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Today's handsome apple blushes a deep rich crimson accented with purple and decorated with many tan lenticels. The color seems solid and saturated at first glance but upon closer inspection resolves into streaky bands.
The color is more attenuated on the reverse side but even there covers 100% of the peel, which appears to be a green yellow.
I have three Winecrisps of varying sizes, round and slightly ribbed.
A faint smokey bloom cuts the visual volume a notch, but vigorous rubbing reveals a naturally glossy peel. The stem well has the usual russet star.
The apple is rock hard and dense and has a sweet grassy smell. I can't wait to bite in.
The yellow flesh of this hard apple is crisp and on the fine-grained side, but holds a healthy amount of juice. It has a satisfying breaking crunch, not for the faint of tooth. Flavors are rich with a good measure of both sweet and tart. Cider, a hint of lemonade and oranges, some spice.
The great crunch and bold flavors, to say nothing of good looks, are a winning combination.
A late-ripening variety from the Perdue-Rutgers-Illinois coop, Winecrisp has a reputation as a good keeper. Its complicated pedegree includes Jonathan (on both sides), a Siberian crabapple (for disease resistance), and Cox's Orange Pippin.
I planted one last fall. Unfortunately, noticed, after the recent snow melt, that vols or mice have nibbled off the bark a couple of inches above the graft up to the lowest offshoots. Hoping with some pruning it will grow back unfazed?
ReplyDelete@Anon: I can't really visualize this (above the graft up to the lowest offshoots...?) but I hope you can right it.
DeleteI know someone who saved some trees from mice with a bridge graft. Good luck!
@Anon: Sorry to hear that something girdled your tree. You don't say how large the tree is, nor how wide the girdling is...
DeleteYes, if the girdling is above the graft point you can prune the tree back, but then you lose 2 or 3 years of growth. You can also try a bridge graft, as @Adam mentioned. The idea is that you put sucker-wood bridge grafts ever 2-3" inches around the tree. If it works, you will save the top of the tree; if it doesn't work, the tree will grow from the highest spot it can, and you can prune off the dead wood next year. (For a small, 2" diameter tree, put in maybe 3 grafts). Here's a reference for you:
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/bridge_grafting_as_a_life_saving_procedure_for_trees
Good luck.
Mine are about ready to bear...perhaps next year. This year they had apples, but dropped them, which is just as well being young trees. Looking forward to trying them.
ReplyDelete