McIntosh is a medium-large spreading tree. It is cold hardy and a heavy cropper but it does tend to biennialism if not thinned. It is highly susceptible to scab, somewhat susceptible to fireblight, and resistant to cedar-apple rust. While this tree can be grown in warmer climates, the best fruit quality is attained in zones 4 and 5.

Perhaps the most iconic apple of the modern era, McIntosh is a round, slightly flattened, mid-sized fruit. The skin shows a splash of cherry red over bright green and the flesh is bright, bright white. This apple is known mainly for its distinctive flavor: perfumed, subacid, spicy, and vinous (like wine). It has many progeny–Macoun, Spartan, Empire, and Cortland to name a few–and they all share the amazing Mac flavor.

McIntosh was first discovered in the early 1800s as a seedling by an Ontario farmer, John Mcintosh. John so loved his foundling tree that he tried to propagate it from seed several times, to no avail. Fortunately, in 1835, an itinerant worker taught John how to graft, and he set about selling the tree in his nursery. (A good account of the McIntosh family history and the early days of the apple can be found in Manhart, Apples for the 21st Century.) McIntosh's moderate popularity was significantly boosted by the development of sprays that took the apple from its natural state (covered in cracked black scabs) to a commercially viable apple. This was also the apple that stepped into the void that had been created by the killing winter of 1934-1935, which destroyed many of the Baldwin orchards in the Northeast. In Canada, it was the eminent pomologist, William Macoun who promoted the apple, finding it ideally suited to that climate. Today, of course, we all know McIntosh not just as an apple, but also for its eponymous association with Apple Computers' line of products.

NB: McIntosh is the standard by which we measure the ripening date of all other apple varieties at Cummins Nursery. Our ripening time, in upstate NY, is mid-September.