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Thoughts on an early apple variety + The Bardsey Apple

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  • Thoughts on an early apple variety + The Bardsey Apple

    Hello.
    I am looking to buy an early season apple variety and I am undecided between Discovery or Katy. Discovery appears to be the ealier of the two by about a week or so. Does anyone have any experience of either or both?
    And I am also interested in the Bardsey apple.
    https://www.bardsey.org/the-bardsey-apple
    I'm not too sure whether it is a cooking apple you can eat or an eating apple you can cook. I can't find much about it in either use. As regards taste, it is said to have a hint of lemon. I would be interseted to hear from anyone here who has grown it or even tasted it. I am located on the North Wales Coast so this would be considered a local variety.
    I have room for two more apple trees in the garden. I want one to be an early variety. The Bardsey could go in the last remaining spot - then I would have no room for anymore trees.

  • #2
    If being ready earlier is desirable then you might consider Beauty of Bath. It's probably the earliest apple variety; mine usually starts around 20th July and is done by maybe 5th August.
    The main disadvantage is that it does have a bad habit of shedding its fruit the moment they are ripe. Mine is on an M27 (very dwarfing) rootstock, which appears to exacerbate this problem.

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    • #3
      Thanks for the reply.
      Beauty of Bath was a variety I did consider. Looking at videos on YouTube, Stephen Hayes, who started a large Orchard from scratch in the early 1990s has
      many videos about various apples he grows and sold at farmers markets. He didn't rate this variety that much. He said it was a tastless soft apple that his customers would often complain that they were mushy! He does goes onto to say that it is a better apple than Discovery.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGdTM7MoO4c

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      • #4
        Devonshire Quarrenden is a good early apple.

        I wouldn't worry about whether Barsdey is a cooker you can eat or an eater toy can cook and just think of it as dual purpose. I can't yet comment on it's qualities in either respect but I grafted a scion of it to an existing tree early this year and it has grown very well. It's disease resistance was one of the main characteristics that attracted me.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by GF3 View Post
          Thanks for the reply.
          Beauty of Bath was a variety I did consider. Looking at videos on YouTube, Stephen Hayes, who started a large Orchard from scratch in the early 1990s has
          many videos about various apples he grows and sold at farmers markets. He didn't rate this variety that much. He said it was a tastless soft apple that his customers would often complain that they were mushy! He does goes onto to say that it is a better apple than Discovery.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGdTM7MoO4c
          I wouldn't say that's an accurate assessment of the flavour.
          All early apples are somewhat lacking in depth of flavour compared to later ones, but Beauty of Bath is one of the better ones I feel. It's slightly tangy, sweet, and very fragrant.
          As for it being soft/mushy, that's probably because they were old. All early apples go soft and mealy within a few days of picking, and Beauty of Bath is perhaps a little more prone than most. They are best eaten the day of picking, and certainly within 2-3 days, and if you don't eat them the same day they are best kept in the fridge.

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          • #6
            Both Discovery and Katy are first class earlyish varieties, with good flavour and good keeping for a week or so off tree. Beauty of Bath looks and smells great, but as someone has said here, it drops very quickly and flavour-wise it is very much an acquired taste in my opinion. Plus, it goes wooly after a very few days. Bardsey is a much hyped apple and not worth a place in a small orchard in my view. Baker's Delicious is a much better Welsh variety, flavour wise, but would probably count as a second early.

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            • #7
              Many thanks to all who replied.
              I've gone with the Katy apple as the early variety. And I have decided,after much thought, to give the Bardsey a punt.

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              • #8
                Late reply but Katy seems better in my area than Discovery.
                Discovery has some tendency to drop its fruit in hot dry summer, like its Beauty of Bath parent and bitter pit type problems like its parent.
                And it's extremely attractive to codling moth. Over 90% of the fruits are damaged by codling moth.

                Katy seems much less prone to any of those problems, although always overcrops and produces vast numbers of very small fruits if not thinned. It's also quite a vigorous and a rather scruffy-looking tree which takes a little longer than many to start cropping well.
                .

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Dave8abond View Post
                  Devonshire Quarrenden is a good early apple.
                  Yes, I have an abandoned/neglected Devonshire Quarrenden and it's surprisingly tolerant of total neglect, remaining healthy and reasonably productive with very attractive fruit.
                  I find its flavour somewhat similar to Discovery but less prone to Discovery's problems.

                  .

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by ameno View Post

                    I wouldn't say that's an accurate assessment of the flavour.
                    All early apples are somewhat lacking in depth of flavour compared to later ones, but Beauty of Bath is one of the better ones I feel. It's slightly tangy, sweet, and very fragrant.
                    I prefer Gladstone or Irish Peach over Beauty of Bath. Flavour is better and they don't suffer as badly from premature fruit drop or bitter pit.
                    ​​​​​​​Both Gladstone and Irish Peach seem immune to woolly aphids which is a bonus.

                    .

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