I'm looking to add an apple to my backyard future orchard. Looking for something resistant to cedar apple rust, powdery mildew and fireblight. So I've narrowed it down to Liberty, Enterprise and Williams Pride. Does anyone successfully grow apples with minimal maintenance, have any info on disease resiatant varieties or am I way over my head thinking I can grow apples?

I tried liberty and enterprise in NY.  I gave them 10 years.  I didn't spray anything.  They survived the common fungal diseases but the plum curculios destroyed them.  I tried all organic methods but was never able to harvest any apples other than for apple sauce.    After 10 years I dug them out and put in 2 paw paws.  Ever notice that you never see organic apples from NY?  Maybe you can grow them in your location but I stick to fruits that need no spraying here.  

I'm not in NY, but those three varietiesare good ones. Ed is right though with the curculios. Most folks have to spray surround (organic) to keep the curcs off. But in my opinion it's worth it. Apples are good!

In the north east due to the constant humidity and moisture, disease pressure is very high.  So most apple varieties will require intense management practices.

Yet for me some varieties have proven resistant to many of the apple bugs; 
Matsu, Red Delicious, Northern Spy and Unk early red grow very well and produce a good apple crop with no spraying.

My William’s Pride apple tree grows really well here, is a reliable early apple and produces the deepest red apples of any of my varieties. I’ve lost a number of heirloom apple trees here to diseases. Some are so mediocre I wish I could lose a few more. William’s Pride has survived a number of apple plagues that killed off my heirlooms, but it’s in a sheltered location also. The taste is okay, but I prefer the flavors of Freyberg, Kids Orange Red, and Strawberry Parfait. We get such good apples in the specialty stores here, I’ve decided an apple has to be distinctive for me to bother growing it. Red Berlepsch/Berlepsch and Cox's Orange Pippin died, but they’re so special, I replaced them, refuse to give up on them yet. 

I have cuttings I can get for a dwarf red delicious apple tree of mine. I've grow it with no problems and no care was given to it at all besides watering. It's been two years no problems and I've gotten a good amount of apples so far.

i grew snow sweet this year and sprayed nothing on it and every apple looked great.  my other apple trees did not look so good though.  If you go to growingfruit.org, and look up bagging fruit you can see a way to protect fruit from bugs.  every one there says it is the best way to protect them but very labor intensive
cian

Thanks guys for the responses. I'd love to just add another pawpaw or persimmon. But my wife won't eat most of the things that I have growing and she loves apples. Now I just have to decide if its worth a little bit of hassle. Now it leaves me wondering if surround is the only method for controlling curculios or even if there's varieties it doesn't bother as much. So much to think about this winter...

Indestructible would you like some cuttings of my apple tree? If you're interested just PM me. : )

Asmead's Kernel, Hudson's Golden Gem. No apple scab. No mildew. No Ceder Apple Rust. a strain of Cox Orange Pippin, the same disease resistance. Maybe, 10 to 25% apple maggot from those three some years. We have others apple trees. But, those are the three that do the best in our part of Connecticut.

Those three produce more good looking, good tasting apples then we can use.

 I would not grow anything smaller then a simi-dwarf size tree. Has be tall enough so the deer can't reach the apples. I prune them so that the first limb does not branch out under 7 feet.

Bob Harper Zone 5b/6a

Indestructible, not intrested?

I spray them if either my sprayers are not broken down or I'm not broken down.

Lately all they get is spot spraying from my two gallon sprayer, when I can.

The three I mentioned give us more apples then we can handle, even when I can't spray.

This summer we only spot sprayed Caville Blanc. The other 12 or so got no spray, since it was dry here all spring and summer.
Caville Blanc gets attacked by brown rot. Keep Sake tends to lose it's taste in storage. Cox Orange Pippin is outstanding in being pest resistant with great flavor. Early McIntosh scabs badly. Ribston Pippin great flavor, but have not been able to stop the rots. Sweet sixteen has great flavor, and gets by most years without needing to be sprayed. Hudson's Golden Gem would be good for organic growers. Ashmead's Kernel is another one  that should be good for organic growers, Freyburg out standing flavor, but needs mulch and a lot of organic fertilizer to get tender fruit, and a spray program to get good fruit. Pittmaston Pineapple fruits rot badly. Espous Spitsenburg is hard to grow because of rots. But, I keep it anyways because of its outstanding flavor from the few good ones I get.

