This is a twig for grafting.Fall-Winter. Chance seedling, thought to be Jonathan × Arkansas Black, Washington County, Arkansas, 1893. Stark Brothers Nursery intro, 1904.
King David has a reputation as an intensely flavored apple. The initial bite is an explosion of flavors—pineapple, tangerine, lemon, sweet, sour, tart, sharp, aromatic and spicy. You may wince or moan or scream. You may see stars.
Fine juicy flesh is firm yet tender and distinctly yellow. Known primarily as a dessert apple, but also good for pies and sauce. Medium-sized round-oblate-conic fruit is very dark solid maroon—nearly black.
Occasionally found in old Maine orchards. The tree is vigorous, bearing young and regularly. Ripens in fall and keeps until the beginning of the year. Its one drawback is scab susceptibility. We grow it anyway.
Blooms early midseason. Z4.
Scionwood and early rootstock orders ship around March 10.
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 8" stick will graft 3-4 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.
The deadline for ordering scionwood is February 21, 2025, for shipment around March 10. (Please note: we ship scionwood only in mid-March. If you would like to order rootstock to arrive in the same shipment, select mid-March shipping when adding the rootstock to your cart.)
