Sunset Apple Trees

Sunset Apple Trees: Eating, Mid-to-Late Season

Sunset apple trees produce masses of small red and gold flushed eaters, often grown as a Cox's Orange Pippin substitute; they have a similar flavour, perhaps not as deep, (nothing really is) but Sunsets are altogether easier to grow, being a pretty disease resistant tree that crops reliably.
The fruit stores and ripens off the branch from September, with the last ones harvesting being good in early December.

It is a Kentish style apple, so it juices well and has been known to make a sweet, strong cider blend.

Browse our range of apple trees, or all our fruit trees.
Read our guide to buying apples.

Delivery season: Bareroot plants are delivered in late Autumn to Spring, about November-March inclusive. Pot grown plants, year round. 

Features:

• Eating: Similar to Cox on a good year.
• Juices well, sweet element for cider blend
• Spur bearer
• Self fertile.
• Pollinator
• Pollination Group C.
• Harvesting: September
• Stores 2 - 3 weeks at least, perfect fruit a little longer
• RHS Plants for Pollinators
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Sunset Apples

Apples like rich, well drained soil, and will thrive on clay in locations that do not get waterlogged in winter.
A full day of sun and shelter from the wind is ideal.

Sunset is not ideal for colder Northern, or shady sites, where its flavour might not ripen as it does with more heat and light.
It is highly recommended for growing against south facing walls.

Disease Notes:
Canker resistant.
No special resistance to scab, so not ideal for humid sites in the West.

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for all Sunset sizes, the UK standard for medium-sized trees, ideal for gardeners. It gives a half-standard about 4m tall, and a bush about 3m. 
MM106 maidens are suitable for cordons and espaliers.

Pollination Partners for Sunset 

Your trees are self fertile, making decent crops without a pollination partner, but still perform best with one.
Sunset is in Pollination Group C, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups B, C and D.

Use our Fruit Pollination Checker to quickly find pollination partners, or Apple Pollination Guide to learn more.

Notes on planting apple trees:
All fruit trees like a rich soil with decent drainage, protection from the wind and plenty of sun. Apple trees like clay soil, as long as it is not prone to bad waterlogging.

Prepare your site before planting:
Improving the soil helps trees establish quickly and be productive for years. Preparing weeks or months in advance gives best results: fill the planting hole back up, don't leave it open to either dry out or fill with water.

• Destroy weeds and grass,
• Dig the soil over, remove stones, then mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades, unless you are on heavy clay:
• On thick clay soil, only dig over the soil to break it up. Apply organic matter as a mulch over the soil after planting.

Spacing apple trees:

• Freestanding bushes: 15-18 feet (5-6m) between trees and rows.
• Freestanding half-standards: 18-30 feet (6-10m) between trees and rows.

In general, allow 1 more metre between rows than between trees along the row.

• Wire-trained cordons: 60-100cm apart along a row.
• Espaliers: 10-18 feet (3.5-6m) apart.

• Watch how to plant a fruit tree for a bush or half-standard.
• To grow a cordon or espalier, you need to install sturdy training wires.

Pruning apple trees: 

• Maidens can be pruned in any style, including into bushes or half-standards.
• Bushes - start here when you buy a bush.
• Half-standards - start here when you buy a half-standard.

Accessories:
For bush and half standard apple trees, a tree planting pack, which includes a wooden support stake & rubber tie (a bamboo cane is enough support for a maiden), and a biodegradable mulch mat, with pegs, to preserve soil moisture stops and prevent weeds.

We strongly recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all transplanted trees.

Winter wash and grease are effective, organic pest prevention.

Did You Know?

Although the parents are unknown, one of them has to be Cox. It was raised in Kent in 1918. 

Apple Tree Delivery Shapes:

Most of our fruit trees are delivered in up to 3 shapes (maiden, bush, and half standard), and you can buy selected varieties as ready-made cordons and/or potted mini patio trees: scroll up to see what's in stock. 

Maiden: Unbranched tree, the most basic starting size, which you can train into the other forms (apart from mini patio trees).
Bush: Freestanding tree with a short trunk about 60cm tall. It will grow to about 3m. Ideal for small gardens.
Half-Standard: A freestanding form with a trunk about 120cm tall. It will grow into a full sized, "normal" apple tree, about 4m. Ideal for orchards, easy to mow underneath.

Cordon: Sunset is a spur-bearer, suitable for cordons and espaliers.
Mini Patio Tree: Only sold pot-grown, these use a dwarfing rootstock to drastically reduce the tree's vigour and restrict the mature size. They are suitable for large patio containers, and for small gardens where a normal-sized bush or half-standard form won't fit.

Guide to Fruit Tree Sizing.