HOME FRUIT VARIETY RECOMMENDATIONS - 2003
The following table lists home fruit varieties that are recommended for Kentucky. Several of these are identified as minimal pesticide (MP) varieties, which will usually mature their fruit with fewer pesticide applications. Most other fruit types require a regular pest control program.
TABLE 1. RECOMMENDED
HOME FRUIT VARIETIES
| ALMONDS | ||||
| Hardy | Not recommended because they bloom too early and flowers are killed by frost | |||
| APPLES | (All varieties are listed in order of ripening, plant two varieties for pollination) | |||
| Variety | Avg. Ripening
Date, Central KY1 |
Skin Color | Use | Remarks |
| Lodi (MP) | July 1 | Yellow | Sauce & Freezing | Has replaced old yellow transplant |
| Pristine (MP) | July 14 | Yellow | All | Scab, cedar apple rust and fire blight resistant; possible replacement for Lodi |
| Redfree (MP) | July 25 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab and cedar apple rust |
| Ginger Gold | Aug. 1 | Yellow | All | Large fruit, fine grained flesh, does not russet and stores well |
| Mollies Delicious | Aug. 10 | Red | All | Large, firm excellent quality, fire blight susceptible |
| Dayton (MP) | Aug. 10 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab, moderately resistant to powdery mildew and fire blight |
| Big Red Gala | Aug 22 | Red | All | Excellent quality, fire blight susceptible |
| Gala | Aug 25 | Red | All | Excellent quality, very fire blight susceptible |
| Liberty (MP) | Aug. 31 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab and cedar apple rust, resistant to powdery mildew and fire blight |
| Cortland | Sept. 1 | Red | All | Dependable producer; white flesh, McIntosh type |
| Freedom (MP) | Sept. 2 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab, resistant to fire blight, moderately resistant to powdery mildew and susceptible to cedar apple rust |
| Ruby Jon | Sept 5 | Red | All | Jonathan type; excellent red color, found in KY, fire blight susceptible |
| Jonafree (MP) | Sept. 5 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab, resistant to fire blight and cedar apple rust |
| Grimes Golden | Sept. 5 | Yellow | All | Splendid all around apple, but does not keep well |
| Priscilla (MP) | Sept. 5 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab, resistant to cedar apple rust and fire blight |
| Golden Delicious | Sept. 10 | Yellow | All | Dependable producer |
| Jonagold | Sept. 15 | Red | All | Excellent quality, triploid and will not pollinate other varieties; Jonathan X Golden Delicious |
| Empire | Sept. 20 | Red | All | McIntosh type, blooms early, frost prone |
| Suncrisp | Sept. 20 | Yellow | All | Excellent quality and flavor, a long keeper |
| Melrose or Melred | Sept. 20 | Red | All | A replacement for Stayman |
| Mutsu or Crispin2 | Sept. 25 | Yellow | All | Heavy producer; triploid and will not pollinate other varieties, stores well |
| Rome | Sept. 25 | Red | Cooking | A long keeper; blooms late & avoids frost, fire blight susceptible |
| Blushing Golden | Sept 25 | Yellow | All | Firm, smooth finish, good quality |
| Red Fuji | Sept 25 | Red | All | A long keeper, excellent crisp, sweet apple |
| Enterprise (MP) | Oct. 1 | Red | All | Very resistant to scab and moderately resistant to cedar apple rust, powdery mildew and fire blight |
| Goldrush (MP) | Oct. 10 | Yellow | All | Very resistant to scab, resistant to fire blight, moderately resistant to powdery mildew, susceptible to cedar apple rust and black rot |
| Granny Smith | Oct. 25 | Green | Dessert | A long keeper |
| 1Ripening
dates are generally a week earlier in Western Kentucky and a week later
in Eastern Kentucky 2Susceptible to bacterial blight of fruit lenticels |
||||
| APRICOTS | Not recommended because they bloom to early and flowers are killed by frost | |||
| APRIUM (Apricot X Plum) | Not recommended because they bloom to early and flowers are killed by frost | |||
| BLACKBERRIES (MP) | ||||
| Erect | Thornless -
Arapaho, Apache Thorny - Shawnee (for warmer sites), Chickasaw (for trial), Cherokee (for warmer sites), Kiowa, Cheyenne (for warmer sites) |
|||
| Semi-erect | Thornless - Hull Thornless, Triple Crown, Chester | |||
| BLUEBERRIES (MP) | ||||
| Sunrise, Earliblue, Duke, Blueray, Bluecrop, Bluejay, Berkeley, Darrow, Elliott | ||||
| CHERRIES, TART (MP) | North Star & Montmorency (pie or tart cherry) | |||
| CHERRIES, SWEET | Do not survive well | |||
| CURRANTS (MP) | ||||
| Black | Crandall | |||
| Red | Red Lake (self fruitful), Rovada | |||
| White | Primus | |||
| ELDERBERRIES (MP) | Johns, Adams #1, Nova, York (need 2 varieties for pollination) | |||
| FIGS (MP) | Celeste (for container growing only) | |||
| GOOSEBERRIES (MP) | Poorman, Pixwell (self fruitful), Hinnomaki Red, Invicta | |||
