Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Esopus Spitzenberg Apple Scionwood

Scionwood is not a tree, yet!

Scionwood, or scions (pronounced 'sigh-ons'), are the young, one-year shoots you graft with in order to propagate a variety. If you want to propagate a Gala apple tree, for example, you would graft with Gala scionwood!

We collect these scions from trees in our test orchards and are happy to be able to offer rare/heritage varieties!

For more information on scionwood and grafting, click HERE!

History: Esopus Spitzenberg was discovered near Esopus, New York in the early 1700s. Its main claim to fame is its supposed designation as Thomas Jefferson's favourite apple, a claim supported by the numerous Esopus Spitzenberg trees he had planted at his plantation Monticello. This apple was very popular in the US in the 1800s, considered one of the best for fresh eating, valuable for cooking, and a nice addition to cider blends.

Why We Grow It: The flavour of this particular variety is complex with high acid content, considered by many to be a high quality fresh-eating apple. This is helped by the attractive medium sized fruit which sports bright red skin. This variety keeps, with good flavour, until March. Despite being susceptible to just about every common apple disease, we still believe this apple is worth the extra effort and haven't had much issue growing it here. 

    $8.50

    Propagation Material:

    45 in stock

    Fruit Traits:

    Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, cider

    Fruit Size: Medium

    Storage: Keeps until March when stored in cool, humid conditions, flavour improves after a few weeks in storage

    Harvest: October - Mid

    Plant Traits:

    Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

    Flowering Time: Middle

    Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator of a different apple variety that blooms around the same time

    Sun/Shade Requirements: Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

    General Growth Habit: Spur-bearing, moderately vigorous but low precocity, tendency to have heavy crops every other year. Susceptible to scab, canker, cedar rust, fireblight and mildew, but seems quite content in our test orchard and produces quite well despite these recorded susceptibilities.

    Shipping: Scionwood can be shipped anytime in the spring, although we generally recommend that customers receive their scionwood by mid-April at the latest to ensure it arrives dormant. We can hold it longer if customers accept the risk that the scionwood may start breaking dormancy after this time.

    Pickup: We will notify you as soon as your scionwood is ready. We recommend picking it up as soon as you are able and storing it at home.

    Click HERE for tips on storing scionwood!

    CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

    Each scion will have at least 2-4 grafts' worth of material and ideally will be approximately 12-18" or 30cm+ long. Since we specialize in so many varieties/species, there will be natural differences in growth habit and vigour so some varieties may be shorter or thinner. We will provide the best quality we can, within natural restraints.

    If a scion is less than 6" or 15cm, it will be discounted accordingly.

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