Wickson crab-apple

Wickson crab-apple identification images

All images copyright Orange Pippin unless otherwise stated.

USDA identification images for Wickson

The identification paintings in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection span the years 1886 to 1942.

Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.

Visitor reviews

• 24 Dec 2020  Keith NevisonVIRGINIA, United States

  Albemarle Ciderworks (Charlottesville, VA) now offers a single-varietal Wickson dry cider. It's the best cider I've ever tasted. https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/blog/new-cider-release-wickson-crab
• 09 Oct 2017  CarlMA, United States

  The first apples (ever!, yeah!) off of any of my trees, four small, scabby red / brown / green /gold spheres, the size of golf balls. Hard, but very sweet (not being sure when to harvest, I let them sit on the tree until the first two dropped by themselves). Definitely acid and somewhat tannic, moderate juiciness. No particular flavors to compare them to, just a very apple-ly, clean taste. It was a gamble planting Wickson, never having tasted one before, but all indications were that it would be a good addition to the orchard. I think I guess right!
• 27 Mar 2015  SethVERMONT, United States

  I went to an apple tasting at Walden Heights Nursery in Walden, Vermont, and among the 100 varieties I tasted, this was a top 5! Oh my goodnesss! The intensity of the flavor reminds me of Ashmead's Kernel, though they don't taste alike. Amazing apple! This is a great apple and it tasted great grown in a zone 4!
• 11 Nov 2013  Dee MahanDC, United States

  I happened upon Wickson apples at an orchard near Navarro, CA, near Humboldt County. It is the best apple I have ever tasted. I am considering scheduling all my future trips to Northern California around apple season just to have the opportunity to purchase Wicksons directly from the growers.
• 15 Oct 2012  Josh SommersCA, United States

  Wickson is my favorite variety of apple. In my humble opinion, it is the best tasting apple I have ever had. Though I personally enjoy just eating them raw, they are particularly well suited for white-chocolate caramel apples because their tart flavor offsets the super-sweet white chocolate, and also because they are small enough that one person can easily eat the whole thing.
• 24 Dec 2011  Eric NorstogOREGON, United States

  I have a small orchard with about eighty varieties of more-or-less antique types of apple on dwarfing rootstocks. Wickson Crab is one of my favorites, a vigorous and annually productive tree that, on EMLA 27, bears up to fifty pounds of apples a year. This fruit is delightful to eat fresh off the tree - juicy, very sweet, very tart, and with a complex "appley" flavor. I usually give most of the crop to a local lady who makes it into the most delicious crabapple jelly, of an amber colour, that you would ever taste. This winter I intend to put in six new trees grafted on P-2 rootstock.
• 13 Nov 2011  Kevin HauserCALIFORNIA, United States

  I've tasted Wickson in both colder climates and our hot climate, and it definately prefers a great deal of heat to achieve top quality. This is not surprising, as Humbolt County in the Sierra Nevada foothills where it originates gets very hot in the summer, sometimes hitting 115F. People are usually amused when I hand them this tiny apple, thinking it is a joke or something. But their eyes light up when they crunch into it and taste the wonderful sweet/tart balance, and nibble it down to a tiny core, sucking the last juice out of the core. The tree bears reliably and looks like Christmas decorations hanging there, ripening in mid-November here in Southern California.

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Where to buy trees

The following tree nurseries offer Wickson crab-apple trees for sale:

• Orange Pippin Fruit Trees (USA) United States
  Wickson crab apple trees for sale >>

Where to buy fresh fruit

The following orchards grow Wickson:

United States

• California

  • The Apple Farm -- Bates & Schmitt, Philo

• Maine

  • Tiny Orchards, Saco