Low-Maintenance Apple Trees

By Marie Hofer, Gardening editor, HGTV.com

Having a couple of productive, low-maintenance apple trees in the backyard — ones that yield serviceable crops without lots of spraying — sometimes seems like an impossible dream. If the apple is America's favorite fruit, it's also the favorite of several significant diseases and pests.

Depending on the geographical region and the weather, apple trees can be beset by cedar-apple rust, powdery mildew, fire blight, bitter rot and apple scab. Among the bugs, there are codling moths, plum curculios, mites, aphids, scale and leaf rollers.

What usually helps the gardener is choosing disease-resistant cultivars. These varieties won't prevent the bugs from coming to your trees, of course, but they'll at least offer a good shot at thwarting whichever diseases tend to plague apple trees in your area. Planting varieties like these — or others as recommended by your local extension agent (how well any given cultivar does has everything to do with region) — can drastically cut down on the amount of spraying you have to do.

Liberty. One of the best disease-resistant cultivars, Liberty is highly resistant to apple scab and resistant to cedar apple rust and fire blight. It ranges from moderately resistant to susceptible to powdery mildew. A medium-size McIntosh-like fruit that ripens midseason; it's sweet, juicy and crisp; color is red-stripe-over-greenish-yellow. It blooms midseason, so pair with other mid- or late-blooming cultivars. USDA Zones 4 to 7.

Enterprise. Resistant or field immune to apple scab, highly resistant to cedar apple rust and fire blight, and variably moderately resistant to susceptible to powdery mildew. The large, bright red, glossy apple has a juicy, spicy and crisp flavor; it's thick-skinned. The tree blooms in mid- to late-season and the fruit ripens late. It keeps for months under refrigeration, and its flavor improves after the first month. Pair with Goldrush, Gala and Golden Delicious. USDA Zones 5 to 7.

Goldrush. This variety is field immune to apple scab, highly resistant to fire blight, and moderately resistant to powdery mildew. It's susceptible to cedar-apple rust, however, so choose another variety if you live in an area where cedar-apple rust is common. It blooms late; pair with Enterprise, Gala or Golden Delicious. The fruit is large, yellow, semi-tart, crisp and juicy. The fruit ripens late and keeps well.

Pristine. This cultivar is field immune to apple scab, resistant to cedar apple rust, highly resistant to powdery mildew, and moderately resistant to fire blight. It blooms early; pair with Liberty, Pristine, William's Pride, Redfree or Jonafree. The large, yellow fruit is tart and crisp. Great for cooking. Ripens early.

Redfree. Field immune to apple scab and cedar apple rust, moderately resistant to fire blight and powdery mildew, Redfree blooms in midseason. Pair with other mid- and late-blooming cultivars. The medium-sized, bright red fruit is sweet and crisp. Ripens early and keeps about one month in the refrigerator.

Those are just a few of the great disease-resistant apples you could be planting. A couple of other points:

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