Jonagold Apple Tree

If you like eating a big, juicy apple, then the Jonagold Apple Tree is for you. This vigorous tree produces very large fruit, with the most delicious flavor. They are perfect for eating fresh, or slicing into a salad, especially since they are slow to turn brown after cutting. This is also a great cooking apple, and it makes delicious juice too. The large apples have a beautiful pale-yellow skin, covered with big blushes of red – a beautiful sight that just begs you to bite into it. When you do you won’t be disappointed. The thin skin doesn’t leave you with a chewy mouthful, and the pure white flesh is so inviting. It has the perfect balance between sweet and tart, and the flavor is just plain delicious.

The Jonagold Apple was bred for flavor, and it is renowned for just how good it tastes. It is a great cooking apple too, and it has a unique smell when you bake an apple pie – mouth-wateringly good. Imagine the pleasure and joy of picking your first apples, right from your own garden, and then eating them fresh or baking them. You can of course grow it organically without chemicals if you wish, so you know it will be pure, unadulterated goodness for your family. The Jonagold Apple has an added bonus; the white spring blossoms are profuse and much bigger than on other apple trees grown for fruit – so you get a bonus spring-flowering tree along with one of the best eating apples around.

Growing Jonagold Apples

Plant your Jonagold Apple Tree in a sunny place, in well-drained soil. This is a vigorous tree that will grow to a larger size than many other apple trees, so allow enough room for it. When planting make sure you keep the ‘kink’ you will see in the stem above the soil level – plant at the same depth as in the pot. Any stems that may grow from below that ‘kink’ should be removed immediately. Keep the soil beneath your tree free of grass or weeds and mulch the root-zone with rich compost or manure each spring. Keep the mulch from contacting the trunk. Water regularly for the first few years, and water mature trees during dry periods.

This tree grows well across a large area, from zone 5 to zone 8, and it is a good choice for warmer areas as it blooms well even with short winters. Although not specifically resistant to diseases, the exceptional vigor of this tree allows it to avoid diseases and stay healthy. Start pruning in the first year, in late winter, and prune each year to develop a good structure, with a central trunk and open branches radiating at low angles for strength and sun exposure. This variety rarely needs to have its fruit thinned, saving you doing that particular task.

Harvesting and Storing Your Apples

The first apples will be on your tree within 2 to 4 years, and by September of that year you will be harvesting. The apples will store for a few weeks to extend the season into early winter. If you have a large crop, pick part of it in at the end of August, before the apples are fully ripe. Select only perfect fruits and handle them carefully to avoid any damage or bruising. Wrap them individually in newspaper or Kraft paper, and store in a single layer in a very cool, damp place. These apples will store much longer than ones you pick ripe – probably for a good two or even three months.

Pollinating Your Trees

The Jonagold Apple Tree is not self-fertile. A single tree will bear very few, if any, apples. It belongs to a small, unusual group of apples called tetraploids. They have three copies of each chromosome, instead of the usual pairs. This means that they need another apple tree variety to pollinate them, but they in turn cannot pollinate that apple. If the pollinator you choose is self-fertile, you will still get a good crop on it. If it is not, you will need a third variety to then pollinate that tree. The Gala Apple is a good choice to grow with Jonagold, as it will pollinate Jonagold, and since it is also self-pollinating you will have apples on your Gala tree as well. Alternatively, grow a white or pink flowering crab apple tree, as these trees are good all-round apple pollinators.

History and Origins of the Jonagold Apple Tree

The Jonagold Apple was created at the New York State Agricultural Station, part of Cornell University, in Geneva, New York. In the 1940s Dr. A.J. Heinicke had a large apple-breeding program running, and he crossed Golden Delicious, known for its tartness, with Jonathan, a very sweet and delicious apple. After 20 years of selection from thousands of seedlings, the Station released Jonagold in 1968. It has grown in popularity ever since.

Our trees are produced from stems 100% genetically identical to that original tree, by attaching stem pieces to the roots of special apple varieties, developed to act as roots and control the vigor and health of your tree. Growing your own fruit is spreading fast, and our stock of this top-quality apple will not last long. Order now while you can still enjoy the best.