Categories
Calendars
Guides
Reviews
Archive
Gallery
Articles
Ask Our Gardening Expert
Spartan Desert Apple
The Spartan apple variety has a lot going for it. For starters the apples are on the small size, great for kids. The appearance is exactly how you imagine a juicy apple looks. The base of yellow is almost entirely covered by bright red. They look delicious.
The apple flesh is white and crispy with lots of juice if eaten straight off the tree.
Spartan has good disease resistance especially to the plague of some apple trees, scab. It also has good resistance to mildew. The apples do not store long under normal conditions, a week at the most. If by accident you do keep them too long though, they will probably still be excellent for juicing.
Spartan is grown commercially on a wide scale. One reason for this is that when stored at exactly the correct temperature and with the correct carbon dioxide levels they store remarkably well compared to normal conditions.
One tip for making Spartan apples look even better than straight from the tree is to wipe off the "bloom" on the skin. The apple will polish up to the most attractive shiny red (almost purple) apple you have ever seen.
This variety was purpose bred in Canada for commercial use. Remarkably even though the apples were bred under controlled conditions, the parentage is not known. Originally the apple was thought to be cross between McIntosh and Newton. Now however, genetic testing has proved that Newton was not one of the parents. McIntosh, yes, Newton definitely not!
The Spartan apple tree variety is available online from our recommended suppliers by clicking here .
THE APPLE
Taste Sweet and juicy
Skin Texture Medium
Flesh Crisp and white
Apple size Smaller than average
GROWING
Flowers
Vigour Medium
Crop Yield Average
Eating time October to January
Tree Shape Upright
Pollination Group 3
Name:
jim@GardenAction
E-mail:
webmaster@gardenaction.co.uk
Date posted:
December 21, 2011 - 04:03 pm
Message:
It depends a lot on which rootstock it is grafted on. It may be a 'dwarfing' stock.
Name:
jeremy
E-mail:
Private
Date posted:
December 21, 2011 - 12:30 am
Message:
i have 1 spartan tree paired with 3 northwest greening and 3 zestar. They are about 6 years old, but the spartan isnt growing as well as the others. it is only 5.5 feet tall, it started 3 feet. I fertilize them every year with fertilizer meant for apple trees. I have even sprayed bug and disease killer and preventer. What am i doing wrong with this tree or do differently to make it grow better
Name:
michael hughes
E-mail:
vivienhghs810@googlemail.com
Date posted:
October 02, 2011 - 01:28 pm
Message:
how have my spartan apples got holes in when i pick them .
thank you
Name:
Margaret
E-mail:
Private
Date posted:
August 14, 2011 - 09:26 am
Message:
Hi,can you please tell how to take care of my spartan apple tree and the size that it should be and the color thank you
