Family
Rosaceae
Botanical Name
Malus domestica 'Cox's Orange Pippin'
Plant Common Name
Apple, Cox's Orange Pippin Apple, Eating Apple
General Description
This venerable variety is regarded as the finest-flavored of English apples, with its balance of sugars and acids, juicy tender yellow flesh and aromatic flavor. Its apples are medium-sized and deep-yellow, striped and streaked with red. They ripen mid-season, in early to mid-autumn.
There is nothing more satisfying than growing your own apple trees. The domestic apple is most commonly a medium-sized tree with a rounded to oval canopy. It originates from southeastern Europe, Siberia, and southwestern Asia and has been in cultivation for thousands of years. In spring, these trees offer sweet, fragrant flowers of light pink, white or rose, and in fall reward us with crisp, juicy apples.
These fruits have a wide variety of colors, textures and flavors and may be eaten out-of-hand, pressed for cider, frozen, canned or baked in a variety of ways. There are thousands of cultivars available, including many interesting heirlooms as well as fresh new varieties. Different selections vary in height and may bear fruit in late summer or fall.
While the domestic apple prefers full sun and well-drained soil, it will tolerate light shade and bouts of drought. For best fruit production, trees must be vigorously pruned and maintained. Apples are susceptible to many pests and diseases, but resistant varieties are available.
Most apples are grafted onto rootstock that provides a wide range of benefits such as vigor, pest and disease resistance and dwarf stature, depending on the stock. Prune trees to encourage open branching so sunlight reaches all the leaves and air can permeate the canopy. More sunlight creates stronger trees that produce better fruit and improved airflow dissuades foliar disease. For larger apples, thin the apples when they are the size of marbles be removing all but two of the young apples in a cluster.
