Elstar apple tree

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• Picking season: Late
• Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
• Pollination group: 3

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.

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Elstar apple trees for sale

You can pre-order now for spring 2025

• Semi-dwarf 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
  Mature height: 8ft-12ft after 10 years
  G.969 rootstock
  

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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
• Picking seasonLate
• UsesEating fresh
• Keeping (of fruit)1-2 months
• General resistancePoor
• FireblightSome susceptibility
• ScabSome susceptibility
• MildewSome susceptibility
• Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 5 (-29C)
• Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
• Country of originNetherlands
• Period of origin1950 - 1999
• Fruit colorOrange flush