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Rubinette apple trees

Pick: Late-season    Flowering group: 3       Uses: Eat fresh 
  • Rubinette apple tree
  • Rubinette apple tree
  • Rubinette apple tree blossom

If you want to grow the best-tasting apple in the world, this is probably it. This unassuming apple has perhaps the most remarkable flavour of any variety. The balance between sweetness and sharpness is often a good indicator of flavour quality in apples - and in Rubinette that balance is close to perfection.

Most people who try Rubinette agree it is the best apple they have ever eaten - here is a selection of the tasting notes from our sister website about Rubinette:

"Undoubtedly the best tasting variety we grow …"

"Rubinettes are, by far, the tastiest apples I have ever eaten."

"... the most delicious apple I have had in years."

" ... a wonderful little apple."

"Crisp-juicy-flavoursome-tart - the most tasty apple we have had for years."

"... by far the tastiest apple variety I've tried in a long time."

"Extreme summer heat did not bother it and the flavor and crunch were outstanding."

"... the best apples I have eaten."

"... spent a couple of hours tasting a huge variety of apples, and we all kept coming back to Rubinette."

"This apple is a revelation ..."

Although it is a cross between Cox's Orange Pippin and Golden Delicious, the depth and subtlety of Rubinette's flavour comes almost entirely from Cox's Orange Pippin.

Order now for delivery September 2013 onwards

Rubinette apple trees for sale

Mature height*Supplied asPrice**
inc. delivery		Quantity
required

Bare-root fruit trees (Deliveries start November 2013)

Large (3m - 4m)1-year - Bare-root - MM106 rootstock
Rosso		£30.00

**All prices include delivery. We offer a discount on orders of multiple bare-root trees for delivery at the same time - this will be shown at the checkout.

Delivery period: Pot-grown trees can be delivered from September onwards. Bare-root trees can be delivered from mid-November onwards. Within those periods you can specify your preferred month of delivery during the checkout process. It is best to order as soon as you can to ensure items are reserved for you.

*Mature heights: Height shown is the approximate height of the tree when mature (after 5-10 years), not the height when supplied. See photos of trees as supplied. Actual mature heights may vary considerably dependent on your local conditions and training and pruning regime - see our Tree Height Calculator.

Fruit tree guarantee

Stock availability: Items showing as 'sold out' will probably be available again next season. Click here to be notified when we get more trees of this variety.



Alternatives to Rubinette apple trees

Alternative fruit trees - Cox's Orange Pippin apple trees
Mid-season  (3)  
Eat | Cook | Juice 

Cox's Orange Pippin apple trees

Cox is widely acknowledged as having the best flavour of any apple variety.
Alternative fruit trees - Kidd's Orange Red apple trees
Late-season  (3)  
Eat | Juice 

Kidd's Orange Red apple trees

Kidd's Orange Red is one of the best Cox-style apples, aromatic, sweet, and easy to grow.
Alternative fruit trees - Fiesta apple trees
Late-season  (3)  
Eat | Juice 

Fiesta apple trees

Fiesta (or Red Pippin) is one of the best Cox-style apples, easy to grow, with a good aromatic flavour.
Alternative fruit trees - Sunset apple trees
Late-season  (3)  SF  
Eat | Juice 

Sunset apple trees

Sunset is a popular garden alternative to Cox, easier to grow, with a sweet aromatic flavour.
Alternative fruit trees - Freyberg apple trees
Late-season  (3)  
Eat 

Freyberg apple trees

Freyberg and Rubinette are sisters, sharing the same parents - Cox and Golden Delicious.




Summary features of Rubinette

Growing

Uses

Identification

  • Country of origin: Switzerland
  • Period of origin: 1950 - 1999
  • Fruit colour: Orange flush
  • Blossom colour: Pink - light
  • Leaf colour: Green
  • Popular variety

Climate



Pollination guide for Rubinette

Rubinette is in flowering group 3. Rubinette is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby. Since it flowers in the middle of the blossom season it can be pollinated by most other apple trees.



How to grow Rubinette apple trees

The main issue with Rubinette is its tendency to produce a large quantity of small apples. This is easily addressed by thinning the fruitlets in late spring just after the blossom finishes - allow no more than 1 fruit per set of blossoms. An unusual feature of Rubinette is that fruit size usually improves as the tree gets older, with good size being achieved about 3 years after planting.

Rubinette can be grown with some success without any chemical treatments (we do ourselves) but spraying against scab (using either conventional or organic pesticides) should give better results in wetter climates. Keep the ground around the tree free from grass and use a mulch to suppress weeds. Religiously clear up all old fruit and fruitlets to deny pests and diseases a home over winter.

Rubinette is a good choice for apple enthusiasts in warmer areas of Europe who have not been able to achieve satisfactory results growing Cox's Orange Pippin. Rubinette performs much better than Cox in warmer climates, such as southern France and Spain. However it is equally at home in cooler temperate climates and can be grown anywhere that Cox can be grown.

Most growers also find that Rubinette maintains a consistently high quality flavor every year, regardless of the weather.

Rubinette Rosso is a sport of the original variety, with more prominent red coloration, but the same flavour and growth characteristics.



Varieties with similar picking times to Rubinette

<== Pick slightly earlierAbout the same timePick slightly later ==>
Allington Pippin
Bardsey
Egremont Russet
Honeycrisp
Red Delicious
Santana
Sunset
Tickled Pink

Annie Elizabeth
Blenheim Orange
Bramley 20
Bramley's Seedling
Catshead
Chivers Delight
Christmas Pippin
Dumelow's Seedling
Empire
Fameuse
Golden Delicious
Golden Noble
Golden Pippin
Golden Russet
Howgate Wonder
Jonathan
Jupiter
Karmijn de Sonnaville
King of the Pippins
Lady (Api)
Laxton's Superb
Pixie
Rajka
Rosemary Russet
Saturn
Scotch Bridget

Adams Pearmain
Barnack Beauty
Calville Blanc
Claygate Pearmain
Cornish Aromatic
Cornish Gilliflower
Court Pendu Plat
Edward VII
Elstar
Fiesta
Freyberg
Herefordshire Russet
Idared
Jonagold
Kidd's Orange Red
Lane's Prince Albert
Lemon Pippin
Newton Wonder
Orleans Reinette
Red Falstaff
Tydeman's Late Orange
Zabergau Reinette



Historical details

Developed in the mid-20th century by Walter Hauenstein, a grower from Rafz in Switzerland (and sometimes known as Rafzubin). Rubinette is a marriage of two of the world's greatest apple varieties - Cox's Orange Pippin and Golden Delicious.



Botanical name

Malus domestica Rubinette



Related variety collections

Top 5 apple varieties with the best flavour, Cox's Orange Pippin substitutes, Apple trees for southern Europe


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