The main difficulty with this tree is its strongly upright habit. For best results young limbs will be spread. Spigold is a large and vigorous triploid, and it will need two diploid pollenizers for full fertility. It tends to biennialism, and fruit should be well thinned to maintain annual bearing.

This a large, firm apple. In The Illustrated History of Apples, Bussey notes that a bushel of Spigold will weigh about ten pounds more than an average bushel of apples (55 pounds to the average 44 pounds). A cross of Golden Delicious and Red Spy, this fruit is ribbed and flushed orange-red over gold. It has all the crisp, juicy sweetness you would expect from a Golden Delicious progeny, but the flavor also has the sprightly zest of a Spy. In a good season, when the fruit has received enough sunlight to develop full flavor, Spigold will be aromatic with notes of citrus and spiced honey. The apples will hold to the tree after ripening and store well for about two months. Well regarded as a baking apple, Spigold keeps its form in a pie.

Spigold was developed by Dr. John Einset and Leo Klein at the breeding station in Geneva, NY. The cross was selected in 1944 and introduced in 1962.