Apples: News, 2025
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Events and our Leicestershire Heritage Apples news are on our Leicester Heritage Apples page. Note that we put updates at the TOP.
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MORE APPLE TASTING VIDEOS
We have filmed four more apple videos so far this season; due to circumstances beyond our control we were rather late starting, but we are making up for it now. I did one video with Alison on Leicestershire varieties, and have done three more with Julie Drake with more 'international' apples. The links are below:
Apple Tasting 3 Late Apples, 25 Nov 2025
Apple Tasting 2, More Late Midseason Apples, 5 Nov 2025
Apple Tasting 1a, Leicestershire Varieties, 12 Oct 2025
Apple Tasting 1, Late Midseason, 3 Nov 2025
CORRECTING SOME APPLE ID's
As some of you will be aware, we do regular apple tastings and some of them are filmed. We've done four so far this year, 2025-26. A couple of years ago, a viewer from Holland sent an interesting comment which provided the solution to a very old puzzle - the identity of the parents of Cox's Orange Pippin:
" I heard Nigel say that Ribston is supposed to be the parent of Cox's Orange. I have read two recent studies that indicate that these two are now considered siblings instead. New genetic studies found that both have Margil as one parent.
Cox's Orange is Margil x Rosemary Russet.
Ribston is Margil x Nonsuch Park.
Ribston is triploid and has been found to have two complete sets of Margil chromosomes and one of Nonsuch Park.
The fact that Ribston is triploid always made it seem surprising to me that it was thought to be the parent."
I've now been sent some more information about Weirouge, Roter Mond and James Grieve.
My friend Reinhard and I talked about Weirouge and Roter Mond some years ago. They look extremely similar and have the same blossom time and growth habit, but we agreed that the flavours didn't seem to match. I thought that RM was a bit more classy and had better texture. We came to the conclusion that they were probably different. Our information was that Weirouge was developed in Germany and Roter Mond came from Russia, then to germany via Ukraine. Derek Mills of Hocking Hills Orchard also thinks they are different, with Weirouge having a sweeter flavour profile.
However a person from (I think) Germany has put a comment on one of our Youtube apple tasting videos. He says that Roter Mond and Weirouge have been genetically tested and that they are the same variety. I will ask around and see if I can get confirmation.
He also says that James Grieve is actually Cox x Pott's Seedling. I'd always thought that JG came from Cox (the red-stripe pattern suggests it) but it's good to know the other parent. Nevertheless I will look around for confirmation.
25 Nov 25
PINK PEARL & MOTT'S PINK
I was looking for online information on these two apple varieties the other day, and it struck me that there seems to be some confusion about which is which. There is precious little about Mott's Pink online, and some of the pictures of 'Pink Pearl' refer to the apple I've known for years as Mott's Pink.
It's possible that the original scions I was sent were mislabelled, but for the record - my view is that Pink Pearl is a good storer; Mott's Pink is not. And Pink Pearl appears to be the sister apple of Christmas Pink. Both of them keep until Easter. Mott's Pink has crinkly red blossom; Pink Pearl's flowers are ordinary. Mott's Pink is luminescent; Pink Pearl is not. And while we're on this subject, Peach Melba is very similar in appearance to Mott's Pink; it even has crinkly blossom though it's paler than the flowers on MP.
The two apples are shown in the picture below. Click it for a close-up.
7 Nov 25
HEAVY CROPS THIS YEAR
The season has picked up. The later apples this year are having a really good season. We are seeing heavy crops from most trees: Wickson, Mott, Leicester Burton Pippin, Laxton's Fortune, Allen's Everlasting, Chapman, Darcy Spice, Baya Marisa, Packington, Burford's Redflesh and a host of others. They are however rather early. Bramley dropped off the tree, full-size, in August; disappointing because they wouldn't store. I've not had a decent Bramley crop for years. Looks like I may have to have the tree taken out.
12 Oct 25
EARLY RIPENING OF MIDSEASON APPLES
A lot of premature 'ripening' (ie starchy) amongst the earlier apples this season - disappointing.
Usually the apple crop results from the later blossoms but this year there was very little frost and evening chilling in April so the fruit started to form about 3 weeks earlier than normal. I imagine that apples are not going to store well this winter.
13 Aug 25
APPLES - EARLIES
First apple to ripen this year was (as usual) Leicestershire Sweetings. We picked the first on 12 July, and have had a steady stream of fruit since then; it's now 27 July and we've had about half of them. Other notable earlies were New Yorker, Norfolk Rattlebox, Beauty of Bath and Hall's Pink. All except Sweetings are rather early - about two to three weeks too early. This is affecting the fruit quality. Our first pear to ripen was Blutbirn (blood pear, redfleshed); about half were picked on 26 July after we noticed they were starting to fall. This again is very early; probably caused by the lack of rain and the large number of sunny hours in the last two months.
27 Jul 25
Photo 19 July. Beauty of Bath.
Photo 19 July. Korabovka.
Photo 19 July. New Yorker.
Photo 19 July. Sweetings / Norfolk Rattlebox.
UNUSUAL NEW ORCHARD
A new orchard is being set up: Wilding Mother Orchard, and it is located near Helston in Cornwall. It is dedicated to cultivating wild-grown chance-seedling apples.
William Arnold and James Fergusson worked with the National Trust and with funding from Forest for Cornwall to establish the site.
The project is working with Caitlin DeSilvey at Exeter University in the Environment and Sustainabiliity Institute. NT Lizard & Penrose and SIA jointly manage the orchard. The apples are selected on the basis of the taste of the apples on the original trees, and copies are made by grafting onto a suitable rootstock. About 600 wild trees were investigated and the worthwhile ones selected.
Seedlings are uneven in quality; most are average; perfectly ok but not really worthy of comment; some are small or too tart or both; a few are are bitter; others are good or very good. A lot of English apples were never bred; some of the best ones were discovered as chance seedlings, and every tree of those varieties has been cloned - or grafted - from those originals. Braeburn and Granny Smith are examples.
21 May 25
APPLE TASTINGS
Julie and I did seven apple tastings at the marina last season; the last one was about a week ago. I've put them here for easy reference.
Apple Tasting 1, 4 Sep 2024: Early apples
Apple Tasting 2, 26 Sep 2024: Midseason apples
Apple Tasting 3, 7 Oct 2024: More midseason apples
Apple Tasting 4, 15 Oct 2024: Late midseason apples
Apple Tasting 5, 6 Nov 2024: Late Apples
Apple Tasting 6, 25 Dec 2024: Later Apples
Apple Tasting 7, 12 Mar 2025: Very late apples
17 Mar 25
