Mystery Apple?

[HomesteaderWife]

My husband's great grandmother recently passed, and as we have cared for her property I've noticed a mystery Apple tree with fruit on it that appears like a ripe pear. The tree has supposedly been here since she lived here, and she once dried and canned them. However, no one has any clue as to what type it could be. If I can figure out what it is, I'd love to help preserve it and use the fruit well. Any help identifying this tree would be appreciated!

 

[thistlebloom]

That's a tree to be proud of! Must be very old.

Can't help with ID, but maybe this site that @journey11 has shared can be useful.
Hope you find out what it is

 

[flowerbug]

My husband's great grandmother recently passed, and as we have cared for her property I've noticed a mystery Apple tree with fruit on it that appears like a ripe pear. The tree has supposedly been here since she lived here, and she once dried and canned them. However, no one has any clue as to what type it could be. If I can figure out what it is, I'd love to help preserve it and use the fruit well. Any help identifying this tree would be appreciated!

what counts to me is flavor. i hope it turns out well.

don't be discouraged if it can't be named - there could be millions of different apple tree varieties because in the past many trees were planted from seeds and not for eating but for making cider/hard cider instead. the other part is that green apples when not fully ripe are a great source of pectin (read up on it if you haven't already ).

p.s. i love green apples.

 

[Nyboy]

If the place is going to be sold you can graft branches on to other apple trees.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Nyboy - I think that's what they are going to do, as it was a small house in town, but she had a lot of beautiful flowers and trees we are trying to transplant or get snippings from.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It looks tremendously like one my parents had. It was not a variety but one grown from seed. They also had a lot grown from seed that made terrible apples. Dad called that a horse apple because it was big enough to choke a horse. The apples on their tree did to ripen until very late but made tremendous apple butter and jelly, plus great pies. When it ripened it turned a bit yellow but was more of a yellowish green. Not a pretty pure yellow.

Since it was seed grown and not a graft my brother was able to dig up a sprout from a root (a clone) and got the same kind of tree. That had to be a sprout from a root though. A regular sprout could be from another seed and who knows what you will get from a seed. I managed to get a graft from that tree to take when I was in Arkansas but I can't grow apples down here, wrong climate.

I'm sure your apple is not related at all to the one my parents had but it sure looks similar.

 

[Nyboy]

Good luck I have lots of plants from family members homes.

 

[Collector]

Up here in Eastern Washington 3 apple varieties thought to be extinct have been found growing on steptoe butte. Maybe it was 2 on the butte one somewhere else locally. They were tested at WSU a local university and rediscovered. Maybe you can call a local university with an AG Dept. To have them tested.

 

[thistlebloom]

Up here in Eastern Washington 3 apple varieties thought to be extinct have been found growing on steptoe butte. Maybe it was 2 on the butte one somewhere else locally. They were tested at WSU a local university and rediscovered. Maybe you can call a local university with an AG Dept. To have them tested.

That's pretty cool.