Egremont Russet Apple Trees

Egremont Russet Apple Trees: Eating, Mid-to-Late Season

The most well-known and delicious of the russet apples, where the ripe skin gets rough and ochre coloured. The medium size shape is distinctively flattened, slightly doughnut like.
The creamy-yellow flesh is firm and crisp, quite dry in texture because, for an eating apple, it is relatively high in tannins. In spite of this, it's sweet and has a rich, some say nutty, flavour.
The itself is compact and is very free spurring, so it crops heavily.

Egremont Russet will do well in wet conditions and is hardy enough to cope in the far North of the UK as well as being resistant to most apple ailments. The apples store well too.

Top alternative Russet: if you already have the famous Egremont in your collection, or if you didn't like russets in the past, the "other best russet" top try is Norfolk Royal.

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:

• Height: to 4.5 m
• Use: Eating
• Very free spurring: ideal for cordons & espaliers
• Pollination: Partially Self Fertile
• Apple colour: Green/gold/russeted
• Recommended for the North and Scotland
• Scab resistant
• Pollination: Group B
• Picking: late Sept/Oct
• Storage: up to 2 months
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Egremont Russet 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.

Thinning the fruit to reduce heavy loads is important.

The Egremont is not known for its blossom - all apple trees have a charm of their own in spring, but help them along with spring flowering bulbs.
A mature tree could carry light climbers through its boughs: a not too vigorous rose like Felicite Perpetue would look wonderful in northerly conditions, or a honeysuckle like Graham Thomas to attract even more bees.

Disease Notes:
Resistant to scab, good for growing in the West of the UK

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Egremont Russet, 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, but we use the less vigorous M9 for our ready-made cordons.

Pollination Partners for Egremont Russet

Your trees are self sterile and their flowers must be pollinated to make fruit.
Egremont Russet is in Pollination Group B, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups A, B and C.

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

Peasgood Nonsuch is a good partner, a versatile dual-purpose apple.

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.
Do not plant less than 30cm from a wall.

• Destroy weeds and grass,
• Dig the soil over in a square of at least 1 metre, 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.

Soak the tree roots in water for about an hour before 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.

Water well after planting, mulch the dug over area, and water weekly through the first summer. 

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.

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.
Do not plant less than 30cm from a wall.

• Destroy weeds and grass,
• Dig the soil over in a square of at least 1 metre, 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.

Soak the tree roots in water for about an hour before 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.

Water well after planting, mulch the dug over area, and water weekly through the first summer. 

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 greasebands are effective, organic pest prevention.

Did You Know?

The name suggests that it was raised on the estates of Lord Egremont of Petworth, Sussex, home now to the most fantastic collection of Turner paintings.
In the early 1800s, Petworth was well known for fruit breeding, but it was a Somerset man, J Scott of Merriott, who recorded the apple officially in 1872.
Its keeping qualities and the revival of interest in old, traditional varieties mean that Egremont Russet has a decent small scale commercial growing base in the UK.

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: Egremont Russet 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.