Northern Spy is a traditional American winter apple, particularly well-suited to colder climate zones. The apples are quite large and have a handsome red-flush over a yellow-green background. Rated by the 19th century English pomologist Robert Hogg as "a valuable dessert apple".
Northern Spy ripens quite late in the season and will then keep in cold conditions well into the following spring without loss of quality. It is a versatile apple, with a good strong aromatic flavor, suitable for eating fresh or cooking with.
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.
Northern Spy is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby.
Our online pollination checker lists suitable pollination partners for this variety.
More advice about pollination.
Northern Spy has a reputation as a tough hardy heavy-cropping apple variety. However it is quite susceptible to many of the usual range of apple diseases, particularly mildew and fireblight. Northern Spy also takes its time to come into bearing, and when it does, it can over-crop and then fall into a biennial bearing habit. This can be avoided by preventing over-cropping in the "on" year. Don't let these problems put you off though, as Northern Spy's natural vigour helps it to grow through many of these problems, and on a dwarfing rootstock should start bearing within 4 years.
One of the reasons that Northern Spy is so successful in colder zones is that it blossoms quite late. It helps if you have other late-flowering varieties nearby such as Ashmead's Kernel or Spitzenberg.
Planting instructions.
Pruning instructions.
Originated in the early 1840s in New York state.
Northern Spy has been used as a starting point in rootstock programmes, and the well-known English MM106 rootstock is derived from it.
