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Late fruiting apples

Question:

I live near Inverness. Have you any apple trees that may still give fruit into December?

Asked by: Richard from Inverness, 18-Oct-2019

Answer:

There are a handful of varieties that will fruit into November but none that will fruit into December, other than crab apples.

There are however apples that have good keeping qualities where if you store them in a cold unheated area like a cellar or coldstore or even garage they will keep for a couple of months.

The catch with these varieties is that they generally need a longer growing season to ripen, and in Inverness you only have a about 240 days in the growing season - several months less than Edinburgh for example. Ideally in your climate I would be advising you to grow early season apples that will ripen in a short season - however these do not have good keeping qualities.

Perhaps the only variety that might stand a chance is Laxton's Superb but I think even this may struggle to ripen. https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/apple-trees/laxtons-superb