Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Arkansas Black Apple Bareroot

History: Arkansas Black originated, as its name implies, in Arkansas sometime in the mid to late 1800s although there are conflicting opinions on who exactly discovered it. Some say John Crawford developed it in the 1840s, others believe DeKalb Holt developed it at his brother's nursery in the 1870s, and another account claims John Braithwaite found it growing in his orchard. Regardless, this unique looking apple eventually became the most popular apple in the state until a bad codling moth infestation followed by the Great Depression devastated commercial orchards. Despite this heavy blow, it is still a popular apple in backyards and small-scale orchards.

Why We Grow It: Arkansas Black produces a unique fruit that is a dark purplish-red that at times almost looks black. Fresh off the tree the fruit is hard and fairly acidic, but it softens and sweetens in storage and develops a more pronounced spiced flavour. It is good for pies, sauce, and cider and the fruit stores quite well! The tree itself is fairly disease resistant as well.

$56.50

Rootstock:
Size:

7 low in stock

Fruit Traits:

Recommended Use: Fresh eating (best after being stored a few months), baking, cider, applesauce

Fruit Size: Medium

Storage: Keeps until April when stored in refrigerated conditions

Harvest: October - Early

Cider Class (if applicable):

Taste: Dry, tart, hints of fruity flavours, slightly tannic
Recommendations: Can be made into a single-varietal cider although may benefit from being blended with some varieties higher in acidity

Tree Traits:

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preferance: Sandy loam, loam, clay loam. Prefers average to moist conditions, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring. Generally quite adaptable to different soil conditions.

Flowering Time: Middle

Bloom Colour:

Pollination Requirements: Triploid. This variety is sterile and cannot pollinate other trees. Requires a pollinator of a different apple variety that blooms around the same time in order to produce fruit.

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

General Growth Habit: Vigorous with an upright spreading growth habit, semi-spur bearing, tends to do well in areas with long growing seasons. Resistant to cedar apple rust, codling moth, powdery mildew, and canker but susceptible to apple scab.

Overall Disease Resistance Rating*: Medium

*this rating is combined with our experience growing in our test orchards combined with already available information on the cultivar.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc.

We have simplified our crop inventory for grafted fruit trees into two sizes:

1m+ Grade: this often has some feathering, and is measured including the rootstock.

50-80cm Grade: this is like a 'b-grade' tree, sometimes with minor scaring or bent, these trees are priced accordingly.

Arkansas Black Apple Bareroot

Arkansas Black Apple Bareroot

$56.50

$56.50

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