This tree is productive but very biennial tending and it will need diligent thinning to maintain annual bearing. It is low vigor with a tendency to become spurbound and mildly susceptible to fireblight. Geneva Tremlett's is a cider apple; it is not suitable for fresh eating. It is important to note that Geneva Tremlett's Bitter is distinct from and unrelated to the English variety Tremlett's Bitter.

Ripening of this apple is uneven; it starts mid-September and continues through to early October. The fruit is blushed and striped a rosy red over yellow-green, and it yields a juice that is bittersharp (as opposed to the "true" English Tremlett's, which is a bittersweet.) Steve Selin of South Hill Cider here in Ithaca, NY finds that the juice is a great source of acid and hard tannins, and that it is distinguished by strawberry aromas.

Geneva Tremlett's is the result of a filing error at the USDA repository in Geneva, NY. For many years scion of this tree was mistakenly distributed as Tremlett's Bitter, but by the time it was realized that this tree is quite different from the original Tremlett's, growers had already decided that they liked the imposter; this apple is perhaps even superior to its namesake. The ultimate source of the variety is unknown.