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Golden Delicious apple trees

Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious has a very poor reputation in the UK, a legacy of the time when large quantities of bland under-ripe bright green French-grown Golden Delicious apples dominated supermarket shelves. However, Golden Delicious is a very different proposition when home-grown in good conditions - a handsomely-shaped apple with a golden-green skin, crisp juicy flesh, and a rich sweet flavour, reminscent of raw cane sugar. If you like crisp sweet apples then it is hard to beat a home-grown Golden Delicious, picked late in the autumn when it is properly ripe.

Home-grown Golden Delicious apples still retain the advantages of commercially grown examples - they are versatile for eating fresh or using in the kitchen, and of course they are one of the best apples for long-term storage, retaining flavour and crispness for several months in a cold shed or in the fridge.

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Golden Delicious 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 12L pot-grown tree M26 rootstock £39.50
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • PG22-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £39.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
  • PG3Espalier 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £59.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
    Contact us
  • PG4Fan-trained 12L pot-grown tree MM106 rootstock £59.50
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)
    Contact us

Bare-root

  • BR12-year bush-trained bare-root tree M9 rootstock £29.95
    Small tree (1.5m-2.5m after 10 years)
  • BR21-year bare-root tree M26 rootstock £19.95
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • BR32-year bush-trained bare-root tree M26 rootstock £29.95
    Medium tree (2m-3m after 10 years)
  • BR41-year bare-root tree MM106 rootstock £19.95
    Large tree (3m-4m after 10 years)

How to grow

Golden Delicious is easy to grow, and very productive. In the UK it does best in the south and east as it prefers a drier climate, and a warm autumn helps.

It is usually a good pollinator for other apple varieties, particularly traditional English varieties such as Cox, because it flowers over a long period, producing a lot of pollen, and is is not closely related to them.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Golden Delicious is not a French apple, as many people assume - it was discovered in West Virginia, USA, in the 1890s. Golden Delicious is almost certainly a seedling of an old American variety called Grimes Golden.

The original tree survived until the 1950s, by which time Golden Delicious was firmly established as one of the most widely-planted of all apples.

Golden Delicious characteristics

Using

  • CroppingHeavy
  • Picking seasonLate
  • Keeping (of fruit)3 months or more
  • Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
  • Flavour qualityGood
  • WildlifeRHS perfect for pollinators
  • Flavour style (apples)Sweeter
  • Food usesEating freshCulinary
  • Cooking resultKeeps shape
  • Discoloration of fruitOxidising
  • Vitamin C contentLow

Growing

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Self-fertilityPartially self-fertile
  • Flowering group4
  • Pollinating othersGood
  • PloidyDiploid
  • VigourAverage vigour
  • Bearing regularityRegular
  • Fruit bearingSpur-bearer

Problems

  • CankerSome susceptibility
  • FireblightSome susceptibility
  • MildewSome susceptibility
  • ScabSome susceptibility

Climate

  • Climate suitabilityTemperate climatesWarm climates
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)(5) -20F / -29C
  • Summer average maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
  • Frost resistance of blossomGood resistance

Identification

  • Country of originUnited States
  • Period of origin1850 - 1899
  • Flower colourWhite
  • Leaf colourGreen
  • Fruit colourGreen / Yellow
  • AwardsRHS Award of Garden Merit