Berner Rosenapfel

Taste

Susceptibility & resistance

Pollination

self-sterile – needs a pollinator variety

Given in thirds of a month (early / mid / late) for the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate; altitude and season shift them.

Fruit

Dessert and culinary apple, mildly aromatic, sweet-sour and slightly perfumed (rating 2-).

Growth

Initially medium-vigorous, later weak-growing. Crown upright and rounded, medium-sized and often drooping; scaffold branches obliquely upright, later hanging. Fruiting wood on one- and multi-year spurs and especially long shoots, hence a risk of early ageing. Wind-firm.

Yield

Comes into bearing early, but only moderately productive with a tendency to alternate bearing.

Notes

For orchard, limited for the garden. Only for well-ventilated locations; prone to canker in wet, dense soils.

Care

Prune scaffold branches to medium length; cut back harder after heavy crops or weak shoot growth to counter premature ageing.