A lot of progress has been in the last 50 years in growing apples organically. If one selects varieties that have proven to grow a reasonable amount of good fruit, in their area, they should be able to succeed. But, I don't think it can be done with apples grafted onto dwarf root stock. The deer will never allow them to grow. Plus, I'm not certain the root system on the dwarfs can spread out enough to reach all the nutrients, the tree will need to fight off pest.

Bob Harper @ T. Pine 

Hi Travis,
I am pretty close to you, and I have a few apple trees.  One is Enterprise, which for me is a very good apple and a good keeper.  I spray with an insecticide before bloom, and then again right after blossom drop and again 2 weeks later.  That seems to keep the insect pests like plum curculio to a minimum.  I figure that since it is still many months till harvest then, the residue washes off in the rain.

I just need a spray for squirrels now...

Thanks Bob Ed and others for all the great info. I think I'm set on a semi dwarf liberty and hold out hope neighboring apples will pollinate it. Or a combo from raintree. If anyone has any more advice feel free to comment.

Hi. Have you thought about the polinator tree? An online pollinator table will inform you which varierty is needded. Can be a neighbour's apple tree, a second apple tree, or a multi-variety single tree. I have apple trees. I grow them organically; there is lots of info on the internet about these methods. It will take some self-education, and experimenting, about what works; don't panic or become discouraged about being an organic grower, as apple trees are surprising tough trees too. Methods can be as simple as picking of diseased leaves and encouraging leaf replacement. I have learned to not expect store bought perfection. Organic is way healthier for everyone. And the taste is so superior. Selecting a dwarf size (or semi) is handy as these sizes are easier to work with. Apple trees are a lot of work and from spring to fall, as they require near daily monitoring and or care - as everything loves to eat apples. Use supports for the branches when loaded with fruit. Small trees will need staking for support. The reason why "grow your own" - the taste is soooooo much better than store bought. IMO, select a variety that has amazing flavour first (not usually a common store apple type either, there are websites on this), then pest and disease resistance second. IMO buy from a local small orchard, or online, in other words from people who specialize in apple tree growing (or sales) - their expertise is worth the connection.  

2 crescent. I take issue with your comment on taste for organic. There is no difference in taste between organically grown fruit and "traditional". Additionally. Organic doesn't mean no chemicals, just none that aren't approved as organic. I am sure there are things used on organic fruits and vegetables that you wouldn't want to eat on its own...sorry for the derail.

There is tons of information available on Apple growing at the old gardenweb forum and now on the growing fruit forum

Agree on the home grown and difference in taste is sometimes a result of a different variety than the store variety.

The difference in taste is mainly due to picking the fruit fully mature. Commercial picking rarely allows for the fruit to fully ripen and develop all its flavour.

A simple Golden Delicious picked from the tree fully ripe is a wonderful apple, extremely sweet and rich in flavour while the store bought (picked green and later artificially matured) is a tasteless piece of crxx that these commercial chains shouldn't be allowed to sell.
 

I grow several varieties and even the most common are very good from my trees and usually awful when bought in the supermarket. I try to grow them almost organically, but it's difficult with the susceptibility of some to several fungal diseases and my rather humid climate.
 

I have recently switched to varieties that are genetically more resistant to fungal diseases so i don't have to use chemicals and can still enjoy apples without fungal skin disease and the results so far seem good.

          

I have to say firstly, I haven't had experience growing apples...that being said I love looking at fruit tree varieties to find a gem I'd like to plant later when we have more space (preaching to the choir I know!) Seed Savers Exchange just started offering heirloom grafted apple trees...very fun to peruse even if you've made up your mind on which apple tree you want!

In WI there is an orchard that has an extensive selection of apples.  I plan to buy grafts next spring.  Hope I can make them take.  I have two healthy trees (trunk diameter 4") from seeds that have not bloomed yet and I would like to increase my odds of getting some apples.  I also think I have a source (tree over 100 yrs. old) for cuttings of Duchess of Oldenburg.  At least from the looks it appears to be this apple.


Weston's Antique Apples is the name of the orchard.