I used to buy green apples with a pronounced russet cap at the stem in the market. They were commonly available, mid sized, and were sold as "Pippin"
I enjoyed those, and haven't seen any for about 15 years. I think they've been replaced by Granny Smith. So I thought if I can't buy them, I'll grow them.
Well, there are dozens of Pippin varieties in all sorts of colors, but none of them seems to be green with a russet cap. I'd appreciate any advice about what variety of apple those might have been.
Thanks
A native Portlander, for years we’d buy Newtown Pippins from Hood River, Oregon. 
Note the blocky shape, that says Newtown’s to me! They’d be in nearly every produce section, and as you described, were apparently replaced with Granny Smiths…
Likely a dozen years ago I searched everywhere to find a Newtown tree, only to find two very spindly trees at Portland Nursery’s eastern outpost (east of their 5050 SE outlet). I remember well lamenting that purchase, literally choosing the least worst of those two apple trees.
In the end, the tree died. Partially due (I suspect) to the lousy clay soil I stuck it in and the poor leggy shape of the original tree. A weak crotch had actually split when I attempted to spread it … so I ran a bolt, nut & washers through the main scaffold limbs to repair it. That worked, but around 3 years later it died.
Just a guess on my part, but perhaps the ‘russeting’ you describe was due to a lack of ‘spray’ and the apple was a Newtown Pippin. I vaguely remember my Dad buying some directly from a grower in which they had varying degrees of russeting – that’s going way back… As expected, the ones from the Fred Meyer produce section were ‘scab free.’
…it may be difficult to find a nursery grown Newtown Pippin tree… It certainly was for me, and that was some years back. I’d also bet we’ve scions at our yearly exchange, as suggested…
I don’t think I searched ‘the net’ … but you can! I know they’re still growing them, a week or so ago I bought some from a little grocery store in downtown Yamhill. The same thing! The owner’s great – he buys totes of Red Delicious and Newtown’s (or “Newton’s†as my Dad calls them) directly from Hood River and rolls them out to the sidewalk every day to sell as cheap as he can … which over time has gone from 4 lbs for a 1$ to 69 cents a pound…
…wish I still had mine, the apples I got were great – definitely the real things
PS... properly grown Newton’s are not 'little,' and actually 'yellow-green' 
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There are different strains of Newton Pippin varying from yellow to distinctly chartreuse green. C & O nursery used to carry some of the strains. The greenest were more popular in the east.
I have some of the yellow-green type. Good apple, but very dense, twiggy growth and very attractive to apple maggot.
Cummins nursery sells them. Reserve early for 2011, their trees go fast. I usually buy 100 or so trees a year from them.
http://www.cumminsnursery.com/.....le2011.php
Ben
Thanks, Ben.
They have a nice selection. New York seems a long way from Oregon to ship trees, but if you keep on ordering 100 trees every year, they must be arriving in good condition.
It's been very strange this year. Starting quite early, many nurseries ave been sold out of many fruiting plants. I had to send a driver 240 miles (RT) to buy blueberries and strawberries. Varieties I wanted were sold out every where.
One of the nursery owners told me that it has been their best season ever. That with the bad economy, many people have decided to grow fruit and veg this year.
Or maybe with this economy, many people are out of work and finally 
have time to grow that garden they always wanted.
[quote="Oregon Woodsmoke":e67s3qvj]Thanks, Ben.
They have a nice selection. New York seems a long way from Oregon to ship trees, but if you keep on ordering 100 trees every year, they must be arriving in good condition. [/quote:e67s3qvj]
I don’t know that Ben is from this side of the great divide..? …I’d heard long ago one nursery east of the Rockies, could have been Stark Bros, say they shipped ‘late’ to the West Coast due to freeze damage in transit over the Rocky Mountains… Don’t know if that still applies..?
I’d also do some research on that Geneva rootstock. I’ve put together a lot of trees around here but can’t remember using “G†anything… I'd research its cold hardiness, drought tolerance and dwarfing percentages of standard.
Otherwise, the source looks good.
[quote="Oregon Woodsmoke":e67s3qvj] One of the nursery owners told me that it has been their best season ever. That with the bad economy, many people have decided to grow fruit and veg this year.
Or maybe with this economy, many people are out of work and finally have time to grow that garden they always wanted. [/quote:e67s3qvj]
I’ve detected the same thing, with many people starting newly grafted fruit trees… I also suspect it’s the economy, and apples selling for two dollars a pound 
People have also been looking to get their orchards and established trees in shape. And there’s sure a lot more activity around here! Perhaps a silver lining " title="Wink" />
I know virtually nothing about root stock; just what I've read on the internet.
