Isaac Newtons Apple Trees

Malus Isaac Newton's Tree - Mid-Late Season

Description of Isaac Newton's Trees & Fruit:
Also known as the Flower of Kent, this hefty cooker has an old-fashioned, bumpy shape with green skin that flushes red where the sun shines on it.
This tree is a piece of history BUT WE DO NOT SELL IT AS its fruit has been much improved on in the intervening years, so this section is for information only.

Browse all our apple trees here or read our guide to buying the right apple tree.

Characteristics of Isaac Newton's Trees:

• Cooking Apple.
• Modest crop size.
• Big fruit.
• Spreading growth.
• Partial tip bearer.
• Harvest: Mid October
• Store & ripen in a cool, dry place: 3 months / Until end of Jan

Growing Isaac Newton's Apple Tree:
Rich soil is important - dig in plenty of good manure and compost before planting. Soil drainage must be good. The more sun your trees get the better your crops will be.

Pollination Partners for Isaac Newtons Tree:
Your Trees are in Group F with a flower date of 20.
This means that they will cross-pollinate with:

• All trees in Group F.
• Trees in Group E with a flower date of 17 or 18.

See our Guide to Apple Tree Pollination for more tips about pollination (it's really simple, we promise!) & a full list of partners.

History & Parentage of Isaac Newton's Tree:
It seems certain that the Flower of Kent, first recorded in Kent in 1629, is the same tree that inspired Newton at his home in Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire in 1666.

According to the National Trust, the original tree fell over in 1820, but then rooted happily and is still growing today, which means that it must be pushing 400 years old.
According to the Brogdale National Fruit Collection, the original tree died when it fell over, implying that the tree in Newton's garden now is really a cutting of the original.
To be fair, the tree is so twisted & its roots so gnarled that we can believe that it is the original!

Cuttings from this tree have been grown at several world universities, including one outside Newton's old college at Cambridge and one at MIT.

There is no record of Isaac Newton being hit on the head by the apple, nor did the falling apple lead him to discover gravity - scientists had been developing the modern theory of gravity for over 100 years before young Newton was inspired by his apple.

Newton used the story of an apple falling to explain to his friends concepts like these:

• The centre of the earth, not its edges, is the centre of its gravity.
• There is a direct relationship between an object's mass and its gravitational pull.
• The force of gravity fades with distance from an object's centre with an inverse-square proportion.

There is no reason to doubt that the apple story was true, but, through retelling, it has been embellished it to make it seem that this single event was a breakthrough moment for him.
In fact, it would be many years after the apple incident before he brought all of his ideas together.

In 2010, a piece of the original tree was taken onboard a space shuttle to experience zero gravity.