Wickson

Good Apple Info Snapshot:

In pots, we’ve had Wickson struggle with scab, CAR, and drought scorch from irregular watering (our fault). However, people who grow Wickson, love this apple and their are NOT many complaints about it not cooperating. An underappreciated apple that more folks should be growing.

Good Apple Info Difficulty Rating:

Medium. Very slightly susceptible to fireblight, scab, and cedar-apple rust.

Tree Habit:

Vigorous, cold hardy, and annual bearing, producing dense white blooms followed by masses of brilliant red clusters of apples. Bears heavily on first and second-year growth.

Apple Color:

Red and yellow with fruit that hangs in garlands on the tree.

Size:

Small.

Flavor:

sweet – with sugar content up to 25%, extraordinary sweet

Bloom:

Midseason

Ripe:

September

History:

Throughout the thousands of apple varieties, only a few crabapples have culinary/dessert use. Wickson is one such crabapple. Don’t let the idea of an edible crabapple mislead you, these few crabapple varieties are exceptional and if the qualities line up with what you’re looking for, they are very much worth the effort in growing.

Developed by Albert Etter, the California plant breeder, and named for his fellow pomologist and friend, E. J. Wickson. It is a cross of Newtown Pippin and Esopus Spitzenburg, selected in 1944.

Uses:

Fresh eating, cider, jam, jelly. In Apples of Uncommon Character, Rowan Jacobsen says that Wickson “ferments beautifully into a bone-dry, water-white, high-alcohol cider with a nose of guava and lychee with an astringent crab apple finish.”