Keepsake apple trees

Keepsake
  • Gardening skill: Suitable for beginners
  • Picking season: Very late
  • Keeping (of fruit): 3 months or more
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 4
  • Uses: Eating fresh

Keepsake is a late-ripening winter apple with a good strong apple flavor - at its best in mid-winter. The apples have a full rich flavor, and a juicy crisp texture.

Keepsake was released in the 1980s but did not achieve much commercial success, perhaps because the apples can be a bit uneven in shape. However the combination of good flavor and disease-resistance makes it a useful choice for the backyard orchard, particularly in the northern states.

Keepsake apple trees for sale

Item
Mature height*
Price
Quantity
1-year Keepsake apple trees bare-root
G.11 rootstock
Small (6ft-9ft) mature height
$29.00
1-year Keepsake apple trees bare-root
Medium (8ft-12ft) mature height
$29.00
Out of stock
1-year Keepsake apple trees bare-root
P.18 rootstock
Full-size (16ft-24ft) mature height
$29.00

*Find out more about the apple rootstocks we use to control the mature height.


How to grow

Keepsake is easy to grow, and has good disease-resistance. The only real issue is a tendency to over-crop, which can lead to biennial bearing (fruiting every other year). This can be prevented by carefully thinning the fruitlets in early June.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

Historical details

Keepsake was developed by the University of Minnesota and released in 1978. It is perhaps best-known as one of the parents of Honeycrisp, which inherits Keepsake's excellent disease-resistance.

Keepsake characteristics

Using

  • Picking season: Very late
  • Uses: Eating fresh
  • Cropping: Good
  • Keeping (of fruit): 3 months or more

Growing

  • Gardening skill: Suitable for beginners
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 4
  • Pollinating others: Average
  • Ploidy: Diploid
  • Vigour: Slightly large
  • Precocity: Precocious
  • Bearing regularity: Biennial tendency
  • Fruit bearing: Spur-bearer
  • Organic culture: Suitable

Disease resistance

  • General resistance: Good
  • Cedar apple rust: Some resistance
  • Fireblight: Some resistance

Climate

  • Cold hardiness (USDA): (4) -30F / -34C
  • Summer average maximum temperatures: Cool ( 20C - 24C / 68F - 75F) Warm (25C - 30C / 76F - 85F)

Identification

  • Country of origin: United States
  • Period of origin: 1950 - 1999
  • Fruit color: Orange flush
  • Fruit size: Average
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