Empire Apple

scionwood

1 ft scionwood stick This size is unavailable.: $6.00

sold out; Item: 7873-A
1 ft ft bulk scionwood (10' minimum) This size is unavailable.: $5.50

Sorry, ordering deadline has passed; Item: 7873-B

Malus spp.
This is a twig for grafting. Fall-winter, dark red skin, cream flesh.

(McIntosh × Red Delicious) New York, 1966.

Medium-sized round-to-conic dark red fruit with cream-colored flesh. Firm, aromatic, excellent fresh eating. Very popular in Maine and throughout New England. Stores up to 5 months. Vigorous tree, bears young and annually thereafter. Susceptible to scab. Z4.

ships in early spring

Quick Details

Skin Color: dark red
Harvest Season: fall-winter
Flesh Color: cream
Hardy to Zone: 4

Compare

Apples with Harvest Timing Similar to ‘Fall-Winter’
Variety	Product Type	Skin Color	Harvest Season	Flesh Color	Hardy to Zone
Ananas Reinette	scionwood	golden	late fall		4
Api Etoile	scionwood	red-blushed	winter		4
Ashmead’s Kernel	scionwood	russeted golden-orange	winter	yellowish	4
Baldwin	scionwood	red	winter	yellowish	4
Belle de Boskoop	scionwood	russeted green	winter	yellowish	4
Ben Davis	scionwood	red-striped and blushed	winter		4
Bethel	scionwood	red	winter		3
Black Gilliflower	scionwood	purplish red	fall-winter		4
Black Oxford	scionwood	deep purple	winter		4
Blue Pearmain	scionwood	russeted purplish red	fall-winter		4
Bullock	scionwood	russeted gold	fall-winter		4
Calville Blanc d’Hiver	scionwood	pale green-yellow	winter	white	4
Cortland	scionwood	purple-blushed red	fall-winter	white	4
Dabinett	scionwood	red-striped	late fall		4
Empire	scionwood	dark red	fall-winter	cream	4
Esopus Spitzenburg	scionwood	bright red	fall-winter		4
Fireside	scionwood	red	winter	yellow	3
Frostbite	scionwood	purple-striped red	fall-winter	apricot	3
Golden Delicious	scionwood	rich yellow	fall-winter	yellow	4
Golden Russet	scionwood	russeted yellow	winter		4
GoldRush	scionwood	golden	winter	white	4
Gray Pearmain	scionwood	russeted yellow-green	fall-winter	white	4
Grindstone	scionwood	red-streaked	fall-winter		4
Haralson	scionwood	red	winter	white	3
Honeycrisp	scionwood	red-striped	winter		3
Honeygold	scionwood	golden yellow	winter	yellow	3
Jonathan	scionwood	red	fall-winter		4
Kandil Sinap	scionwood	red-blushed yellow	fall-winter		4
Keepsake	scionwood	red-washed and striped	winter		3
King David	scionwood	dark maroon	fall-winter	yellow	4
Medaille d’Or	scionwood	russeted yellow	late fall		4
Milden	scionwood	red-splashed	fall-winter	whitish	3
Milo Gibson	scionwood	orange-russeted greenish yellow	late fall-winter		4
Mutsu	scionwood	orange-blushed golden yellow	fall-winter	yellowish white	4
Northern Spy	scionwood	red-striped	winter		4
Porter’s Perfection	scionwood	red-blushed	late fall		4
Reinette Simirenko	scionwood	grass green	winter	greenish yellow	4
Ribston Pippin	scionwood	russeted red	fall-winter		4
Roxbury Russet	scionwood	russeted green	winter		4
Scott’s Winter	scionwood	red	winter		3
Smokehouse	scionwood	reddish-brown-blushed	fall-winter		4
Spencer	scionwood	red-blushed	late fall-winter		4
Starkey	scionwood	rosy red	fall-winter	off-white	4
Swaar	scionwood	yellow	winter	white	4
Tolman Sweet	scionwood	greenish yellow	fall-early winter		4
White Pippin	scionwood	greenish white	winter	yellow-tinged	3
Windham Russet	scionwood	russeted brown	late fall		4
Winesap	scionwood	red	winter		4
Winn Russet	scionwood	russeted gold-green	winter	yellowish	4
Winter Banana	scionwood	bright red-blushed	fall-winter		4
Yellow Bellflower	scionwood	yellow	winter		4
Zabergau Reinette	scionwood	russeted greenish bronze	winter	white	4

Additional Information

Scionwood

Scions are twigs, not trees. They have no roots and will not grow if you plant them. They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring grafting.

