apple

Photo: fir0002 flagstaffotos [at] gmail.com Canon 20D + Sigma 150mm f/2.8 — GFDL 1.2 · source

Survives zone 3 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The familiar eating apple is a hybrid-origin fruit tree descended mainly from the wild Central Asian apple Malus sieversii, refined over millennia of selection and grafting into thousands of named cultivars that vary enormously in flavor, texture, and use — from sharp cooking apples to sweet dessert varieties — with virtually all of that variation dependent on which cultivar is grafted rather than on the species itself.

Hardiness

Zone 3–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Oct

Mature size

Tree 5–10 m on seedling roots; rootstock decides the real size — M27 1.5–2 m (container), M9 2–2.5 m, M26 2.5–3.5 m, MM106 3.5–4.5 m

Light

Full sun — cropping declines sharply below ~6 h

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Garden origin

Native range

The domestic apple descends primarily from the wild Malus sieversii of the Tian Shan mountains of southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and northwestern China, with later hybridization with other wild crabapples along the Silk Road — Siberian crabapple (M. baccata), Caucasian crab (M. orientalis), and European crabapple (M. sylvestris) — as cultivation spread west. From that Central Asian origin, cultivated apple orchards spread throughout Europe and Asia in antiquity and were carried to North America by European colonists in the 17th century; it is now grown in temperate regions worldwide.

Status

Cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs on dwarf rootstock

Growth speed

Medium, strongly rootstock-dependent — dwarfing rootstocks may add only 15-30 cm/year and top out at 2-3 m, while vigorous or seedling rootstocks can grow 30-60 cm/year toward a mature standard tree of 8-12 m.

Spacing

900 cm (354 in) apart — about 81 m² (872 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Simple, alternate leaves, broadly ovate to elliptic-ovate, 7-15 cm long, with a serrate to crenate margin and raised veins on a paler, sometimes downy underside; foliage generally turns a plain yellow in autumn rather than a strong display color.

Root system

A fibrous, laterally spreading root system rather than a deep taproot — most feeder roots occur in the top 30-60 cm of soil, with root spread often extending out to roughly twice the canopy width; dwarfing rootstocks produce a shallower, more restricted root system than vigorous or seedling rootstocks.

Fruit description

Extremely variable by cultivar — from small and tart to large and sweet, colors spanning green, yellow, and shades of red, and textures ranging from dry and mealy to crisp and juicy; ripens from midsummer through late autumn depending on variety.

Propagation

Apple does not breed true from seed — every seedling is a genetically distinct individual, usually inferior to its parent — so named cultivars are propagated exclusively by grafting or budding a scion onto a rootstock. Rootstock choice (e.g., dwarfing M9/M27, semi-dwarfing M26/MM106, or vigorous MM111/M25 and seedling stock) controls ultimate tree size, precocity, and disease resistance, a system largely developed at England's East Malling Research Station in the early 20th century. Seed, when used for rootstock breeding or ornamental purposes, needs about three months of cold stratification at 1°C and can take over a year to germinate.

Pollination

⚠ SELF-INCOMPATIBLE — needs a 2nd cultivar in an overlapping flowering group. Triploids ('Bramley', 'Jonagold') need TWO other pollinators

Pollinator partners

Siberian crabapple, European crabapple, plum-leaf crabapple, Japanese flowering crabapple, toringo crabapple

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.