Red Delicious

RED DELICIOUS

Origin	Iowa, 1895.
Parentage	Unknown. A seedling growing near a Yellow Bellflower (Bishop Pippin) tree.
Availability	Early October to April or later.
Source	Most commercial nurseries and in several strains.
Quality	Rather sweet, distinctively aromatic, mild sub-acid, crisp, firm and juicy. May be somewhat variable depending on fruit size, climate, season, strain and maturity.

Fruit:

Size	Somewhat variable, usually medium.
Surface	Glossy, smooth, distinctive five points on the blossom end.
Ground Colour	Greenish yellow to yellowish green.
Over Colour	Mostly full red today. The original Delicious (Stark Delicious) is a striped apple.
Flesh Colour	Creamy white with more or less greenish tinge depending on strain maturity.
Harvest Season	Toward mid October. Requires care in picking to avoid stem pulls.
Storage	Cold to late January, Controlled Atmosphere thereafter.
Strains	Literally hundreds of strains have been found in two categories - increased red colour and spur or compact tree form.

Tree:

Vigour	Vigourous to below medium vigour depending on strain.
Habit	Generally upright, especially the spur types. Becomes more spreading as the trees mature.
Precocity	Moderately precocious to precocious depending on strain.
Fruit Placement	Mostly on spurs, some fruit borne laterally on shoots. As the tree matures the spur system often overdevelops with a considerable drop in fruit size and quality. Such a tree is said to be old and 'spur-bound'. It may occur at a surprisingly early chronological age with dwarfing rootstocks.
Bloom Period	Mid season.
Pollination	More uncertain than most other diploids. Window of opportunity is relatively short and bees may avoid the pistils when gathering nectar. Unless the orchard is known to set well, spray thinning should be delayed until set is assured.
Nutrition	High vigour through pruning and nutrition are necessary. Usually needs about twice as much Nitrogen as McIntosh.
Crop	Moderate to heavy depending on climate, stock/strain combination and management.
Synchrony	Good.
Adaptation	Prefers long warm season. Minimum of 3000 heat units has been suggested. Moderately hardy.
Disease Reaction	Moderately susceptible to scab. Quite subject to European canker, juniper rust, measles-internal bark necrosis (Mn excess from acid soils), superficial storage scald, moldy core and dead spur disease. Fairly resistant to cedar apple rust, powdery mildew, fire blight and storage rots.
Insect Reaction	Subject to mites and prone to fruit disfigurement from stinging bugs.
Rootstock	The matching of the many choices among the Delicious strains, the many rootstocks and the site is a challenge that needs great care. Avoid M7 as it has a tendency to lean.

Comments:

Red Delicious is still one of the major apple cultivars of the world although it is losing some of its dominant position as new high quality cultivars come on the market. In Nova Scotia it has not been a 'growers' variety requiring, as it does, extra care for only modest yields and achieving high average quality in relatively few season. Eg. 1999.

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