What types of apple trees to plant?

Also any suggestion on what type of apple trees to plant for future hard cider? Where to purchase apple trees for a reasonable cost?

What kind of cider do you want to make? Cummins nursery has a few trees left but you are a little late to getting trees now for this spring. WVMJ

Have you looked at Fedco trees? http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/?cat=Apples They have about 15 cider varieties, though some are sold out already. At $29/tree I'm not sure if they fit your idea of a reasonable cost. Their default is to Antonovka rootstock, which will give you full sized trees. OrangePippin lists 30 varieties. http://www.orangepippintrees.com/trees/cider-apple-trees They seem to favor dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock.

I'm not really a cider buff. I just want to get something in the ground this year as everything takes time. I like all the national brands, prefer dry to semi sweet. Don't want too dry or too sweet.

I am considering ordering 6 Kingston Black trees then expanding in future years.

Newtown Pippin is my favorite cider apple. Trees of Antiquity is a good source, but can be expensive. Not sure if it's too late for Spring ordering.

brew69er said:

Also any suggestion on what type of apple trees to plant for future hard cider? Where to purchase apple trees for a reasonable cost?

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I think you will want to make sure that the varieties you plant will thrive in your environment before considering how the cider you plan to make will taste.

porterpounder said:

Trees of Antiquity is a good source, but can be expensive. Not sure if it's too late for Spring ordering.

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I'll second ToA. Huge variety. And when I called a couple years ago, the owner was happy to answer questions, and make suggestions for my orchard.

Consider what is good locally and get varieties you can't get locally. I'm sure you have noticed by now that the generic 5-10 store and orchard varieties are just the tip of the iceberg as to varieties.
If you are going to plant multiple trees try to get one bitter such as yarlington mill or dabinet as these are nearly impossible to find in most orchards.
My other personal favorites are Esopus Spitzenburg and northern Spy (which you might be able to find locally). Wickson crab is an incredible tiny apple, Roxbury and golden Russetts are good too. I have heard good things about Cox orange pippen.
Since my wife has told me no more trees I have learned to graft and now most my trees have multiple varieties on them. Maple Valley is where I got many of my scion branches http://maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/Home.aspx although Tony appear to be under the weather. Very nice guy and full of incredible information.
Also, search out local apple trees. I found a Whitney Crab and asked the owner permission to collect from. Whitney is always part of my cider due to the fact that it is free and plentiful.
You are probably out of luck this year. You need to order in the fall for next spring. Maybe Home Depot or Lowes for something this year to start off with. You can always graft onto a less then desirable tree.

6 Kingstons, might want to get something to pollinate them with, and a good sprayer, those English trees have a lot of problems over here in some areas. WVMJ

Look into Arkansas Black, I think it might be a good higher producing bitter than Kingston. Also you can never go wrong with Honeycrisp, it produces a huge amount of flavorful juice for the footprint... and of course they ain't bad eating either! The old English cider varieties really aren't very productive overall. Cox's Orange Pippin is one I would avoid. You could get Kidd's Orange Red as a better alternative, although they go soft fast and are thus more difficult to press.

Sorry to hear that Tony at Maple Valley is not doing so well... he is super knowledgeable, I met him several times and he is quite a character. I called him last fall to see if his store would be open and he said he's pretty much called it quits, not selling any fruit anyway but I don't know about scionwood. In any case I hope he gets well soon.

For starters, my suggestion would be Dabinett for bittersweet (reliable crop with disease resistance) followed by Golden Russet for high sugar. A great reference book is Claude Jolicoeur's book, The New Cider Maker's Handbook. I am located in Zone 4a and will be planting Yarlington Mill, Golden Russet, Ashmead's Kernel, and Wickson Crab this year. I buy most of my trees and root stock from Cummins and scion from Fedco. Best of luck!

Just read all your replies, thank you. Yesterday I purchased 4 Newtown Pippin and 4 Winesap trees that will grow 12-14' tall (currently 3-4' tall). I'm in zone 6 and from what I read the Winesap originated in Leavenworth, Ks which is not too far from me. I also read the Newtown Pippin was a good combination w/ the Winesap for cross pollination. This is all I will plant this year but I have space for more....

Winesap is sterile, it wont pollinate your Newton Pippins, you need another tree to pollinate the Newton if you want to get apples from it. WVMJ

I have Esopus Spitzenburg also known as Thomas Jefferson, Northern Spy, Spy Gold (a cross between a northern spy and golden delicious) Jonathan and Pound Sweet and have made good cider from them.

How has growing your Poundsweets been, has the tree grown well and how are the fruits? We have planted a couple of them also. WVMJ

"Winesap is sterile, it wont pollinate your Newton Pippins, you need another tree to pollinate the Newton if you want to get apples from it. WVMJ"
That's a bummer... Do you have any crab apples in the neighborhood? Consider a flowering crab for your front yard maybe? Heck... check out some of the crabs (whitney, dolgo) as they have tons of flowers and their juice can be used too.

We are planting some crabs among our apples and plan on pruning them to almost like a columnar tree, keeping the limbs in constant renewal and not forming big old branches but smaller new ones, this wont take up room and can be squeezed between the other trees, and definitely grow a crab you can use in your cider. Winesap is a late bloomer, one crabapple they sell that is the lastest I think is the Golden Hornet, not very big in size but its popular to pollinate Gold Rushes which also flower late, we are still planting so will tell you how it works in a few years

WVMJ said:

How has growing your Poundsweets been, has the tree grown well and how are the fruits? We have planted a couple of them also. WVMJ

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I have got over a hundred pounds off it the last two years. All my apple trees were plated by my grandfather over 30 years ago, so its held up well over the years. Good luck with yours.

WVMJ said:

Winesap is sterile, it wont pollinate your Newton Pippins, you need another tree to pollinate the Newton if you want to get apples from it. WVMJ

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Willis Orchard who I ordered from explained the Newton Pippin would pollinate the Winesap. It this accurate?

http://www.orangepippintrees.com/pollinationchecker.aspx

According to Orange Pippin pollinator checker the Newton will pollinate your Winesap, but the Winesap wont pollinate your Newton. The Winesaps we bought at our local orchards had an almost peachy taste to them this year, waiting for the cider to age a little that we made from them, think its going to be great to. WVMJ

Was thinking about planting some trees myself What would grow well in NY and blend well for a sweeter cider