Best storage apples/fruit this year?

This has been my best year yet for storage fruit.
I have a lot of fruit that I froze, but that's not what I'm talking about in this post.

I am interested in which apples/other fruits have stored best for you this year without refrigeration, freezing, drying, pickling, fermenting, or with any other special method. I am curious about which fruit have stored best for you just by leaving them as is. Cold storage, out building, bags, north side of the house, etc. but not the others.

I think apples are the biggest volume of storage fruit I have. I had many varieties that I stored. Some, like Karmijn, were too few and too tasty yet to store. In a few years I'll store it. Some were apples that I grafted long ago, and failed to label well, and so I don't know what they were. Spitzenburg was a good keeper for me this year. I kept a lot and they lasted til January I think. Suntan was pretty good. They lasted about the same time. Orleans was a bit longer. The three that have lasted the longest for me were Gold Rush, Belle de Boskoop, and Winesap. I just finished up Gold Rush, and they were great when I ate the last one last week. Belle de Boskoop has been great and I still have a few left. I have needed to eat some of those as they were starting to go. The overall champ for me has been Winesap, which has the largest number of apples still (April 10th), still taste good, and I have hardly needed to eat any because they were in bad shape.


I still have a few flowering quince fruit, but most have started to rot. I chop them up and drink the water as a kind of lemonade. I just grafted Johantorp pear, which is supposed to be a good keeper, but I haven't harvested any yet, obviously. I grow Carriere hawthorns, which you can keep on the tree until February, depending on the year.
I am very curious to hear what your best keepers were.

Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

I finally let my two espalier apples fruit after three years of taking off the blossom.
Very exciting! I think the trees probably wouldn't have coped with the drought so well if I'd let them fruit earlier.
The Cox's orange apples were lovely, but it's the opposite of a keeper...
The Sturmer on the other hand won't be harvested until winter, and the apples can keep till mid-spring. I love tart, high-acid apples and this is a doozy

Another good keeper for me is black passionfruit. They ripen all the way from late summer to mid winter and store for ages, slowly dehydrating, but not going off.

Anyone else have some long lasting apple varieties they want to share? I've found a few that should last until April given proper storage, looking for some that will make it until June.

I am planning my 4,000sqft orchard right now. I have 3 semi-dwarfs in the ground now, but they are tiny. I think masuma, cortland, and one that was gnawed at an is regrowning from the root stock. We aren't huge apple eaters, so if I add more, they will be picked for storage quality. Thank you for the hints!

My Spartan apples seems to last a few months in storage. Goldrush apples last a bit longer- February or so. But I also had some strange blackish mold or scald develop on them in storage two years ago- not sure what that was. Ashmead's Golden Kernel is supposed to be a good keeper- that one should produce a big enough crop this year to find out- these are superb apples! I also planted out a Belle De Boskoop that I grafted last year- can't wait to try this one.
Recently, I decided to grow lots more storage apples and pears that will last until late spring- I'm tired of buying fruit from the store after all the fruit in the boxes and freezer is gone! I grafted Baldwin apple onto a crabapple and Gloria Mundi apple onto a old M7 rootstock tree in my main orchard. Then I grafted a bunch of other keepers onto 1 year rootstocks from the Spring Propagation Fair: Hudson's Golden Gem, Dixie Red Delight, Golden Russet, Airlie's Red Flesh apples onto M 7 and M111; and Beurre de Avril, Johantorp, Michurin's Winter Beurre and Winter Nelis pears onto OH X F 333. I hope my grafts take! I'll soon see....

M.K. Dorje Jr. wrote:I grafted Baldwin apple onto a crabapple and Gloria Mundi apple onto a old M7 rootstock tree in my main orchard. Then I grafted a bunch of other keepers onto 1 year rootstocks from the Spring Propagation Fair: Hudson's Golden Gem, Dixie Red Delight, Golden Russet, Airlie's Red Flesh apples onto M 7 and M111;

Any idea the specific storage expectations of those varieties?

M.K. Dorje Jr. wrote:Beurre de Avril, Johantorp, Michurin's Winter Beurre and Winter Nelis pears onto OH X F 333. I hope my grafts take! I'll soon see....

Do you know how long these are supposed to last?

Baldwin apple- ripens in Oct./Nov. in Oregon, "excellent winter keeper"
Airlie's Red Flesh apple: ripens early Oct., "good keeper"
Hudson's Golden Gem apple: ripens in late October, or hangs on the tree well into winter. "It's a good keeper".
Belle De Boskoop apple: ripens in late October/early Nov., "stores well all winter"
Golden Russet apple: ripens in late October, lasts in storage with proper moisture conditions from December until April

Beurre de Avril pear: very late ripening variety "which holds strong potential as a winter keeper in our area" Storage until April (PNW)
Johantorp pear: "will hang on the tree late into winter" Winter storage pear from Sweden- "we can enjoy them directly off the tree in late December"
Michurin's Winter Beurre: Russian pear, keeps well in storage till January
Winter Nelis pear: late keeper

Check out the 2014 Spring Propagation Fair website (Eugene, OR) for more info on these varieties.

http://springpropagationfair.com/fruit-varieties-at-the-fair/

I can't fit any more apples in, but if I could I'd definitely be planting a russet,
which in my experience are all really delicious and usually very good keepers.
this apple website's English, but I imagine the info still generally applies.
Quinces are another great storage fruit.

