Mark Kane
Family
Rosaceae
Botanical Name
Malus domestica 'Liberty'
Plant Common Name
Apple, Dessert Apple, Eating Apple, Liberty Apple
General Description
Introduced in 1978 by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, this hybrid of 'Macoun' bears tasty apples on exceptionally disease-resistant trees.
Ripening in early fall, the medium to large, slightly flattened fruits have yellow skin heavily streaked with red. The fine-textured, yellowish flesh of this dessert or cooking apple is crisp, juicy, and pleasingly tart. The fruits keep well for 3 or 4 months, their flavor improving after a few weeks in storage. The vigorous, rounded trees bear heavily every year, and are resistant to scab, mildew, fireblight, and cedar-apple rust. For maximum production, plant 'Liberty' near another early-blooming apple (such as 'McIntosh'). It is one of the relatively few apples that succeeds in Southern California and other areas with warm winters.
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.
