9B California here and Granny Smith makes a very good heavy producing apple. Thin appropriately because it seems to always set way more fruit than it should. Also, pick it green for that store bought tart taste but if you leave it on the tree another month or so, and it starts to take on a yellowish color, it will sweeten up and take on a whole other flavor. Our main problems here are fire blight, peach tree borers, and aphids. Sprays are horticultural oil and copper twice in the dormant season.

Interesting, aphids and borers do A horrendous job on my peach trees. Where does GS rate on the scale of disease hardiness For apple trees?

I’m still learning about pesticide applications. I actually have to bag all of the peaches and grapes at the beginning of the season, or they won’t make it through. I could do the same for Granny Smith.

Not so great for disease resistance - depending on source, listed as susceptible to very susceptible to scab, fireblight and powdery mildew. And needs another cultivar for reliable fruit production.....self fertile apples rarely are entirely self fertile :-)

Are your summers very warm? This is not a great selection for cool summer climates.....a late ripener.

I think you are making it harder on yourself. There are many disease resistant apples that are good for fresh eating; pristine, liberty, enterprise, goldrush to name a few. I would pick a disease resistant type and you can bag for bugs to avoid any spray.

Summers are hot and wet. Winters around freezing and wet.

I think any spray-free fruits are very rare in my area. So far I’ve been able to get away with kiwis and blueberries only. I have a feeling apples will require treatments. I have only seen Fuji, Jona Gold, and a couple of other varieties for sale here at the local stores.

Even with bagging, regular spraying of the peach trees and grape vines are required.

Your climate sounds like the southeast united states. I would do things like figs, mulberries, persimmons, jujubes, resistant pears. All of those will be no spray. Muscadines would work well for you if you can important them instead of growing grapes.

I think you’re right. Which area or state exactly? Weeds grow like nothing I’ve seen here in the summer. Not much action now, end of winter. My garden hit -10 a couple of nights, but that was a 40 year low.

i grew figs and mulberries, but no one wanted to eat them (myself included) and they rotted on the kitchen table. Persimmons are big garden favorites here, but I don’t like them.

SHB and RE BBs grow well. Kiwis so far. Citrus do well if the winter damage can be minimized (this year was a washout, many trees knocked back to stalks).

Sour cherries did well for me if they can be protected from the birds ( which I May not be able to do ). Similarly, strawberries in hanging planters from house.

In my area, high-end commercial orchards of peaches, grapes, and pears are popular. However, one grape orchard was honest enough to tell me they spray about 10 times a year, in addition to bagging, and A fully covered canopy style trellis to stop rain on the leaves and fruit.

I just started building a large covered canopy for my grapes yesterday. It’s very difficult, as this is a typhoon zone, and it needs to be incredibly strong.

I agree with mikeeatplants. Muscadines would be a great idea. They basically are very large grapes that grow in loose bunches and are disease resistant enough to be grown in hot and humid Florida. They are sweet with very good flavor, better than store bought grapes. Based on that description you might be wondering why they aren't more popular. The reason is that they have very thick skins, (my guess is 3-4 mm) and the skins are very tough. The skins can be eaten but aren't very enjoyable to most. Many also have seeds, so there are some drawbacks but I think the flavor is outstanding. They can't take winter temps much lower than US zone 7 but you should be alright assuming by -10 you mean -10 C not F.

Here is a short description from http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/muscadines.html.

Muscadine Grapes

If you're interested in growing grapes in Florida, then look no further than the muscadine grape, native to our state and other areas of the Southeast.

Sometimes called scuppernongs, these grapes are popular because they have a high degree of tolerance to pests and diseases and can be grown with minimal or no use of pesticides.

Muscadines differ from the bunch grapes found in the produce section of the supermarket in that they are thicker-skinned, somewhat spicy-sweet, and are picked individually from the vine rather than in bunches.

I’ll look into muscadines guys, if they are Available locally.

I’d still like to try a granny Smith. Apples are comparatively expensive here, Worth a shot. Maybe ill start in a pot the first year get it to a decent size before transplanting.

Well, I did it, here’s the unboxing video.

I think I’ll put it in ground in the garden right away. How big do these grafted trees get? I’m going to assume they’ll need it as deep and as rich soil as I can give them with full sun, correct? I’ll have to sacrifice part of my shrinking vegetable garden in order to satisfy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUaMX6bvtaw&feature=youtu.be

What root stock is it on? You can keep it nice and short even if it's on standard root stock by pruning. Mine are all pruned at eye level twice a year.

I’m not sure. I can get my wife to try and contact the nursery if it’s important? I’ll try to give it the best position I can in my garden, but nowhere is very deep. I assume the roots will go out around the drip line, so this could take up quite a bit of floor space ?

I’m going to guess apple trees in pots are a bad idea...

Apple trees can do fine in pots if they are big pots and grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks. But first you need to find out the name of the rootstock!

It's not that important and sorry for the late response. I might not even know what they use over there.

Ok thanks guys. Limited garden space left. If I have to choose too dry or too wet, which is the lesser evil?

Ok, found out it’s on a dwarf rootstalk, trying to get more info.