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Empire Apple

scionwood
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Malus spp.
This is a twig for grafting. Fall-winter, dark red skin, cream flesh.

(McIntosh × Red Delicious) New York, 1966.

Medium-sized round-to-conic dark red fruit with cream-colored flesh. Firm, aromatic, excellent fresh eating. Very popular in Maine and throughout New England. Stores up to 5 months. Vigorous tree, bears young and annually thereafter. Susceptible to scab. Z4.
ships in early spring
Quick Details
Skin Color
dark red
Harvest Season
fall-winter
Flesh Color
cream
Hardy to Zone
4
Compare
Apples with Harvest Timing Similar to ‘Fall-Winter’
Variety Product Type Skin Color Harvest Season Flesh Color Hardy to Zone
Ananas Reinette scionwood golden late fall 4
Api Etoile scionwood red-blushed winter 4
Ashmead’s Kernel scionwood russeted golden-orange winter yellowish 4
Baldwin scionwood red winter yellowish 4
Belle de Boskoop scionwood russeted green winter yellowish 4
Ben Davis scionwood red-striped and blushed winter 4
Bethel scionwood red winter 3
Black Gilliflower scionwood purplish red fall-winter 4
Black Oxford scionwood deep purple winter 4
Blue Pearmain scionwood russeted purplish red fall-winter 4
Bullock scionwood russeted gold fall-winter 4
Calville Blanc d’Hiver scionwood pale green-yellow winter white 4
Cortland scionwood purple-blushed red fall-winter white 4
Dabinett scionwood red-striped late fall 4
Empire scionwood dark red fall-winter cream 4
Esopus Spitzenburg scionwood bright red fall-winter 4
Fireside scionwood red winter yellow 3
Frostbite scionwood purple-striped red fall-winter apricot 3
Golden Delicious scionwood rich yellow fall-winter yellow 4
Golden Russet scionwood russeted yellow winter 4
GoldRush scionwood golden winter white 4
Gray Pearmain scionwood russeted yellow-green fall-winter white 4
Grindstone scionwood red-streaked fall-winter 4
Haralson scionwood red winter white 3
Honeycrisp scionwood red-striped winter 3
Honeygold scionwood golden yellow winter yellow 3
Jonathan scionwood red fall-winter 4
Kandil Sinap scionwood red-blushed yellow fall-winter 4
Keepsake scionwood red-washed and striped winter 3
King David scionwood dark maroon fall-winter yellow 4
Medaille d’Or scionwood russeted yellow late fall 4
Milden scionwood red-splashed fall-winter whitish 3
Milo Gibson scionwood orange-russeted greenish yellow late fall-winter 4
Mutsu scionwood orange-blushed golden yellow fall-winter yellowish white 4
Northern Spy scionwood red-striped winter 4
Porter’s Perfection scionwood red-blushed late fall 4
Reinette Simirenko scionwood grass green winter greenish yellow 4
Ribston Pippin scionwood russeted red fall-winter 4
Roxbury Russet scionwood russeted green winter 4
Scott’s Winter scionwood red winter 3
Smokehouse scionwood reddish-brown-blushed fall-winter 4
Spencer scionwood red-blushed late fall-winter 4
Starkey scionwood rosy red fall-winter off-white 4
Swaar scionwood yellow winter white 4
Tolman Sweet scionwood greenish yellow fall-early winter 4
White Pippin scionwood greenish white winter yellow-tinged 3
Windham Russet scionwood russeted brown late fall 4
Winesap scionwood red winter 4
Winn Russet scionwood russeted gold-green winter yellowish 4
Winter Banana scionwood bright red-blushed fall-winter 4
Yellow Bellflower scionwood yellow winter 4
Zabergau Reinette scionwood russeted greenish bronze winter white 4
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.