Orange Pippin Forum Board

Any experience with Quebec Belle please. Mostly I am curious if it is as tardy to bear as the rest of Northern Spy's progeny are reputed to be. Any knowledge of its quality would be good to see as well.

I found this information on the Siloam Orchards website and hoping it will help you out:

"QUEBEC BELLE F12 on standard Ranetka rootstock The look of Delicious and the quality of Northern Spy, for those who want a Spy with more winter hardiness. Large dark red fruit, keeps well, ripens early October, from Hemmingford Quebec 1956"

It is a good resource if anyone is looking for descriptions of apples. The link is http://www.siloamorchards.com/apple_tr.html

Regards, Mike

Thank you for the link Mike, I have seen a similar description. I don't really s'pose it matters much barring somebody warning me that it's horrible to grow, I intend to graft a handful this spring and find out for myself.

Good luck with your grafting and hope the grafts grow better. I am running an experiment next year also. I could not wait for my recent plantings to produce apples, so I am planting Cox Orange Pippin and Stayman Winesap seeds from apples I purchased at Boyers Orchard. I may get lucky and end up with good apples. However perhaps I can use them in the future as rootstocks.

Happy to know you joined the forum.

Mike,I used to pick Winesaps from an old farmyard wish I'd taken cuttings or planted seed. Don't know how true they might come but if you read the history lots of fine cultivars are supposedly winesap seedlings, don't know much about cox, besides what I've read. Lots of fine apples grown here along the wasatch front, mostly the big names from today and yesteryear but easily the finest I've eaten are this years Fuji, no tartness whatsoever but something like eating perfume. In my wife's words "each bite different but all delicious".I may have to plant a few seeds just because... Thanks for the greeting and well wishes and good luck with the seedling project. Tom

Mike, in reference to your list, I planted 8 Calville this past spring. One yr. whips that I lopped off at 18" for a Belgian fence and still they blossomed, very exciting. No fruit set but no deaths either. The rest of the row is made up of spitzenberg, lubsk queen and Swiss limbertwig. Lost 2 spitz &1 swiss in 1 day to fireblight the lubsk and Calville stayed clean. So now I think I shall continue the row further with Quebec belle with the thought that pulling the limbs down to45 degrees may hasten fruiting. Probably not the best choice but I really really want some kind of northern spy. If it really was red delicious that was the pollen parent as I've read speculated so much the better since I've seldom met a backyard grown red d I didn't like. Tom

Hi Tom, I have one Calville in my collection. It has been in the ground two years now. It is a strong grower (reached 10 feet this year from an initial 4'). I have had it blossum for me both years but no fruit has developed yet, however I am patient. I have dealt both years with a mild case of cedar rust on my Calville but a spray or two of Bordeaux spray wards off further infection. Cedar Rust seems to show up on my Calville first of all my apple trees. To to be on the safe side, when I see cedar rust on my Calville, I spray all my 16 apple and 3 pear trees with Bordeaux spray.

Good to know Mike, I have read c a r is a problem locally. Didn't see it this year but there are plenty of juniper and cedar in the neighborhood so I guess I'll be getting acquainted. Glad to have the feedback about blossoms and no fruit too I'll know not to be too agitated should I not get any fruit set next spring. Thanks, Tom.