| GRAPES | (Not Generally Suitable for Minimal Pesticide Gardening) | |||
| AMERICAN AND FRENCH HYBRIDS FOR FRESH CONSUMPTION | ||||
| Black | Buffalo, McCampbell, Steuben, Fredonia, Concord, Sunbelt | |||
| White | Niagara, Villard Blanc | |||
| Red | Delaware, Alden, Catawba | |||
| White Seedless | Marquis | |||
| Black Seedless | Mars (some resistance to black rot), Jupiter (for trial), Glenora | |||
| Red Seedless | Reliance | |||
| FRENCH HYBRIDS (FOR WINE) | ||||
| White | Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, Vidal Blanc, Villard Blanc | |||
| Black | Foch, Baco Noir, Chancellor, Villard Noir | |||
| EUROPEAN (VINIFERA) | Not well adapted to Kentucky growing conditions | |||
| HARDY KIWI | not recommended, it is different from the commercial kiwi | |||
| JUJUBE (CHINESE DATE) (MP) | Western KY only - Li, Lang, Cherwood Akins (partially self fruitful) | |||
| PAWPAW (MP) | Davis, Middletown, NC-1, Overleese, PA Golden, Prolific, Sue, Sunflower, Sweet Alice, Taylor, Taytwo, Wells, Wilson, Zimmerman | |||
| PEACHES/NECTARINES | |||||||
| Variety | Ripening (weeks before or after Redhaven)1 | Flesh Color |
Cling or Freestone | Bud Hardiness | (1)Use fresh (2) Freeze (3) Canning |
Harvest Characteristic | Resistance to Flesh Browning |
| Harbinger | -5-6 | Yellow | Cling | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | Med. |
| Derby | -3-4 | Yellow | Semi-Free | ||||
| Harbelle | -3-4 | Yellow | Freestone | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | Good |
| Harken | with Redhaven | Yellow | Freestone | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | V. Good |
| Redhaven | Yellow | Freestone | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | V. Good | |
| Reliance | with Redhaven | Yellow | Freestone | V. Hardy | 1 | Drops | Med. |
| Harko nectarine | +1-2 | Yellow | Semi-Free | V. Hardy | 1 | Hangs Well | |
| Cresthaven | +3-4 | Yellow | Freestone | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | Good |
| Madison | +3-4 | Yellow | Freestone | V. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Drops | Good |
| Belle of Georgia | +3-4 | White | Freestone | V. Hardy | 1-2 | Drops | Bad |
| Red Gold nectarine | +3-4 | Yellow | Freestone | Hardy | 1 | Hangs Well | Med. |
| Redskin | +5-6 | Yellow | Freestone | M. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | Good |
| Biscoe | +5-6 | Yellow | Freestone | V. Hardy | 1-2-3 | Hangs Well | |
| Stark Encore | +8 | Yellow | Freestone | Hardy | Hangs Well | ||
| 1Redhaven ripens around July 25 in western Kentucky and August 5 in eastern Kentucky. | |||||||
| PEARS (Not Generally Suitable for Minimal Pesticide Gardening) | ||
| ASIAN PEARS | ||
| Variety | Ripening | Pollinator |
| Chojuro | Early August | Korean Giant |
| Niitaka | Mid- August | Korean Giant, Chojuro |
| Korean Giant
Olympic or Starking Hardy Giant |
Late September | Chojuro |
| EUROPEAN PEARS1 | ||
| Variety | Ripening | Pollinator |
| Summercrisp | Late July | Any other European pear2 |
| Harvest Queen | Mid-August | Any other European pear2 |
| Honeysweet | Late August | Any other European pear2 |
| Maxine | Late August | Any other European pear2 |
| Starking Delicious | Late August | Any other European pear2 |
| Potomac | Early September | Any other European pear2 |
| Magness2 | Early September | Korean Giant, Potomac, Honeysweet |
| Seckel | Early September | Any other European pear2 |
| Kieffer3 | Late September | Any other European pear2 |
| PLUOT (Plum X Apricot) | Not recommended because they bloom too early and flowers are killed by frost | |
| PLUMS | ||
| Variety | Ripening | Plum Type, Pollinator |
| Shiro | Early July | Japanese type, Ozark Premier |
| Earliblue | July | European type, Any other European type |
| Ozark Premier | July | Japanese type, Shiro |
| Demontfort | Early August | European type, Any other European type |
| Mt. Royal | Mid August | European type, Self fruitful |
| Damson | August | European type, Any other European type |
| Stanley | Late August | European type, Self fruitful |
| Seneca | Late August | European type, Any other European type |
| 1Don't
plant Bartlett pears. Plant only blight resistant varieties.
2Magness can not be depended on to pollinate other pear varieties 3Kieffer also has fire blight resistance but has many stone or grit cells. |
||
| PERSIMMONS (MP) | |
| American | Early Golden, John Rick, Morris Burton, Yates |
| Oriental | Not hardy in Kentucky |
| RASPBERRIES (MP) | |
| Black | Bristol, Jewel, Haut |
| Red | Redwing (fall bearing), Autumn Bliss (fall bearing), Heritage (fall bearing) |
| Purple | Royalty |
| Yellow | Fall Gold (fall bearing) |
| QUINCE | Not recommended due to fireblight susceptibility |
| STRAWBERRIES (MP) | |
| June Bearing | Earliglow, Delmarvel, Redchief, Guardian, Allstar, Jewel, Darrow |
| Everbearing | Tristar, Tribute |