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Rootstock

Grafting Supplies

Hole-Istic Spring Planting Mix

Chestnut Apple

scionwood

Check for new listings in early August

Malus spp.
This is a twig for grafting. Early fall, russeted bronze-red skin, yellowish flesh.

MN 240 (Malinda × open-pollinated) U Minn, 1946.

A dessert crab with truly excellent fruit for fresh eating, pickles and sauce. Round 2" yellow and bronze-red apple with some russeting. Firm crisp juicy fine-grained very sweet yellowish flesh.

For a growing number of people in central Maine, late September is Chestnut apple time. A lot of people love this apple and it always scores high at our Common Ground Country Fair taste tests. Chestnut alone with no sugar makes a sweet and subtle sauce. Not a keeper, but can be stored for a month or two.

Vigorous, somewhat weeping, medium-sized productive tree tends to bear annually. Disease resistant. Beautiful in bloom, mid-late season. Z3.

ships in early spring

Quick Details

Harvest Season: early fall
Flesh Color: yellowish
Skin Color: russeted bronze-red
Hardy to Zone: 3

Compare

Apples with Harvest Timing Similar to ‘Early Fall’
Variety	Product Type	Harvest Season	Flesh Color	Skin Color	Hardy to Zone
Adams Pearmain	scionwood	fall	yellow-orange	russeted red	4
Airlie Red Flesh	scionwood	fall	deep salmon	greenish yellow	4
Aunt Penelope Winslow	scionwood	late summer-early fall		red-striped	4
Blenheim Orange	scionwood	fall		red-blushed	4
Burgundy	scionwood	late summer-early fall		purplish red	3
Canadian Strawberry	scionwood	fall		orange-red	4
Cellar Hole Bitter	scionwood	fall		pink-spotted yellow	4
Chestnut	scionwood	early fall	yellowish	russeted bronze-red	3
Claygate Pearmain	scionwood	fall		blushed yellow	4
Cora’s Grand Greening	scionwood	fall		green	4
Cornish Gilliflower	scionwood	fall		blushed green	4
Court Pendu Plat	scionwood	fall		russeted orange	4
Cox’s Orange Pippin	scionwood	fall	light yellow	russeted orange-red	4
Ellis Bitter	scionwood	early fall	white	red-striped	4
Fameuse	scionwood	early fall	white	ruby red	3
Freedom	scionwood	early fall		red-striped	4
Grimes Golden	scionwood	fall		yellow	4
Harrison	scionwood	mid-late fall	yellow	yellow	4
Hewe’s Virginia Crab	scionwood	fall		red	4
Holstein	scionwood	fall	yellow	orange-blushed	4
Hudson’s Golden Gem	scionwood	fall	yellow	russeted yellow	4
I-95	scionwood	fall		red-blushed and striped	4
James Grieve	scionwood	late summer-early fall		red-striped	4
Kavanagh	scionwood	fall	slightly yellow	russeted lime green	4
Kennebec Russet	scionwood	fall		russeted yellow	4
King of Tompkins County	scionwood	fall	yellow	dark orange-red	4
Kingston Black	scionwood	fall		russeted red	4
Liberty	scionwood	late summer-fall	yellowish	bluish red	4
Macoun	scionwood	fall	white	purplish red-blushed	4
McIntosh	scionwood	fall		red	4
Mother	scionwood	fall		red	4
Opalescent	scionwood	fall		deep red	4
Otterson	scionwood	fall	red	dark red	4
Pinova	scionwood	fall	white	orange-blushed gold	4
Pipsqueak	scionwood	fall		russeted pink	4
Pitmaston Pineapple	scionwood	early fall		russeted yellow	4
Pomme Grise	scionwood	fall		russeted green-yellow	3
Redfield	scionwood	fall	deep pinky red	rusty red	3
Roman Stem	scionwood	fall	yellowish	bronze-blushed yellow	4
St. Edmund’s Russet	scionwood	early fall	creamy white	russeted yellow	4
St. Lawrence	scionwood	early fall		red-striped	3
Sweet Sixteen	scionwood	fall		bronze-red	3
Twenty Ounce	scionwood	fall		red-striped	4
Wealthy	scionwood	fall	white	red-striped	3
Westfield Seek-No-Further	scionwood	fall		rusty red-striped	4
Wickson	scionwood	fall		bright red	4
Wolf River	scionwood	fall	creamy white	red	3

Additional Information

Scionwood

Scions are twigs, not trees. They have no roots and will not grow if you plant them. They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring grafting.

