How to Grow Winesap Apples
Winesap apples are a favorite backyard orchard crop. Grow Winesap apples to eat in the winter, as they keep well for months. Winesaps have a crisp texture and a tart flavor, and are often used to make applesauce and apple pies. Winesap apples grow best in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 through 8 and need to be planted near another type of apple tree for proper pollination. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Plant a Winesap apple tree near another variety of apple tree in the backyard orchard. Winesaps cannot pollinate themselves to produce fruit from their blossoms, so include a Delicious, Jonathan or early-producing apple tree in the garden.
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Place the Winesap apple tree in a location where the soil has good drainage. Plant the tree where it will receive full sunlight throughout the day.
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Water newly planted Winesap apple trees weekly until the first hard frost of the winter. Water established trees weekly during hot, dry periods, as Winesap apple trees do not tolerate drought.
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Prune the apple tree in late February or early March, before it blooms. Winesap apple trees grow slowly, a foot or less a year, so it is important to prune annually to promote healthy, vigorous growth. Cut away twigs, limbs that cross and the top 3 to 4 inches of older branches with sharp garden lopper pruners.
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Avoid wormy apples by using an efficient program of spraying. Apply a dormant spray of horticultural oil and insecticide after pruning to control aphids, scales and mites. Spray with an oil insecticide in late spring and summer to control codling moths.
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Pick Winesap apples when they are fully ripened in mid- to late October. Rake and remove all fallen apples and leaves from under the tree.
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Tips & Warnings
Store Winesap apples on a cool shelf with air circulation to keep them crisp for up to three months.
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Comments
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Looking forward to those winesap apples. They are the best.......To bad we have to wait until Oct., I am already craving them.