I have a small root cellar under our front deck. The inside temps are moderated by the earth temperature and range from 35 to 45 staying generally at 40 degrees. I've kept many different varieties of apples in the cellar. By FAR the best keepers have been Ida Reds. I have a bushel now that I won't start eating until mid June; and if past experience holds, I'll be finishing them about mid August just in time for the early summer apples to ripen. They do dry a bit and shrivel slightly but still taste good. They haven't failed me for ten plus years.

I have heard about people burying GOlden Russets in the soil so they won't shrivel and apparently they stay better longer that way. I am also thinking about experimenting with wet newspaper or other wet substances to keep the humidity high.
John S
PDX OR

My granny smiths seem to last a long time.

I'm surprised there is no mention here of the Newtown Pippin and a local variant, the Hauer Pippin, which is supposed to be just a bit later and an even better keeper here in central California. Also the Arkansas Black Twig, which I planted 30 years ago, but when I tried to eat one in November it was hard as a rock, so I cut it down. Didn't know much then about apples. Recently grafted over to another black twig, and in a couple years I should find out if they really do ripen in December and keep until summer.

I am growing Newtown Pippin and Black Twig. I had a religious experience once eating an amazing fully ripened Black Twig, so I grafted it and they're finally fruiting this year. Calhoun in Good Ole Southern Apples says that there really are two Black Twigs: Paragon and Mammoth Black Twig. Paragon is a good apple, but Mammoth Black Twig is the amazing one. Stark Brothers predicted it would blow away all the other apples. What they didn't realize is that if you let it fully tree ripen, it's an amazingly flavored apple, but it won't last that long as a keeper. If you pick it early, it keeps really well, but doesn't have the outstanding flavor.

Newtown Pippin is the rare apple. It keeps just as well if it's truly tree ripened. In addition, the flavor improves with age. It looks like I'll also grow my first Newtown Pippins this year. Friends told me that they don't start eating them until February. They mature slowly, so get yours planted or grafted soon.
John S
PDX OR

Hi John,
In the years since this post, what kinds of apples have you found to be best for storing in this region? Have you learned anything new?

And as a side note, how do people best store their apples in cellars?  This year I put Harl Red's in 5 gallon buckets with each apple separated from its neighbors by pine shavings.  I snapped the lid on in two spots so it could breath a bit.  I just made the last ones into an apple crumble yesterday.  The only problem I had is that they started to take on the wood flavor after about a month.  Not a problem for baking but it did affect the taste for fresh eating.  I'll try shredded paper next time unless someone has other ideas.

This is an old thread but I'll respond anyway. I ordered a scion of Black Baldwin, which was mentioned above, from Fedco Seeds. What I remembered was that this apple is said to store till July of the following year. Fedco says it stores till March. They say it's appropriate for south to Zone 5. I'm in zone 6a, but thought I'd try it. I haven't tried it myself, ell I ain't even received the scion yet! I don't need more apple, but I want this for it's storageability. I guess that ain't no word. I'm going to graft it to an M9 rootstock and then graft that to a M-111. I want the healthy roots system of the M-111 but the size, 60%, of the M9.

I'll let you know in a few years how this worked out.

Our Arkansas Black Apples store for just under a year nothing to do to them but set them so air can circulate all around them.

Goldrush is by far my best keeper. It is the only apple tree in my orchard (out of 15?) that is by itself on the tree, not another variety grafted on.

I store mine in an unheated tool shed.  I like to have them in an area that is semi-visible.  Some of them are dark or rotten on one side. My Belle de Boskoops are just finishing up, which isn't so terrible, because tomorrow is March. I am continually experimenting with which varieties store well here.  I think Spigold, Idared and Sturmer Pippin show promise.

It's nice to have apples all winter.  We don't really get that cold. Only a few days in the teens and lower twenties, so we don't have to bury them, or put blankets or anything on them.  

Apples aren't really crucial for health until summer. We'll get lots of vitamin C from root vegetables and green leafies.  They do provide some beneficial compounds like quercetin and they taste really good.

I guess it depends on your particular climate.  In general, they store best the closer you can get to 32 while remaining above it.  Below ground cellars are great for really cold climates.  In my climate, some people will bury an old refregerator in the ground. It gives it enough protection. Some varieties will shrivel if it's too dry in the winter.
John  S
PDX OR

Thank you. I live just north of you in western Washington, so it should be pretty similar. I'm hoping to plant quite a few storage apple and pear trees, both for feeding people and animals

Hey James/et al,
I just came across this list of long storage apples from Orange Pippin in England. Storage for at least 3 months.  Pretty similar climate to PNW.  I think of Seattle as like England, Sacramento is Meditterranean, Portland is like England in the winter and like the Mediterranean in the summer.

https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/search.aspx?pb=0-10-1043,0-1000-1001

John S
PDX OR

This year I'm planting a Finkenwerder Herbstprinz which is supposed to store for 5 months.  I'm mainly getting it because of the cool name

It looks promising Mike, but the slow food web site said to grow it on standard rootstocks (40 feet high!) or it will be mushy and a poor keeper.
John S
PDX OR

Crap.  There's still time to change my order.  What do they say about Purpurroter Cousinot?  That's another one that's supposed to keep well.

I just googled it.

Tragically, my German is extremely limited.

This is what I found in English:

https://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/fruit-trees/apple/late-season-eating-apple/purpurroter-cousinot

https://www.orangepippin.com/tree.aspx?treeid=214315

John S
PDX OR

Thanks John, the varieties I have access to are fairly unusual so getting info on them is somewhat futile.  I'm getting 5 trees this year and I'm aiming for one good keeper, two cider apples, one odd-ball and Ashmead's Kernel since it's famous.