Golden Delicious
Golden Delicious has a very poor reputation in the UK, a legacy of the time when large quantities of bland under-ripe bright green French-grown Golden Delicious apples dominated supermarket shelves. However, Golden Delicious is a very different proposition when home-grown in good conditions - a handsomely-shaped apple with a golden-green skin, crisp juicy flesh, and a rich sweet flavour, reminscent of raw cane sugar. If you like crisp sweet apples then it is hard to beat a home-grown Golden Delicious, picked late in the autumn when it is properly ripe.
Home-grown Golden Delicious apples still retain the advantages of commercially grown examples - they are versatile for eating fresh or using in the kitchen, and of course they are one of the best apples for long-term storage, retaining flavour and crispness for several months in a cold shed or in the fridge.
Golden Delicious apple trees for sale
RF12-year bare-root
tree
on M9 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 1.5m-2.5m after 10 years
Suitable for growing a small bush-trained dwarf apple tree, will need a permanent stake.
Available next season
RF21-year bare-root
tree
on M26 rootstock£34.95
Mature height: 2m-3.5m after 10 years
Suitable for a semi-dwarf apple tree, a medium apple spindlebush, a medium apple fan or espalier, a large apple cordon or U-cordon.
Available next season
RF32-year bare-root
tree
on M26 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 2m-3.5m after 10 years
Suitable for a medium bush-trained semi-dwarf apple tree.
Available next season
RF42-year bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£43.00
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Suitable for a large bush-trained free-standing apple tree.
Available next season
RF52-year half-standard bare-root
tree
on MM106 rootstock£46.50
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Suitable for a free-standing half-standard apple tree.
Available next season
Growing and Training
Golden Delicious is easy to grow, and very productive. In the UK it does best in the south and east as it prefers a drier climate, and a warm autumn helps.
It is usually a good pollinator for other apple varieties, particularly traditional English varieties such as Cox, because it flowers over a long period, producing a lot of pollen, and is is not closely related to them.
Recommended pollinators for Golden Delicious apple trees
Golden Delicious is partially self-fertile, so you do not need another variety to pollinate it to produce fruit.
However you will get a better crop if you plant any of the following pollinator varieties nearby.
If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.
BraeburnBraeburn is one of the best-flavoured supermarket apple varieties.
Ellison's OrangeEllison's Orange is a well respected Cox-style apple which can achieve very good flavour.
GalaGala is popular supermarket apple - but better when home-grown, with a sweet pleasant flavour.
Golden GemA traditional crab-apple featuring a mass of white blossom in spring, followed by yellow crab apples.
Golden HornetMalus Golden Hornet is a traditional white blossom crab apple, with persistent yellow fruits.
Harry BakerMalus Harry Baker is a popular crab-apple with deep pink flowers and dark red fruits which are very good for crab-apple jelly.
John DownieJohn Downie is a traditional crab apple for making crab apple jelly. White blossom and orange-red fruits.
King of the PippinsA popular and versatile dual-purpose apple, widely grown in the Victorian era.
History
Golden Delicious is not a French apple, as many people assume - it was discovered in West Virginia, USA, in the 1890s. Golden Delicious is almost certainly a seedling of an old American variety called Grimes Golden.
The original tree survived until the 1950s, by which time Golden Delicious was firmly established as one of the most widely-planted of all apples.
Golden Delicious characteristics
- Gardening skillAverage
- Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
- Self-fertile?Partially self-fertile
- Pollinating othersGood
- Pick seasonLate
- Picking periodearly October
- Keeping3 months or more
- Food usesEating freshCulinary
- Country of originUnited States
- Period of origin1850 - 1899
- Fruit colourGreenGreen - lightGreen / Yellow
You might also like these varieties
GalaGala is popular supermarket apple - but better when home-grown, with a sweet pleasant flavour.
Granny SmithGranny Smith is the world-famous green apple from Australia, a good choice for warmer apple-growing regions.
HoneycrispHoneycrisp is an American cold-hardy disease-resistant apple - it shows just how good modern apples have become.
More about apple trees
Apples are very versatile, and all varieties can be eaten or used in the kitchen. However varieties specifically grown as eating apples tend to have the best flavours for eating raw.
The main thing to decide when choosing an eating apple is when you intend to eat the apples. Early season apples are typically ready in August, and generally don't keep very long. Mid-season apples are ripe in early September, while late-season apples start to become ripe in late September and October. Many of the late-season varieties can also be stored in a fridge or cold shed for several months into the winter.
Some apple varieties are self-fertile, but most are not. However in most areas of the UK you do not need to worry whether your apple trees are self-fertile or not, as there will be other apple trees in nearby gardens to help with pollination.