We do our best to provide ¼" caliper stock. Because of factors beyond our control (such as weather!) stock may be ³⁄₁₆–³⁄₈".

We sell scionwood in two ways:

By the stick: One 12" stick can graft 4-6 trees.
By the foot: Minimum order of 10 feet per variety. For orchardists grafting large numbers of trees of a particular variety. In our own nursery work, we are usually able to graft 6-8 trees from one foot of scionwood.

You can graft right away or store scionwood for later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks stored in sealed ziplock bags in the refrigerator.

For more info:
About Scionwood

Apples

Choosing the Right Apple

Not sure where to start? Check out our Apple Chart!

Choosing a variety: Not every variety may be right for you. All-purpose apples are just that—they’re good for a bunch of jobs. If you're planting just one tree, perhaps start there. However, if you’re a history buff, consider the historical varieties and maybe plant one that originated nearby. If you don’t eat many apples but love pies, go for the pie apples. If you’re a dessert connoisseur, skip all the others and go for the highly flavored dessert varieties. Some are strictly for cider. Some are great to put out at the camp for summer use. Some are perfect for those who want fall fruit but don’t have a root cellar. Others keep all winter and into the following summer.

Summer apples ripen in summer, are generally crisp only for a short period, do not store well, and are often best for cooking.
Fall apples store longer and are useful for a wide variety of purposes.
Winter apples ripen mid to late fall, store well, and reach their best flavor after weeks, or even months, of storage.
Dessert apples are delicious eaten raw.
Crabapples are less than 2" in diameter. Some crabs bear edible or culinary or cider-making fruit. Some have persistent wildlife fruit that hangs on the tree for weeks or even months. Others have hardly any fruit at all. Some are beautiful ornamentals.
Cider apples are especially suited to making fermented “hard” cider. Some cider apples are also good dessert fruit, but most are not.
Subacid means tart!
Russet or russeting is a skin texture (fairly common on apple varieties and on a few pears and potatoes) which looks and feels somewhat like suede.
Bloom is a naturally occurring dust-like yeast film on the skin of some varieties of apples, plums, grapes and blueberries.

Cider Apples

Each year we offer a different assortment of the best European and American cider varieties, including new wild apple introductions from local fruit explorers and cidermakers. Many of these are NOT for fresh eating. They do however possess qualities that make them very desirable for fermented cider production.

Seedling Apples

These trees were grown from seeds, rather than grafted onto rootstock like the other apple varieties we offer. These standard-sized trees will grow to 20–30'.

Flowering and Culinary Crabapples

A crabapple is any apple with fruit smaller than 2" in diameter. All crabs bear edible fruit, some more favorable for culinary use than others. Some fruits are persistent, hanging on the branch through winter and providing forage for robins, jays and waxwings in the early spring. The flowers, tree form and even the shape of the leaves can vary subtly or profoundly. Most are magnificent in bloom and ornamental year round, especially in winter when the leaves drop and the trees show off their interesting forms.

Growing Apples

Soil: Adaptable, but prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Requires a second variety for pollination. Any apple or crabapple blooming within a quarter mile will probably do.
Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
Spacing:
- For trees on Malus domestica (standard) and Bud 118 rootstock, 20–25' apart.
- M111 semi-dwarf, 15–20' apart.
- G890 semi-dwarf, 10–15' apart.
- Bud 9 dwarf, 5–10' apart.

Shipping

Orders for scionwood placed after February 20 will ship around late April through mid-May, in the order in which they were received. Sorry, we cannot expedite these orders.