Backyard apple breeding

Apple: King David

Shane Gadsby -

A classic American apple, with excellent flavour that makes for amazing pies!

  • Vigour: Medium
  • Precociousness: Low
  • Resistances: Scab, Rust, Mildew, and Blight
  • Size of fruit: Medium
  • Flowering: Spring
  • Fruiting: Late Autumn to mid-winter
  • Cropping: Medium
  • Ploidy: Diploid
  • Fruit colour: Red
  • Flesh colour: Yellow
  • Leaf colour: Green
  • Parentage: Jonathan x Winesap
  • Descendants: Unknown
  • Biennialism: None observed
  • Growth habit: Standard
  • Self-fertile: No

A chance seedling discovered in hedge rows of the farm of Ben Frost, in Washington Country, Arkansas (USA), and first marketed by Start Brothers Nursery in 1902.

It's known for having rich, complex cider flavours, it also has a thick skin, and course grain that can make for excellent baked good and sauce.

Can be stored for up to 2 months, but typically best eaten fresh. Has a slight tendency towards water core if left on the tree's too long.

NOTE: I have yet to try this apple directly, having only grafted it in 2021, and so have relied on others for information related to this variety.
This entry will be updated as the tree grows and bears.