cider apple varieties in our orchard contrasted

For more information on cider go to Andrew Lea's cider portal http://www.cider.org.uk/

A look at the older of our two cider orchards within the main orchard. We have been grafting more trees over to cider in recent years, our production is static at about 30 or 40gallons a year for personal, family and friends use but we have a steady, if not very profitable, market for all the cider fruit we can grow and it is MUCH less effort than taking dessert (eating) apples to markets where we face high regulations, high charges and a fussy public.

Anyway, in this video I take a look at cider varieties Kingston Black, Le Bret ('Sweet Alford'), Harry Masters' Jersey and Yarlington Mill. Many of our cider apples did not crop at all this year. We attribute this to the cold, wet summer of 2012 failing to ripen fruit buds, but many of the best cider varieties only crop one year in two anyway.

At the other end of the orchard, I have grafted a dozen unprofitable Bramley apples over to cider varieties, including Dabinett. I had a very good crop of 2 Dabinett's this year. The soil is better at that end and the Bramley intergraft seems to add significant vigour.