I've been ordering apples on m111, only because it is supposed to be deep rooted, and we have strong winds.
My place is 2 acres, so trees don't have to be small. I'm helping my son plant this year and he has 5 acres, so again, space is not a consideration. I'd even buy standard size trees if I could find them, but apparently, all the commercial growers are only selling dwarfing trees.
Dave Wilson growers seems to be well thought of and they have a program where you can order trees now for next year and get the variety and rootstock that you want. I'm only finding one of his distributors that does mail order, but their customer feedback appears to be good.
I would like to attend the scion exchange and see what I can find.
Yeah, I live in coastal Maine, zone 5. Ironically, I order as much or most of my nursery stock from Washington and Oregon. Between myself and neighbor we order about 6000 roots a year from out your way.
I did order 100 cherries one year from Raintree and had 5% mortality, I suspect due to the distance. Cherries are touchy anyway.
A well anchored root that I've had in a block for about 10 years is Bud 118. In new plantings, I find that M111 and m106 is much slower to bear compared to B118, and tends to lean if not staked for 4 or 5 years. (especially in windy spots) That said, I stake everything now, at least with wood or conduit.
G11 and G30, G11/M111 will require permanent support, but fruit very quickly... M106 sounds like your only option there, if you want a large tree. Expect apples by year 5-7...as a guess.
Ben
I just looked over MM.106 at the following location: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-300-a.html
Sounds good… wish I’d have used that instead of M7a… with only “fair anchorage†and lots of "suckers"… I noticed the fruit bearing age for 106 is listed at 3 to 4 years, much better than ‘standard.’
I’m hoping someone checks in to describe the HOS “Make a tree†program… Though invited to ‘make them,’ that little get-together would give me three straight weekends of grafting … and It’s pretty far from home.
And though we only had/have (top post of the left-over rootstock at our Arboretum viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4019 ) 15 left, HOS had full-sized “Malus antonovka†seedling rootstock available at our scion exchange in March… I’m not sure what the process is (Dennis K… you out there) or when/how long we take orders, but we must have had Newton scions, and connected to ‘antonovka’ through this program you’d likely get some inexpensive if eventually giant trees 
…I’m going to request an explanation…
OW, here's one Oregon source: http://www.anamcaragardens.com.....ype=apples
If you want to buy one on MM111 Trees of Antiquity in California sells them, but you'll have to wait until next winter. Closer than NY at least.
If you want a local Newtown Pippin tree, I just bought one a week ago in Albany OR - place called Scenic Hill Farm Nursery; he's had a few posts about fruit trees lately on Craigslist. I'd bought a few bareroot trees from him last year, had to stop past and see what he had this year; and he had several Newtown's - I'd thought about starting one when I was selecting apples to start as trees a couple of years ago, and didn't quite choose it. But decided that for $9 for a bareroot tree, I needed one! He still had at least 2 more available, probably not selling fast since most people haven't even heard of it:)
Dave
[quote="Viron":1frujof6]I just looked over MM.106 at the following location: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-300-a.html
Sounds good… wish I’d have used that instead of M7a… with only “fair anchorage†and lots of "suckers"… I noticed the fruit bearing age for 106 is listed at 3 to 4 years, much better than ‘standard.’
I’m hoping someone checks in to describe the HOS “Make a tree†program… Though invited to ‘make them,’ that little get-together would give me three straight weekends of grafting … and It’s pretty far from home.
And though we only had/have (top post of the left-over rootstock at our Arboretum viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4019 ) 15 left, HOS had full-sized “Malus antonovka†seedling rootstock available at our scion exchange in March… I’m not sure what the process is (Dennis K… you out there) or when/how long we take orders, but we must have had Newton scions, and connected to ‘antonovka’ through this program you’d likely get some inexpensive if eventually giant trees
…I’m going to request an explanation…[/quote:1frujof6]
M7 is still a workhorse rootstock in family farm orchards around here. I have M7 10 years old and they lean/sucker terribly.
Supporter 4 looks very promising in the NC140 trials as a competitor to M7. Similar size and yield efficiency, more disease resistant, better anchored at a younger age, and little or no suckers.
I have 200 or so S4 trees in my nursery for a trial block.
Ben
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