Dwarf Roadside Apple Evaluation (Original Tree Now Destroyed) - Washington State

I've been eyeing a feral apple pippin for the past few years.  It *had been growing on the edge of a small grove of trees bordering an on-ramp to I-5 a little south of Seattle, WA.  While I've long noticed the plethora of feral apples/crabapples growing along the roads here, this one caught my eye for a few reasons:

• It appeared to be a natural dwarf with a single short main trunk with all branches emerging rather lax and semi-droopy.  As it grew on a slope some of the branches ended up being lower in elevation than the lowest point where the trunk touches the ground! All fruit can therefore be picked from the ground without a ladder or pole picker.  No reaching up either!  This is a very utilitarian habit as it would allow this tree to be grown on its own roots in gardens where there is not space for a larger tree (own root apples have a reputation for living longer than trees grafted to dwarf rootstocks).  
• It was growing in a very dry location; a mounded berm of soil surrounded on all sides by road.  Dwarf apples tend not to be super drought tolerant due to their weaker root systems, so maybe this tree had found a way to combine both dwarf growth habit and vigorous roots which are able to find adequate water.  
• It made attractive apples of average size (as opposed to the smaller crabapple types which are frequently spotted around here).  Admittedly I've not seen this tree carry a heavy crop, but given the rough growing conditions and its small size combined with proximity to other apples (it's not super close to the next closest apple) I suspect that it's light crops are related to insufficient pollination as I've seen it flower quite heavily in spring time.
• I've been impressed by the very low percentage of fruit with blemishes or signs of bugs.  A VERY good trait considering the range of issues which can affect apples around here.  

I understand there is a possibility that some of these desirable/interesting traits may not be consistent in other growing locations, I see good reason to begin trialing it after producing clones.

Unfortunately due to its location I've only had opportunity to pick and sample the fruit on a couple of occasions and both time it was slightly under-ripe.  That said, I found them very interesting in flavor and when aged a bit after picking to ripen further I noticed them taking on what I could only describe as a cheddar like flavor (I would love to find out if this holds true when they're tree ripened as I loved the cheddar notes).  I also found that the fruits I picked and aged at room temperature held up pretty well over the few weeks I ate my way through them.  I suspect with refrigeration they could have held up much longer and this will be something to evaluate moving forward.

Fruit traits (currently based on slightly under-ripe fruit):

Juicy, firm/dense, sweet/tart balance, "worm" free.  Under-ripe the texture was a bit "punky" (my friend didn't care for this), but I'm personally able to enjoy apples regardless of whether they are the more commonly desired crisp texture or not. This "punky" texture did almost go away when picked again at a later date (but still under-ripe) so I suspect they will be a normal apple texture once fully tree ripened.  Under-ripe they have a high tannin content which gives them a spiced flavor, but also makes the fruit oxidize quickly when cut.  Later pickings closer to full ripeness as expected were less tannic with less browning after being cut, but still enough to add some complexity to the flavor. 

Cooked the flesh quickly breaks down into a smooth and thick sauce consistency, quicker than I'm used to for other apples.  The sauce density is thick enough that I think it would easily hold its shape if cooked into pies (it's not gonna make a filling that runs out when sliced).  The flavor of the sauce (granted they weren't fully ripe) was reminiscent of cooked pumpkin, but with a slight tartness and none of the pumpkin wateriness.  I did think it benefited from a small amount of added sweetener, but not sure if that would still be true when fully ripe.  In the future I'd love to experiment cooking these apples with pumpkin pie spice.   

Following are tasting notes from my friend Chris Homanics (he was tasting under-ripe fruit since that's all I've had access too).  Chris has experience tasting an exceptionally wide diversity of apples among other fruits so I value his observations:

"Not a bad apple, quite juicy. Texture is off a bit as the flesh doesn't dissolve well and is a bit punky. Would likely crush out nicely, there are some aromatics that I can't quite place which might have some carry-over in cider as well hidden tannins. Reminiscent of Candystripe Gravenstein in flavor and fruit characteristics, probably a seedling of same. Definitely better than a average random roadside seedling and nice to see it's disease resistance qualities, an improvement on Gravenstein. Probably wouldn't graft it but I appreciate it for what it is. Thanks for sharing Johann!"

Personally, I agree that it tastes better than 'Gravenstein'.  I actually had a 'Gravenstein' for a number of years but eventually cut it down and had a bon-fire on the trunk to make it go away.  In my area 'Gravenstein' is just too susceptible to pest problems making for wormy fruit, lots of canker and the fruit doesn't not age well when stored (starts to taste pretty bad to me).  I know lots of people like 'Gravenstein' so I have to believe in other areas it must be a better apple, but just not HERE!

The following are pictures from the ortet (original tree) before it was removed by road crews:

Average fruit quality from the tree (I didn't have to sort through to find the best).  I estimate these were probably picked about a month before peak ripeness, but I still enjoyed them (especially as they aged and continued ripening on the counter).
 

The mother tree growing on a dry slope.  Note how low and sprawling it is.

Shot from above looking down on the tree.  Easy to do given it's lack of height.

Side view of main trunk.  It appears to have grown straight up initially, but after the first few feet everything new that emerged just grew sideways.  I wonder if it would grow as a weeping tree if grafted high onto a straight rootstock...

Same side shot, but from further back.

The apples tended to be easy to spot on the tree, not hidden by foliage or overly dense branches.

Minor blemishes were overall negligeable.

It almost looks as if the fruit is held atop the branches instead of dangling.  I hadn't given this much thought until re-reviewing these photos, but I guess this is ideal given that the tree is short.

It's almost hard to spot the apple tree here, but it's that low mess of branches at the edge of the taller trees.

This apple had seeds starting to color up meaning it was very close to fully ripe (but not all the way).  At this point it had way less browning after cut compared to the picture below. 

This shows the browning (probably due to high tannin content) in a sample picked about a month before I estimate they would have been at full ripeness.

Nice thick sauce.

Nice size and beautiful streaking.

I miss eating these now.  I can't wait until production starts on the clones.

*As of late 2022 the original tree has been destroyed as the whole area around where it had been growing by the on-ramp was scalped and reshaped (for no obvious reason).  I feel very glad to have already cloned it before losing the original, but am sad I will no longer be able to continue observing the original tree over coming years.

How now to proceed with further evaluation?

In early 2021 I was successful in grafting three pieces of scion from this tree onto nurse roots.  I then buried the grafts to encourage formation of their own roots.  As of early 2023 I have now fully chopped off the entirety of the rootstock which was initially used to get this tree cloned and all three of the clones have adequate roots of their own to keep going.  I will be planting one of these clones to begin maturing into a new tree and will reserve the other two clones for stooling (a form of propagation) so that I can continue producing own-root clones for distribution and evaluation.

I don't know how long before I will start having enough own-root trees available to share with others wishing to help trial this promising tree, but if you're interested please feel free to contact me and I'll make a note to keep you in the loop (United States locations only for now please).