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Christmas Pippin® apple trees

Christmas Pippin
  • Picking season: Late
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3

Christmas Pippin is a new Cox-style apple variety introduced in 2011. Unusually for a modern apple variety, it is a genuine "pippin" apple, raised from seed and of unknown parentage.

Christmas Pippin is a very "more-ish" apple, with a definite apple flavour, juicy melting flesh and a thin skin - and it tastes exactly like an apple should. The flavour is essentially sweet, but with some sharpness too. It is bound to be popular with fans of Cox's Orange Pippin or similar varieties - and it is much easier to grow.

Christmas Pippin apple trees for sale

Pot-grown

All pot-grown trees are suitable for planting out in the garden, some are suitable for growing in containers.

  • PG12-year bush-trained 11.5L pot-grown tree M27 rootstock £43.00
    Very small tree (< 1.7m after 10 years)
  • PG2Premium cordon 12L pot-grown tree M9 rootstock £44.50
    Small tree (1.5m-2.5m after 10 years)
  • PG32-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree M26 rootstock £40.50
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • PG42-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £40.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
  • PG5Premium half-standard 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £45.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
  • PG6Espalier 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £60.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
    Contact us
  • PG7Fan-trained 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £60.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
    Contact us

Bare-root

  • BR12-year bush-trained bare-root tree M9 rootstock £30.95
    Small tree (1.5m-2.5m after 10 years)
  • BR21-year bare-root tree M26 rootstock £20.95
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • BR32-year bush-trained bare-root tree M26 rootstock £30.95
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • BR41-year bare-root tree M116 rootstock £20.95
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
  • BR51-year bare-root tree MM106 rootstock £20.95
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
  • BR62-year bare-root tree MM106 rootstock £30.95
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)

How to grow

Christmas Pippin is easy to grow, with better yields than Cox's Orange Pippin. It can be pollinated by most other apple varieties.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Christmas Pippin is a modern variety, first introduced in 2011, so you might expect it to be the result of a major university-led apple breeding programme. In fact the original tree was discovered growing beside a road near an orchard in Somerset, so it is a genuine seedling or "pippin" variety, perhaps from a motorist's discarded apple core. The parentage is unknown, but there is clearly an influence from Cox's Orange Pippin in its ancestry. The leaf shape has some resemblance to Gala (which itself is distantly related to Cox's Orange Pippin).

Christmas Pippin characteristics

Using

  • CroppingHeavy
  • Picking seasonLate
  • Keeping (of fruit)1-2 months
  • Fruit persistenceRipens over a period
  • Flavour qualityVery good
  • WildlifeRHS perfect for pollinators
  • Flavour style (apples)Sweet/Sharp
  • Food usesEating fresh
  • Discoloration of fruitOxidising

Growing

  • Gardening skillBeginner
  • Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
  • Flowering group3
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • PloidyDiploid
  • VigourAverage vigour
  • Bearing regularityRegular
  • Fruit bearingSpur-bearer

Problems

  • Disease resistanceAverage
  • CankerSome resistance
  • ScabSome resistance

Climate

  • Climate suitabilityTemperate climates
  • Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)

Identification

  • Country of originUnited Kingdom
  • Period of origin2000
  • Leaf colourGreen
  • Fruit colourOrange flush