Spur-Bearing Apple Trees

Advantages

• There are a number of advantages a spur-type apple has over a tip-bearing apple. It is more dwarf than tip-bearing types, averaging about 70 percent smaller. It is easier to prune, spray and harvest these apple trees because of their smaller size. Spur apple trees begin to produce fruit at a much younger age than the tip-bearing types, so there is less waiting when a new tree is planted. Also, spur types have more fruit per tree than tip-bearing types.

Pruning

• Apple trees should be pruned in the winter before growth starts. Pruning too hard encourages vegetative growth at the expense of fruit growth, and pruning too light will encourage heavier fruiting, which produces much smaller apples. What you want is a tree where light can get in to form fruiting spurs. First, all dead and diseased wood and all waterspouts --- branches that grow straight up --- need to be removed. Next, remove all branches that grow toward the center, as well as any thin branches that cross over each other.

Green Varieties

• Some popular green or yellow varieties include "Golden Delicious," "Granny Smith" and "Crispin." Golden Delicious has yellow skin with light freckling. It is exceptionally sweet and great for fresh eating and cooking. Granny Smith has both spur-bearing and tip-bearing strains. These are green, tart apples good for fresh eating and cooking. Crispin also goes by the name "Mitsu," and is a large, sweet apple similar to the Golden Delicious, one of its parents.

Red Varieties

• There are several popular spur-bearing varieties that are readily available. Red-fruited varieties include "Lady," "Red Delicious," "Arkansas Black" and "Idared." Red Delicious is the most popular and the sweetest variety, having little tartness. Arkansas Black is a deep, dark red. More commonly seen are apples that have a green base with a red overlay, such as "Northern Spy," "Cox's Orange Pippin," "Macoun," "Honeycrisp" and "Stayman Winesap." Honeycrisp is a relatively new variety that is in high demand, having an ideal balance of size, sweetness and tartness.