The tree is vigorous, cold hardy, and annual bearing. It produces a dense white bloom that is followed by masses of brilliant red apples hung in clusters. Wickson is very slightly susceptible to fireblight, scab, and cedar-apple rust.

This apple is intensely flavored for fresh eating, and perfect for jams and jellies, but it has finally found its true calling as a cider apple. The small yellow-red fruits produce a juice that is abundant, clear, and loaded with sugar and acid. In Apples of Uncommon Character, Rowan Jacobsen says that Wickson "ferments beautifully into a bone-dry, water-white, high-alcohol cider with a nose of guava and lychee with an astringent crab apple finish." It is perfect for blending, as Eve's Cidery writes: "This apple is a great, complimentary source of acid. It’s very concentrated, allowing less to be used so the intensity of the main bittersweet or aromatic character is retained."

Although Albert Etter is most known for his red-fleshed varieties, Wickson Crab is the apple that has become his most highly regarded cultivar. It is a cross of two varieties (or one single variety–the language of the patent is murky) that are enigmatically named Newtown (and) Spitzenberg Crab, which we can only assume were breeding varieties developed by Etter himself. Wickson is named after E. J. Wickson, a friend of Etter's and author of California Fruits.