Golden Delicious is increasingly sought out by apple enthusiasts for growing in home orchards as word spreads that if you look beyond the bland reputation of the supermarket examples, this is an apple that truely merits its name.
Home-grown Golden Delicious is a very different proposition from the supermarket apples you may be used to. It is a very sweet apple of course, but the the sweetness is more like that of raw cane sugar than the bland sweetness you might be expecting. The trick is to pick the apples when they are fully ripe, at which point the familiar pale green skin turns to a green-gold hue.
There are many commercial sports or variants of Golden Delicious with slightly different qualities. Gibson is a sport which is less prone to russeting.
Whilst the flavor will be better, home grown Golden Delicious still apples retain the advantages of commercially grown examples - versatile for eating fresh or using in the kitchen, and can be kept for several months in a cold shed or in the fridge.
Delivery discounts. Prices are for individual trees excluding delivery. There is no minimum quantity but it is cost effective to order in multiples of 3 trees.
Delivery period: Trees are delivered in March and April. However it is best to order as soon as you can to ensure items are reserved for you. If you live in a warm zone (e.g. Southern California, Alabama etc.) Fall delivery is possible. More details on our spring shipping schedule by state.
*Mature heights: Height shown is the approximate height of the tree when mature (after 5-10 years), not the height when supplied. Actual mature heights may vary considerably dependent on your local conditions and training and pruning regime.
Stock availability: Items showing as 'sold out' will probably be available again next season. If you would like to reserve in advance use our enquiry form - this does not commit you to anything.
Golden Delicious is partially self-fertile, but fruiting will be improved if there is a compatible tree of a different variety nearby.
Our online pollination checker lists suitable pollination partners for this variety.
More advice about pollination.
Golden Delicious is easy to grow, and very productive across a wide range of climate zones.
Golden Delicious is potentially a good pollinator for many other apple varieties, particularly varieties descended from (Red) Delicious, McIntosh, and Cox, because it flowers over a long period in the mid-season.
Planting instructions.
Pruning instructions.
West Virginia, USA 1890s. Golden Delicious is almost certainly a seedling of an old Amercian variety called Grimes Golden. The original tree survived until the 1950s, by which time the variety was firmly established as one of the most widely-planted of all apples.
