not a very late apple. At best a late midseason apple. Apples left on the tree past their prime point will not keep well, even in cold storage. When they begin to become mealy, they are worse than insipid. So pick them slightly early if you want to keep them around a while.

Westgate: I also grow Spartan here. While I am not a commercial grower, this tree has been producing for over 10 years, and the apples it produces are much more flattened and bicolored (more green) than newbie's photos. I would compare the Spartan appearance more to McIntosh (one of its parents) or a larger version of Macoun. Spartan is also a Canadian apple that dislikes extreme heat, although I manage to grow it pretty well here. It is a wonderful, long-keeping, multipurpose apple, much better than Red Delicious.

And yes, Newbie, identifying apples from photos, or even when they are sitting right in front of you is an art form, about which reasonable people often disagree. Judges who have been growing apples for a long time, and have seen a lot of different apples, have the edge.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks Don! The past summer has been hot. Well the summers here in CA are almost always hot, so I guess my apples are going to be fat and round always :) I am going to attribute the good taste of the RD to the hot summer too then. or maybe my lack of taste buds!

In the second picture, right in the middle of the tree and about arm's reach off the ground, there's an apple with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, (no hips, sorry!) and very obvious lobes.

I wanted this apple to be a McIntosh descendent, because I DO see color patterns like my own Liberty, but I've never bought a RD that looks more like a RD than that one apple. SoI'd guess Red Delicious.

The link Scott provided is really neat- thanks!

Newbie:

I'm afraid apple advice from around the country (and you've gotten some good advice) goes out the window in our climate. Bizarre things happen like Rome Beauty ripening before Yellow Transparent, as a variety can ripen two months earlier or two months later than in a colder climate. The apple's appearance can be drastically different, as can the texture and taste.

What you have is almost certainly a Delicous strain, of which there are many, including spur varieties like you have.

For an earlier variety you have lots of choices. In order of ripening you could plant Anna (early June) Dorsett Golden (last week of school) Gala, Hawaii, and Williams' Pride. You can also plant a late-ripening variety like Fuji or Pink Lady (December), both of which are outstanding in our climate. If you want a couple odd varieties, Royal Limbertwig and Granny Neighbors have been taste winners. For the best all-round variety, I have to admit Golden Delicous has blown us away, much, much better than in the store.

Applenut

Thanks martnmt and applenut! There's a fall sale in a local nursery here this weekend, 50% off fruit trees, and I think I'll go get myself some fuji or pink lady :) So much to learn!

Has anybody explained the fact that the apples in question stay crisp after having been left on the counter for 2 weeks?

That doesn't sound like the Red Delicious I know.

Murky:

Agree that RD is not the champ of keepers, but if picked before dead ripe, they will stay crisp for at least two weeks. All apples will keep longer if refrigerated, and commercial growers manage to keep RD in good condition for many months in refrigerated and controlled atmosphere (nitrogen) storage.

I grow most of my apples in plastic sandwich bags, and am finding they keep better in my basement refrigerator if I leave them in the bags. The problem with long-term apple storage in a regular refrigerator is the low humidity, which makes the apples shrivel after a few weeks. Leaving them in the bags seems to prevent this. It also keeps rot from spreading to other apples if one of them should be infected.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA