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Orange Pippin Trees USA logoSpecialist fruit trees for your orchard or back-yard

Elstar apple tree

Elstar
Elstar has received the RHS Award of Garden MeritElstar is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Picking season: Late
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 3
  • Awards: RHS AGM (current) 1993
Elstar is an attractive apple with a well-balanced honeyed flavor.
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Elstar apple trees for sale

  • Small 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
    Mature height: 6ft-9ft after 10 years
    Dwarf rootstock
Next deliveries

We are now accepting pre-orders for the spring 2024 planting season.


A particularly attractive late-season apple with a very good flavor, related to Golden Delicious and (more distantly) Cox's Orange Pippin.

The skin can have a marbled appearance, often with a soft sheen to it. It tends to lack the perfect smoothness of many modern varieties. The underlying color is golden yellow but overlaid with deep red. The flavor can be more intense than is often the case with other Golden Delicious offspring, but it retains the appealing sweetness - usually described as 'honeyed' in most apple text books. It also inherits the good keeping qualities of Golden Delicious. All in all this is a variety worthy of wider planting.

How to grow

Whilst most supermarket varieties are grown in warm climates, Elstar prefers cooler climates although it benefits from a sunny aspect.

Elstar grows best in zones 5-6, in areas with cooler summers.

Though not particularly disease-resistance it is generally easy to grow, and crops heavily.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Developed in the Netherlands in the 1950s, a cross between Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie - the latter being an offspring of Cox's Orange Pippin.

Elstar characteristics

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
  • Pollination group3
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • PloidyDiploid
  • Bearing regularityBiennial tendency - Slight.
  • Fruit bearingSpur-bearer
  • WildlifeRHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Picking seasonLate
  • UsesEating fresh
  • CroppingHeavy
  • Keeping (of fruit)1-2 months
  • Flavor style (apples)Sweet/Sharp
  • General resistancePoor
  • FireblightSome susceptibility
  • ScabSome susceptibility
  • MildewSome susceptibility
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)(5) -20F / -29C
  • Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
  • Country of originNetherlands
  • Period of origin1950 - 1999
  • Fruit colorOrange flush
  • AwardsRHS AGM (current) - 1993