Has anyone tried this apple?
http://gurneys.com/pixie-crunch%3Csup%3E%3C-sup%3E-apple-tree/p/82692/
Apple Trees in Texas
Melva, Ive not tried any apple yet but Im researching now. I think the important thing for us in the South is to make sure our climate supplies enough chill hours for the selected variety. In Denton, you probably can supply more than I can here in Houston. If your apple tastes anything like a Honey Crisp, it has to be a winner. Honey Crisp is the best apple Ive ever tasted. Sweet, really juicy and really crisp. Perfect apple, IMO.
Im on the cusp of 8b/9a so only about 400 chill hours on average. Did you ask TAMU?
Not yet but I will..and I agree, Honey Crisp is a wonderful apple! The store near me has them, but they are $3.00 a pound! 2 of them are $3.00...
Melva, I placed this answer in the Fruits and Nuts forum: I couldn't find the chill requirement for Pixie Crunch, but I did run across a comment that it did well in southern California. Chill hours may not be your problem. What may be a problem is apple-cedar rust if you have Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana growing within several miles of you as the rust spores can travel long distances.. Pixie Crunch is susceptible to the rust. According to TAMU, apples in Texas are high maintaince fruit. If cedar is present, you would have to commit to spraying your tree continuously but it could be a losing battle. You might be better off looking for apple trees that are resistant to the rust.
Yes, the honeycrisp are truly expensive. Our Kroger this year sold them to those of us with club cards, for $2/lb so I was able to get a few. They are huge so there are not many per pound! It is looking like I may not be able to have apples in Houston because I think it would have to be a very good apple for me to bother with it. Im doing the "edible yard" concept but apples may not be doable here. I have peaches, figs and blackberries so far. Takes a lot of research to come up with good choice of variety for me. Good luck with your endeavor and let us know what you decide.
Have you looked at Granny Smith? They might work for you.
steadycam3,
This link may be of great help to you:
http://www.urbanharvest.org/advice/fruitgardening.html
Pay particular attention to the chill hour requirements of the fruit you pick. You want to stick to fruit trees that require no more than 100 hours fewer than the average chill hours you get. That way you you are more likely to get fruit every year. The other thing you need to be aware of is how early the tree varieties bloom in your area so you can avoid losing the season's fruit to a late freeze. I learned that lesson a bit too late for the peach tree variety I have. If we have a late freeze in March, I lose all my peaches that year. I needed a variety that blooms late late March or later.
Low chill apples are recommended for the Houston area. Granny Smith requires 400 - 600 chill hours depending on what site you look at. One of the complications with figuring the number of chill hours we get here in Texas is that hours are also subtracted when the temperatures rise above 45ºF. On the positive side, Granny Smith apples are resistant to apple cedar rust. If you are willing to gamble on chill hours for a few years, Granny Smith might work, but there are only 3 varieties recommended for the Houston area. Fire blight might be a problem if there are pyracantha bushes and Bradford flowering pears around.
When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided to go the edible garden route, too. Except for one pecan tree, for shade and the few nuts the local squirrels allowed me, all my fruit trees were dwarf or semi-dwarf. That allowed me a greater number of fruit trees because I could plant them closer together.
http://gardeningwithchuck.com/cedarapplerust.htm
I dont like Granny Smith well enough to bother with it as my apple. I only have room for one variety. I may plant pears instead. Bettydee, Thanks for the links. I benefitted from reading them.
This message was edited Jan 10, 2012 5:24 PM
I agree with you, it is not my favorite apple either.
I have a Granny smith and a Johnathon here that we planted mmm 2 yrs ago
We went to Bob Wells Nursery in Lindale and those were the ones he recommended for my area.
I agree on the honey crisps to good eating and baking and yes expensive too but if I remember right they need a longer chilling then we get here.
Honey Crisp are zone 6 and below...but the Pixie Crunch is zone 8, according to the Gurney's catalog...
Plant zone are determined by how low the temperature can get and not by the number of chill hours accumulated. So not all zone 8's are the same. I used to live in zone 9b when I lived in Northern California and could grow my favorite apple, Cox Orange Pippin, because the number of chill hours in my area was close to 1,000. During winter, the temperatures dropped into the 40s and more or less stayed there for long periods. Years could go by without a freeze. Here the temperatures fluxuate all over the place. Temperatures below 32ºF and above 45ºF don't count when calculating chill hours.
I gave up trying to grow apple trees, not because of chill hour or apple-cedar rust problems, but because the grasshopper population in rural Fayette County is in the millions (or so it seems). Grasshoppers love apple trees. My newly planted apple trees never survived their first spring and summer.
My most reliable fruit tree is the persimmon. It blooms in May so it escapes damage by late freezes and grasshoppers are attracted to it.
I did not know that...