Monique writes about her success with Anna and Ein Shemer apples in the Deep South:
Ein Shemer and Anna apples do absolutely FANTASTIC here, and are even better when we have cold chill hours like now. I have had them for several years now and get lots and lots of apples just off the two trees, and they are quite tasty too. I also have the Methley plum and I had tons and tons of plums last year but they are a little small, still, delicious and do very well here in zone 9a (MS coast).
A man at one of my gardening events last year also told me his Ein Shemer apple was very productive in North Florida. After hearing that, we planted one last year. Sounds like we need to plant more.
We were also able to get some for the store as bare root trees. I would like to plant Ein Shemer, Shell, Anna and Golden Dorsett together in a block and then see if we can get seeds from all their fruit to plant. If we grow out the resultant seedlings, we could get even more Deep South apple varieties.
After all, that’s where we get all our good apple varieties. Someone planted seeds long ago and took the risk, giving us our named varieties.
Once you have one you like, name it and graft, graft away!
(Also – if you’re looking for bare root trees right now, come visit Atmore Farm & Garden)
2 comments
You have posted in the past re: the book, Growing Apples in the Tropics. The chill hour issue for apples is, at best, very dubious. Growers in California report that high chill varieties like Honeycrisp grow and produce in Orange County California, zones 10A and 10B. You might want to experiment with high chill apples at your home property.
Anna and Ein Schemer are considered to be inferior quality apples. The King David apple is considered, by some experts, to be the best apple, and it grows in zone 10 and in the hot, tropical lowlands of Uganda.
Yes, this is true. We have experimented with some higher-chill. The problem here seems to be the disease pressure. Apples just die from things. IF Ein Shemer is known for taking a beating and making apples, I am happy to grow it.
I would like to properly grow King David again. I planted a bare root tree but the deer have been wrecking it. I had a grafted branch of it in the old food forest and it was doing well, though I’ve not ever had one long enough to see fruit.
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