Northern Spy

Northern Spy

Parentage (unknown, maybe Spizenburg), Rochester, New York, USA 1840s

Fruit: Sweet/sharp

Uses: cooking, desert apple, frying, apple butter, juice, hard cider, brandy

Flowering: mid/ late self-sterile

Tree: vigorous

Ploidy: diploid

Zones: 4

Pollination partners: black oxford, dabinette, goldrush, kingston black, stoke red harrison, d’arcy spice, yarlington mill

Disease resistance: moderate

Crop: heavy

Pick: late fall

Storage quality: excellent, 3 months or more

History: USA; arose c1800 in seedling orchard of Heman Chapin, East Bloomfield , New York, from seed brought from Salisbury, Connecticut. Introd c1840. Listed 1852 as new variety of promise by American Pom Soc. At best rich, intense flavour, sweet, plenty of fruit, acidity; crisp, cream flesh. Dual purpose in N America. Formerly major commercial and home orchard variety in north eastern states and Canada. Exported to UK in C19th; overtaken by Jonathan and Delicious, but still grown commercially and popular amateur all purpose fruit. Its resistance to root woolly aphid led to use in rootstock breeding programmes. Frt Col dark rd flush, grn ground col; some rd stripes; becomes bright red over pale yell; fine russet dots; scarf skin at base. Size med/ lrg. Shape rnd-con to oblng; rnded ribs; crowned. Basin brd, dp; often ribbed. Eye sml, clsd or hlf open; sepals, shrt. Cavity brd, dp; russet lined. Stalk qte lng, qte thin. F 17. T2; prt tip . C gd; often fails ripen Eng. P m-Oct. S Nov-Mar. Morgan, Joan (2013-06-06). The New Book Of Apples (Kindle Locations 8401-8414). Ebury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

TREE CHARACTERISTICS The large hardy tree has an upright, free-growing habit with long, curved

branches and dense foliage. Leaves are shiny, smooth, and medium in size; folded, reflexed, and slightly

waved with sharp and shallow but indistinct serrations; slow to unfold and displaying prominent principal veins. The tree is noted as slow to begin bearing and tending toward biennial production. Burford, Tom (2013-09-24). Apples of North America: Exceptional Varieties for Gardeners, Growers, and Cooks (Kindle Locations 2276-2278). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.