10 Different Types of Apple Tree Varieties to Grow This Season

Apples can be sweet or sour and served creatively. Just start with pies. Eat apples raw, cooked, made into apple butter, or dried for snacks. They create apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and hard apple cider if you're daring. Anything's possible!  

1. Chill Hours 

Tree chill hours indicate how long they need to stay cold. If a tree doesn't get enough cool hours in winter, blossom buds may not bloom. Delays in leaf formation might also affect growth. When temperatures stay between 32 and 45 degrees, your apple tree gains chill hours.  

2. Hardiness Zones 

Cold winters suit most apple trees. Most types won't grow or yield fruit beyond USDA zone 8. Limited low-chill apple tree cultivars can thrive to hardiness zone 10.  

3. Flowering Groups 

Do you know that apple tree varieties blossom at different times? Because most apple trees cannot self-pollinate, they need to be near another to grow fruit. Make sure the trees you plant flower at the same time.  

 4. Idared

Apples from this tree are eaten fresh and cooked. Cold-hardy, its fruits ripen in mid-to-late October. Due to their reduced height, they should be pruned annually more easily than other types. Also offered are dwarf variations.  

5. Gravenstein

Gravs apples, which ripen in late July, are among the first apples on the market. If ripe, Grav apples make great apple sauce, pies, and baked foods. The tartness makes apple cider pleasant.  

6. Anna

Anna apple trees, another southern favorite, produce well and are easy to plant. The tree was produced in the Ein Shemer kibbutz in Israel for low-chill environments and thrives in areas where temperatures rarely drop below freezing.   

7. Dorsett Golden

Golden Delicious descendant thrives in warm regions and has the lowest cold hours of any apple tree. Even though scientists disagree on how many chilly hours the tree needs, it flourishes and fruits in southern Florida's humid, muggy climate.  

8. Ein Shemer

Ein Shemer was raised on a kibbutz to withstand the Middle East's heat and drought. Heat tolerance makes the tree good for most warm US regions and a southern favorite.  

9. Lodi

This fruitful apple tree yields sweet-tart light green apples for baking and sauces. If not immediately used, freeze the apples because they won't last long.  

10. Liberty

Liberty apples are McIntosh-Macoun hybrids. These apples have a delicious, moderately tangy flavor. Excellent for eating, juicing, sauces, and baking. Liberty apple trees are pest- and disease-resistant and low-maintenance.  

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Also see

How to Prune Overgrown Fruit Trees in 7 Easy Steps