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

Macoun apple tree

Macoun
Macoun is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Picking season: Late
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 3
Macoun is one of the best McIntosh-style apples, with the characteristic flowery vinous flavor.

Macoun apple trees for sale

  • 1Small 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
    Mature height: 6ft-9ft after 10 years
    Dwarf rootstock
  • 2Medium 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
    Mature height: 8ft-12ft after 10 years
    Semi-dwarf rootstock
Next deliveries

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


Macoun is a McIntosh-style apple, widely grown in New England and with arguably the best flavor of its siblings. It is a sweet refreshing apple with a pronounced flower-like vinous flavor. The flesh has a soft crisp texture and plenty of juice.

Although it ripens late, Macoun is not a keeper - this is an apple that is definitely at its best when picked and eaten straight from the tree.

How to grow

Macoun inherits most of the characteristics of the McIntosh family. It is happiest in the cooler zones of the north-east, and benefits from cool autumn nights to bring out the color and flavor.

As with most McIntosh offspring, Macoun is prone to over-cropping. To improve fruit size and quality it is usually necessary to thin the fruitlets in early June - one visitor to our website suggested thinning should be "merciless". This will also help to prevent the biennial bearing to which Macoun can be prone.

Macoun produces a vigorous tree that is fairly easy to grow. It is somewhat susceptible to scab but resistant to cedar apple rust and fireblight.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva - 1920s.

Macoun characteristics

  • Gardening skillAverage
  • Self-fertilityNot self-fertile
  • Pollination group3
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • PloidyDiploid
  • Bearing regularityBiennial tendency
  • Fruit bearingSpur-bearer
  • WildlifeRHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Picking seasonLate
  • UsesEating fresh
  • CroppingHeavy
  • Keeping (of fruit)1 week
  • Flavor style (apples)Vinous
  • General resistanceGood
  • FireblightSome susceptibility
  • ScabSome susceptibility
  • Cedar apple rustSome resistance
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)(4) -30F / -34C
  • Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)Cold (< 20C / 67F)
  • Country of originUnited States
  • Period of origin1900 - 1949
  • Fruit colorCrimson

Similar varieties

  • Cortland
    Developed from McIntosh, Cortland is one of the most widely-grown Mac-style apples.
  • Empire
    One of the most widely-planted McIntosh style apples, Empire has the Mac flavor but improves on it.
  • Enterprise
    Enterprise is a modern American disease-resistant apple, good for eating fresh and cooking.
  • Fameuse
    A very hardy north country apple, known both as the Snow Apple and Fameuse, and the probable parent of McIntosh.
  • McIntosh
    A traditional versatile apple popular in the northern states of the USA. Also known as Macintosh.