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Grimes Golden Apple Scionwood (Spring 2024)


An outstanding yellow dessert apple, the tastier ancestor of Golden Delicioius. Also known as Grimes, Grimes Golden Pippin, Grimes'.

A great backyard tree, Grimes is vigorous and self-fertile (though crops will be improved by a pollenizer), and it is resistant to scab, powdery mildew, fireblight, and cedar-apple rust. It is susceptible to collar rot, and bitter pit, and it tends to overcrop. It needs to be thinned to maintain good fruit size, but it is a reliably annual bearer. This tree has a very long bloom period, and some growers consider it a universal pollenizer.

The fruit is medium-to-large, slightly oblong, and sometimes ribbed. It is speckled with yellow or russet lenticels. The skin is a bit tough, sometimes scruffy, but the flesh is snappily crisp and fine grained. This apple is almost certainly the parent of Golden Delicious, and, as you would expect, is very sweet. But is has an aromatic balance that Golden Delicious lacks, and many tasters describe it as spicy, pointing to notes of nutmeg and pepper. Grimes is a dessert apple of the highest quality, and it also is a winner in the kitchen. It stores for several months–during which time the yellow of ifs skin will deepen–and its hardy exterior make it a great farmstand apple. Traditionally, this was also a popular apple among cider makers. In Apples of North America, Tom Burford notes that old still sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains are often surrounded by Grimes Golden trees. (From WSU: "Tannin (percent tannic acid): 0.07; Acid (percent malic acid): 0.61; pH: 3.45; SG: 1.052; oBrix 12.2.")

The exact origin of Grimes is not clearly known, but Beach (Apples of New York) states that fruit from the original tree was being sold to New Orleans traders as early as 1804. Grimes Golden enjoyed popularity in the south, and my great grandfather, Omer Cummins, planted 20 acres of Grimes on his property in Illinois at the turn of the century, a commitment that reflects the popularity of the variety at the time.

Volume Pricing

Premiums are included in the following prices if applicable. These prices are for regular scion. Add $1 for clean scion.

Quantity Grimes Golden Apple Scion
1 $12.00
2-5 $7.00
6-10 $6.00
11-99 $5.00
100+ $4.00

Order Your Scions

Select clean or regular:

$12.00 ea.

This is the full retail price for orders of 1 scion. You can get these scion for as low as $4.00 each – see Volume Pricing above. More about Pricing & Grading.

23 in stock
Quantity
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Clean vs. Regular

Our clean scion is harvested from trees grown on G.16, which is extremely sensitive to viruses. These trees would not have survived if the scion contained viruses. Our clean wood has not been lab tested. Regular = may contain one of the common latent viruses; this is not usually a problem and can be used with most rootstocks.

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A great backyard tree, Grimes is vigorous and self-fertile (though crops will be improved by a pollenizer), and it is resistant to scab, powdery mildew, fireblight, and cedar-apple rust. It is susceptible to collar rot, and bitter pit, and it tends to overcrop. It needs to be thinned to maintain good fruit size, but it is a reliably annual bearer. This tree has a very long bloom period, and some growers consider it a universal pollenizer.

The fruit is medium-to-large, slightly oblong, and sometimes ribbed. It is speckled with yellow or russet lenticels. The skin is a bit tough, sometimes scruffy, but the flesh is snappily crisp and fine grained. This apple is almost certainly the parent of Golden Delicious, and, as you would expect, is very sweet. But is has an aromatic balance that Golden Delicious lacks, and many tasters describe it as spicy, pointing to notes of nutmeg and pepper. Grimes is a dessert apple of the highest quality, and it also is a winner in the kitchen. It stores for several months–during which time the yellow of ifs skin will deepen–and its hardy exterior make it a great farmstand apple. Traditionally, this was also a popular apple among cider makers. In Apples of North America, Tom Burford notes that old still sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains are often surrounded by Grimes Golden trees. (From WSU: "Tannin (percent tannic acid): 0.07; Acid (percent malic acid): 0.61; pH: 3.45; SG: 1.052; oBrix 12.2.")

The exact origin of Grimes is not clearly known, but Beach (Apples of New York) states that fruit from the original tree was being sold to New Orleans traders as early as 1804. Grimes Golden enjoyed popularity in the south, and my great grandfather, Omer Cummins, planted 20 acres of Grimes on his property in Illinois at the turn of the century, a commitment that reflects the popularity of the variety at the time.


The Fruit

Fruit Type

Category: Apple
Subcategory: Heirloom, Cider, Hot-Climate

Fruit Uses & Storage

Uses: fresh eating, cider, baking, storage, sauce
Cider classification: sharp
Storage duration: three plus months (approximate, depending on storage conditions)

Fruit Appearance

Skin color: yellow
Flesh color: cream

Fruit Origins

Parentage: unknown
Origin: West Virginia or Ohio
Introduced in: pre-1804
Introduced by:

The Environment

Calendar & Geography

USDA zones: 5 - 8
Chill hours: Not yet determined
Ripening date: Oct 06 (approximate, in New York State) + 21 days after McIntosh

Diseases & Pests

Apple Scab: Resistant
Bitter Pit: Very Susceptible
Cedar-Apple Rust: Resistant
Fireblight: Resistant
Phytophthora (Collar Rot, Crown Rot, Root Rot): Susceptible
Powdery Mildew: Resistant

Pollination

Pollination Factors

Bloom group: 2
Is it self-fertile? Y
Is it fertile? Y
Ploidy: Diploid

Pollination Partners

This table shows the first few results from a full search for pollenizers of Grimes Golden Apple. Please see our Pollenizer Search to run other queries and read how the application uses various factors. Also read more about fruit tree pollination.

Tree Ships Currently in Stock
Virginia Crab Apple 2024 0
Florina Apple 2024 0
Porter's Perfection Apple 2024 0
Elstar Apple 2024 0
Rubinette Apple 2024 0
St. Edmund's Russet Apple 2024 0
Spitzenburg Esopus Apple 2024 0
Liberty Apple 2024 0
Mother Apple 2024 0
Cripps Pink Apple 2024 0
Binet Rouge Apple 2024 0

See all pollination matches for Grimes Golden Apple






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