Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

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djtanng
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:18 pm

Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

Post by djtanng »

Please help me solve my 27 year old mystery.

I planted this apple tree from seed when I was 6 years old. I've been trying to figure out what variety of apple tree this is my whole life. My mom said she only bought Red Delicious back in those days, but I've eaten a Red Delicious recently, and it didn't look or taste anything like the apples that come from my tree.

Also, the apples from my tree are light, almost white colored on the inside and have really sweet taste with a little green-apple tart flavor to them. They're best tasting apples I've ever had actually. I wish I knew what they were, so I can buy some in the off season if I can find them.

I live in Virginia if that helps in any way.

Here's some pictures of the apples, the tree, and blossoms:

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Any information will be helpful. Thanks!
dmtaylor
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:12 pm

Re: Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

Post by dmtaylor »

Your tree is half Red Delicious, half something else. Apple trees grown from seeds are just like humans -- they have a mommy and a daddy. Your tree's mommy was a Red Delicious. The daddy was most likely some other popular apple variety from 27 years ago -- my guess would be Golden Delicious, or perhaps some type of crab apple which they keep in orchards to provide plenty of pollen for all the Red Delicious and other varieties of apple trees. Just as each human is unique, your tree is a unique offspring and absolutely cannot be duplicated by anyone else.

For what it's worth, your Red Delicious cross looks an awful lot like Hawkeye, which is the original Red Delicious from about 100 years ago. Once upon a time, Hawkeye was a red and yellow sort of ugly looking apple with pretty good flavor but a really nice tall star-shaped apple. Over the years, certain Hawkeye branches that had darker and darker red color were selected and grafted to other rootstocks many many times, to ultimately result in a very dark red Hawkeye, then called Red Delicious, that we have today. But genetically, Hawkeye and today's Red Delicious are almost identical. The main difference is the color, although there were some minor flavor changes as well (the worst Hawkeye tastes better than the best Red Delicious, but I digress...).
djtanng
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:18 pm

Re: Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

Post by djtanng »

Thanks! That's very interesting. Now I'm wondering who's the daddy of the apples that my tree produces every year. I'm guessing there's another apple tree in the neighborhood.
dmtaylor
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:12 pm

Re: Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

Post by dmtaylor »

Depends on where you got the apple. If it was purchased at the grocery store, the daddy lived in some unknown far-off orchard. If received from a neighbor or a local farmer's market, then you might be able to narrow it down. Every apple starts out as a blossom. Find out where your blossom came from, and you might be able to figure out the options for daddies.
djtanng
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:18 pm

Re: Please help me identify my 27 year old apple tree.

Post by djtanng »

dmtaylor wrote:Depends on where you got the apple. If it was purchased at the grocery store, the daddy lived in some unknown far-off orchard. If received from a neighbor or a local farmer's market, then you might be able to narrow it down. Every apple starts out as a blossom. Find out where your blossom came from, and you might be able to figure out the options for daddies.
It was a grocery store apple probably sold as Red Delicious. My mom always shopped at Giant grocery stores, and would usually buy Red Delicious and Golden Delicious.
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