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Northern Spy Apple

scionwood
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Malus spp.
This is a twig for grafting. Winter, red-striped skin.

Chance seedling. East Bloomfield, NY, about 1800.

One of the most famous of all heirloom apples. Very large delectable all-purpose fruit, covered with pink and light red stripes. Very juicy and tender. Even when the thin skin bruises, the fruit keeps extremely well. Cooks up quickly into a loose mild sauce. No need to remove the skins. Its reputation as a pie apple is well deserved: makes a very good single-variety pie! Recommended as a source of sharp juice in cider.

Its one drawback is being slow to come into bearing, although for us it’s been worth the wait. Medium-to-large moderately vigorous long-lived tree. Good scab resistance. Leafs out late and blooms late season. Z4.

ships in early spring
Quick Details
Harvest Season
winter
Skin Color
red-striped
Hardy to Zone
4
Compare
Apples with Harvest Timing Similar to ‘Winter’
Variety Product Type Harvest Season Skin Color Hardy to Zone
Api Etoile scionwood winter red-blushed 4
Ashmead’s Kernel scionwood winter russeted golden-orange 4
Baldwin scionwood winter red 4
Belle de Boskoop scionwood winter russeted green 4
Ben Davis scionwood winter red-striped and blushed 4
Bethel scionwood winter red 3
Black Gilliflower scionwood fall-winter purplish red 4
Black Oxford scionwood winter deep purple 4
Blue Pearmain scionwood fall-winter russeted purplish red 4
Bullock scionwood fall-winter russeted gold 4
Calville Blanc d’Hiver scionwood winter pale green-yellow 4
Cortland scionwood fall-winter purple-blushed red 4
Empire scionwood fall-winter dark red 4
Esopus Spitzenburg scionwood fall-winter bright red 4
Fireside scionwood winter red 3
Frostbite scionwood fall-winter purple-striped red 3
Golden Delicious scionwood fall-winter rich yellow 4
Golden Russet scionwood winter russeted yellow 4
GoldRush scionwood winter golden 4
Gray Pearmain scionwood fall-winter russeted yellow-green 4
Grindstone scionwood fall-winter red-streaked 4
Haralson scionwood winter red 3
Honeycrisp scionwood winter red-striped 3
Honeygold scionwood winter golden yellow 3
Jonathan scionwood fall-winter red 4
Kandil Sinap scionwood fall-winter red-blushed yellow 4
Keepsake scionwood winter red-washed and striped 3
King David scionwood fall-winter dark maroon 4
Milden scionwood fall-winter red-splashed 3
Milo Gibson scionwood late fall-winter orange-russeted greenish yellow 4
Mutsu scionwood fall-winter orange-blushed golden yellow 4
Northern Spy scionwood winter red-striped 4
Reinette Simirenko scionwood winter grass green 4
Ribston Pippin scionwood fall-winter russeted red 4
Roxbury Russet scionwood winter russeted green 4
Scott’s Winter scionwood winter red 3
Smokehouse scionwood fall-winter reddish-brown-blushed 4
Spencer scionwood late fall-winter red-blushed 4
Starkey scionwood fall-winter rosy red 4
Swaar scionwood winter yellow 4
White Pippin scionwood winter greenish white 3
Winesap scionwood winter red 4
Winn Russet scionwood winter russeted gold-green 4
Winter Banana scionwood fall-winter bright red-blushed 4
Yellow Bellflower scionwood winter yellow 4
Zabergau Reinette scionwood winter russeted greenish bronze 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.