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All about apples, pears, plums, and cherries - and orchards where they are grown

Rubinola Apple tree

Owner: Cheuk

Location:  Amsterdam, NOORD-HOLLAND, Netherlands

Age:Planted in about 2010
Age of this tree:17 years
Soil:poor black soil, acidy soil, clay, part wet part dry 
Climate at this location:Zone 7a. mild sea climate, windy, hedge to slow down wind
Pruning:YES this is a must!
Tree form:Half-standard
Height:Between 6ft / 2m and 15ft / 4m
Cropping:Biennial cropping (alternate years)
Growth:This tree grows easily here
Herbicides:Manual treatment (hoeing and weeding)
Pesticides:Un-treated
Local pests:birds, wasps

Owner's comments

Tree is a vigorous grower with strait bare branches. Very difficult to control, It is a tip bearer !!!, fruit is aromatic but not special. Same taste as an Elstar apple...But I have poor soil!, so should do better in better soil. Because of poor soil, tree is biennial. Although it gets fertilized. (april, july, october) Early apple, good cropper. Supplemental: Nice apple, just tasted one. Has some hint of oranges with a faint after taste of cherries. Nice sweet / tart flavour, with more sweet than tart. Not really interesting apple, but is packed full of vitamine C. On some apples some scab.

Season records for this tree

  • 2022

    Spring blossom: 18 April
    Canker: Not present
    Scab: Not present
    Mildew: Not present
    Fireblight: Not present
    Cedar-apple rust: Not present
    Woolly aphid: Not present
    Codling moth: Not present
    Plum fruit moth: Not present
    Silverleaf: Not present
    No real pest problems. Rubinola is my mother tree, meaning it hold all my grafts. Rubinola is blossoming for 100% all blossoms open. Light pale pinky petals.

  • 2018

    Spring blossom: 25 April
    2018: The tree is blossoming fully 99% of the blossoms are open. It is sooo beautiful. This year there are more blossoms on this tree than last year.

  • 2017

    Spring blossom: 20 April
    Harvest: 3rd week September  3kg / 7lbs
    Size: 1.0m / 3.3ft high   2.5m / 8.3ft wide
    Canker: Not present
    Scab: Not present
    Mildew: Not present
    Fireblight: Not present
    Cedar-apple rust: Not present
    Woolly aphid: Not present
    Codling moth: Not present
    Plum fruit moth: Not present
    Silverleaf: Not present
    Cut back this tree a few years ago and grafted rubinette rosso and laxtons epicure on it. The lower branches are the original Rubinola tree. Tip bearer, fruits are NOT scab resistant. Last year (2016)we had a biennial year, this year is full. Supp: This year (2017)the apples were very big, juicy, have a little aroma. Good harvest this year, because of incessant rains, little or no wasps(yellow jackets), lots of bird damage. Lots of monilla apple rot this year.(2017).

  • 2016

    Spring blossom: 10 May
    Harvest: 3rd week September  5kg / 11lbs
    Size: 1.5m / 5.0ft high   3.0m / 10.0ft wide
    Canker: Not present
    Scab: Mild attack
    Mildew: Not present
    Fireblight: Not present
    Cedar-apple rust: Not present
    Woolly aphid: Not present
    Codling moth: Not present
    Plum fruit moth: Not present
    Silverleaf: Not present
    Last year no fruits. Pruned this tipbearer very harshly to 2-3 main branches. On this tree I grafted rafzubex and Laxtons epicure. This year lots of blossom, lots of shoots coming up. Some small fruits are appearing. Very difficult tree to handle, because of fast growth, bare branches and on the tips the fruits. This tree or branches should be cut back every 2 years to get some fruit. Supp. Nice apple, just tasted one. Has some hint of oranges with an after taste of cherries. Nice sweet /