We do our best to provide ¼" caliper stock. Because of factors beyond our control (such as weather!) stock may be ³⁄₁₆–³⁄₈".

We sell scionwood in two ways:

By the stick: One 12" stick can graft 4-6 trees.
By the foot: Minimum order of 10 feet per variety. For orchardists grafting large numbers of trees of a particular variety. In our own nursery work, we are usually able to graft 6-8 trees from one foot of scionwood.

You can graft right away or store scionwood for later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks stored in sealed ziplock bags in the refrigerator.

For more info:
About Scionwood

Apples

Choosing the Right Apple

Not sure where to start? Check out our Apple Chart!

Choosing a variety: Not every variety may be right for you. All-purpose apples are just that—they’re good for a bunch of jobs. If you're planting just one tree, perhaps start there. However, if you’re a history buff, consider the historical varieties and maybe plant one that originated nearby. If you don’t eat many apples but love pies, go for the pie apples. If you’re a dessert connoisseur, skip all the others and go for the highly flavored dessert varieties. Some are strictly for cider. Some are great to put out at the camp for summer use. Some are perfect for those who want fall fruit but don’t have a root cellar. Others keep all winter and into the following summer.

Summer apples ripen in summer, are generally crisp only for a short period, do not store well, and are often best for cooking.
Fall apples store longer and are useful for a wide variety of purposes.
Winter apples ripen mid to late fall, store well, and reach their best flavor after weeks, or even months, of storage.
Dessert apples are delicious eaten raw.
Crabapples are less than 2" in diameter. Some crabs bear edible or culinary or cider-making fruit. Some have persistent wildlife fruit that hangs on the tree for weeks or even months. Others have hardly any fruit at all. Some are beautiful ornamentals.
Cider apples are especially suited to making fermented “hard” cider. Some cider apples are also good dessert fruit, but most are not.
Subacid means tart!
Russet or russeting is a skin texture (fairly common on apple varieties and on a few pears and potatoes) which looks and feels somewhat like suede.
Bloom is a naturally occurring dust-like yeast film on the skin of some varieties of apples, plums, grapes and blueberries.

Cider Apples

Each year we offer a different assortment of the best European and American cider varieties, including new wild apple introductions from local fruit explorers and cidermakers. Many of these are NOT for fresh eating. They do however possess qualities that make them very desirable for fermented cider production.

Seedling Apples

These trees were grown from seeds, rather than grafted onto rootstock like the other apple varieties we offer. These standard-sized trees will grow to 20–30'.

Flowering and Culinary Crabapples

A crabapple is any apple with fruit smaller than 2" in diameter. All crabs bear edible fruit, some more favorable for culinary use than others. Some fruits are persistent, hanging on the branch through winter and providing forage for robins, jays and waxwings in the early spring. The flowers, tree form and even the shape of the leaves can vary subtly or profoundly. Most are magnificent in bloom and ornamental year round, especially in winter when the leaves drop and the trees show off their interesting forms.

Growing Apples

Soil: Adaptable, but prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Requires a second variety for pollination. Any apple or crabapple blooming within a quarter mile will probably do.
Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
Spacing:
- For trees on Malus domestica (standard) and Bud 118 rootstock, 20–25' apart.
- M111 semi-dwarf, 15–20' apart.
- G890 semi-dwarf, 10–15' apart.
- Bud 9 dwarf, 5–10' apart.

Shipping

Orders for scionwood placed after February 20 will ship around late April through mid-May, in the order in which they were received. Sorry, we cannot expedite these orders.