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Named not for the Midwestern city but for an esteemed fruit breeder, today's medium-to-medium-large apple has an attractive glossy red blush on most of its skin, which is otherwise a green yellow.
Mine is ribbed and conical, with a dusting of faint small light lenticels. The sweet aroma is attenuated.
Sweet and satisfyingly crunchy, Dayton's light yellow flesh has a medium-fine
grain.
Generic sweetness (Sugar? Light corn syrup?) defines this one, but there are faint floral and cider notes and hints of spice.
The peel is a little chewy and dominates the finish. All in all, a satisfying snack.
The memorialized fruitist is Prof. Daniel Dayton of the University of Illinois. There is a little Japanese Crabapple in Dayton's woodpile, along with some traditional varieties: full context here.
My Dayton dates from September.
This is a nice apple and a joy to grow. It is a very vigorous apple, very disease resistant and yields very large fruits if thinned. It is a stunningly beautiful apple, with a nice shape to it. Mine, when thinned usually come in at just a tad less than a pound and fill a ziplock sandwich bag. It does not keep long, 3-4 weeks and has a slight extended harvest period of 2-3 weeks. It is fairly early and is especially pleasing on those hot end of summer days. I grow mine in ziplock bags, and with its disease resistance it I easily grown as 100% organic. This apple was one of the four I recommend to beginning home growers, for its consistency of harvest, ease of growing and decent flavor. This is not an apple you will crave, but it is an apple you will eagerly consume. It is slightly acid, sprightly, with crisp yet yielding white snowy flesh. It is not a complex apple, but one that is pleasing and satisfying. Once again if you want to grow an organic apple I would certainly recommend Dayton.
ReplyDeletethe fluffy bunny
@mrfluffy: Your experience dovetails with mine. I think Dayton is one of those apples that is reliably consistent from harvest to harvest.
DeleteI was unaware of its growing qualities, thanks.
Hi Fluffy Bunny!
DeleteWhat are the 3 other apple trees you recommend to home orchardists (besides Dayton). Thanks!
Climate zone plays a big factor. For example,if you can ripen it, Goldrush is a great option but not everyone can ripen it.
DeleteMy standard, generic, without knowing the person's site, zone, and soil type, or rootstock, in ripening order is:
Williams Pride
Dayton
Sir Prize
Liberty
Goldrush
All these trees have disease resistance and are noted for flavor. You could add Redfree, it ripens between Williams Pride and Dayton but it is not in the same flavor class. It is good if you like mild apples.
If you are going to only plant one apple tree then I would say Liberty. It is self fertile and has extreme disease resistance and is generally considered the best or one of the best flavored of the disease resistant apples, great for desert. cider, or baking.
But please note, many apples you might not think of have various levels of disease resistance. For example Yellow Delicious in and of itself is an excellent apple with resistance to fireblight, CAR, scab, and mildew. Arkansas Black has CAR resistance and natural codling moth resistance. The original Delicious is essentially immune to CAR. Blenheim Orange walls off fireblight. Winesap is resistant to fireblight and CAR. And these are just a few.
Thanks for your feedback!! I am trying out several varieties in my new orchard and I am grafting apple trees to sell to local home orchardists.
DeleteI am in zone 7a, middle Tennessee (high humidity!)
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