What about juice? Can you press or juice the cider apples for me?

Yes, we do custom pressing for customers (for juice that will be fermented).  We do this with large-scale pressing equipment that can handle pressing hundreds of pounds. Please contact us directly to discuss.

Yes, we plan to open our “apple shop” for sale each year around June, after fruit set and once we have a decent idea what kind of crop we’re likely to have in each variety (biennial bearing leads to on and off crop years, despite our best management efforts). Still, it’s a good idea to give us a call and discuss availability.

In North America, you can grow most cider varieties just about anywhere. Climates like south Florida are not ideal for some cider varieties, which often originate from Northern Europe and higher latitudes in North America and require substantial “chilling hours” in the winter to set fruit well.

Rootstock choice depends on multiple variables, such as the desired tree size, climate, planting system, etc. Susceptibility to fire blight is sometimes a problem with cider varieties, especially (but not only) in the eastern half of the USA. Fire blight can really devastate an orchard if not properly managed. If you’re worried about fire blight in your area, you might consider Geneva rootstocks, which have been shown to be highly fire blight resistant.

Based on our experience in Oregon, fire blight, anthracnose, and scab, in that order.

In nearly every case, scion wood comes from our own trees.

The sooner the better, but typically at least 18-20 months lead-time is required. For very large quantities of trees on Geneva rootstocks, an additional 6-8 months might be necessary.

This will depend largely on the rootstock selection, and to some degree on the variety. For dwarfing rootstocks like M9 and Bud 9, if we deliver you a 2-year nursery tree, you’ll likely start getting some fruit in the second growing season after you plant it. For larger rootstocks, like MM111 and Bud 118, you may have to wait three years or more until you see fruit.

Very little in principle – except that cider apples require considerably less “chemical care” (spraying) since the fruit is destined to be milled/pressed, which makes it unnecessary to produce a perfect-looking apple.

Yes, we require a deposit for all trees ordered in advance of shipment. The amount required varies by the dollar amount of your order, as seen in our sales terms in the catalog.