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Arkansas Black Apple on G.214 (Spring 2025)


A very beautiful heirloom apple that stores well. Also known as Arkansas Blacktwig.

Arkansas Black is broadly disease resistant with its one susceptibility being scab. It is highly resistant to cedar-apple rust and fireblight, and it will tolerate low desert heat. This is not a very productive tree. This tree is triploid and cannot be used as a pollenizer; two other diploid varieties should be present for full pollination.

The fruit is a deep, dark purplish red that turns almost black at maturity. In Apples of Uncommon Character, Jacobsen writes: "In the hand, it feels like somebody carved an apple from a piece of oak and painted it blackish burgundy. It's that hard." These apples hang like crazy and will keep all winter. They will not reach full ripeness until they have been in storage for about three months, when the flesh will turn from greenish white to a creamy yellow color and the flavor will develop from tart to a bright, aromatic sweetness. It's an apple that's worth the wait. The distinctive aromatic flavor has also made it a favorite for cider blending.

The original tree is thought to have been a seedling of Winesap that grew in the orchard of Mr. Brattwait in Bentonville, Arkansas in the 1870s.

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Arkansas Black is broadly disease resistant with its one susceptibility being scab. It is highly resistant to cedar-apple rust and fireblight, and it will tolerate low desert heat. This is not a very productive tree. This tree is triploid and cannot be used as a pollenizer; two other diploid varieties should be present for full pollination.

The fruit is a deep, dark purplish red that turns almost black at maturity. In Apples of Uncommon Character, Jacobsen writes: "In the hand, it feels like somebody carved an apple from a piece of oak and painted it blackish burgundy. It's that hard." These apples hang like crazy and will keep all winter. They will not reach full ripeness until they have been in storage for about three months, when the flesh will turn from greenish white to a creamy yellow color and the flavor will develop from tart to a bright, aromatic sweetness. It's an apple that's worth the wait. The distinctive aromatic flavor has also made it a favorite for cider blending.

The original tree is thought to have been a seedling of Winesap that grew in the orchard of Mr. Brattwait in Bentonville, Arkansas in the 1870s.


The Fruit

Fruit Type

Category: Apple
Subcategory: Heirloom, Disease-Resistant, Hot-Climate

Fruit Uses & Storage

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

Fruit Appearance

Skin color: purple
Flesh color: yellow

Fruit Origins

Parentage: Winesap seedling
Origin: Bentonville, Arkansas
Introduced in: 1870s
Introduced by: Mr. Brattwait

The Environment

Calendar & Geography

USDA zones: 5 - 8
Chill hours: 600
Ripening date: Nov 03 (approximate, in New York State) + 49 days after McIntosh

Tree Height & Spacing

Rootstock: G.214 Rootstock
Rootstock size class: Dwarf (30% of Standard)
Tree spacing (natural spread of tree): 8'
Good for wildlife planting? Y

Diseases & Pests

Cedar-Apple Rust: Very Resistant
Fireblight: Very Resistant
Apple Scab: Susceptible

Pollination

Pollination Factors

Bloom group: 3
Is it self-fertile? N
Is it fertile? N
Ploidy: Triploid
Rootstock size class: Dwarf (30% of Standard)

Pollination Partners

This table shows the first few results from a full search for pollenizers of Arkansas Black Apple on G.214. Please see our Pollenizer Search to run other queries and read how the application uses various factors. Also read more about fruit tree pollination.

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Tolman Sweet Apple on G.41 2025 152
Campfield Apple on G.41 2025 143
Stoke Red Apple on G.41 2025 139

See all pollination matches for Arkansas Black Apple on G.214






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